Dapo Adeola, Tracy Darnton, Joseph Coelho and Chitra Soundar are among the 19 authors and illustrators longlisted for the Inclusive Books for Child...

I could see straight away. These kids didn’t know how to look a after their food. They played right into my hands. Alright…Seagulls don’t have hands but you know what I mean. Soon as I saw these kids open up their bags I thought ‘Oh hello...here comes lunch.’The kids started getting scared. The teachers flapped their arms and made whooshing sounds trying to frighten us away…but that didn’t put us off. Flapping your arms ain’t going to scare a hungry seagull. Don’t even bother trying. You’d be wasting your time.

This beautiful picture book with illustrations by Izzy Burton is perfect for inspiring young readers at home and to accompany numerous topics at school: the sea, protecting the environment, helping animals, taking action… There is so much to be done with this book. Children will love the appealing beach scenes, the gorgeous seagull and the role model of Stella who shows them that lots of small changes make a big difference. This assessed writing from I Don’t Believe it, Archie! is an example of the writing that comes out of the teaching sequence. It has been assessed and annotated to exemplify the assessment criteria for year 4. Planned outcome/focus: Children write letters asking companies and organisations to help improve something in their own local area. And that’s when other seagulls noticed what was going on. Like I said, we seagulls never miss the chance of a free feed, and in no time there were about twenty of us all circling round the kids, Highly recommend reading this brilliant book with your children. Educating & inspiring us all to protect the ocean”Stella and the Seagull is perfect to inspire children aged 5-8 to make a difference and shows you're never too young to be a force for good. It also sensitively introduces issues such as pollution, single-use plastics, wildlife welfare and personal responsibility. This is a book that will be used regularly in my school to support all these topics in a positive way. I was having a lovely time, but then the trouble started. Some of those kids were just throwing the food they didn’t want onto the sand. They didn’t put it in a bin, they just threw it away. Grammar and punctuation focus (includes revision and application of Y3/4 grammar to convey atmosphere and develop character): expanded noun phrases for conveying precise imagery; adverbials (prepositional phrases); dialogue to advance the action and to develop character; building suspense and atmosphere; verb choices; colons and semi-colons between clauses Our Oceans need our help, and Finn the Fortunate Tiger Shark is a beautiful book which will delight and engage young children on this critical issue. And when read by Jeremy Irons it sounds magical. Please buy the book and spread the word."

Bestselling author Alexandra Christo, author of TikTok sensation To Kill a Kingdom, introduces her new book, The Night Hunt (Hot Key Books), a dark...Grammar and punctuation focus: Sequence sentences to maintain cohesion; capital letters for names and the pronoun I; multi-clause sentences using and This is a rewrite of one of our most popular sequences. It is a fast-paced novel featuring the adventures of three cats desperately trying to survive multiple threats. Planned outcome/focus: Children create their own ‘Interview…’ with other creatures, people or even objects in a Q&A style like Andy Seed’s original. Contrasting two interviewees allows children to create a distinctive voice for each. Grammar and punctuation focus: Prepositional phrases as part of expanded noun phrase to add detail after the noun (Y4) and/or used adverbially (Y3); nouns and pronouns for clarity and cohesion; using dictionaries for definitions. Sometimes when that happens, a teacher or a Mum or Dad says ‘Don’t feed the seagulls. It just encourages them.’ But yesterday, the teachers were talking to each other and they didn’t notice when the girl threw a crust in my direction.

Thank you to Oxford University Press for this important book. I can’t wait to share it with my Brownie unit. They love to take action and this book will inspire them even more. First of all I flew down and just stood about where the kids could see me and almost straight away this little boy says,

New sample BookWrites teaching sequences (added February 2023)

The winners of the Diverse Book Awards 2023 have been announced, with one winner from each of the four categories announced: Picture book, Children... The Primary School Library Alliance is calling on the government to match-fund the private investment it has brought into helping primary schools c...