Last weekend a couple of non-fiction books landed in the post in double quick fashion from the children’s book publishers Usborne. They had been hoping to have a lovely rush of book reviews to coincide with National Non-Fiction Book Day. Fabulous idea, alas I accidentally refused to play ball by not noticing this desire and getting all caught up in preparations for a job interview and well, feeling sorry for myself after said job interview.
To make up for it I am sat typing this review out on my blackberry at work in the hopes of posting it before Non-Fiction Day passes. The book, “Cowboys” by Catriona Clarke is part of those set of books aimed at new readers but caught the attentions of everybody in my household – parents, fiancé, and myself.
The presentation itself is clean and tidy with a mixture of paintings, cartoons and photographs to illustrate succinct points made in the text. I teach American West at GCSE level, and even I learned something useful which is a great credit to the scope of the book. It covers a simple definition of a cowboy, what they do and how they dress to the rise and decline of the Cattle Drives of the mid 19th Century, the prominence of the West in pop culture like movies and books, and lastly how the cowboy survives today (part extreme sportsman, part tourist attraction, part farmer).
The book was a little difficult for a young Czech boy who was still developing his English but it still provided a great talking point for the child and his support teacher and part of what we look for is ways to get children from different backgrounds talking and participating.
For children and teachers looking for inspiration and a talking point I highly recommend this book as the pictures are certainly a pleasure to look at. It’s the kind of book I would have snatched off the shelf during a wet break time and read again and again as my imagination carried me off into the pictures. Anything which stimulates conversation or imagination in young children gets my thumbs up.
Another book from the True Stories collection called “The Wild West” by Henry Brook will be reviewed as soon as possible. Keep an eye on the twitter feed or register for updates on this site for an alert when its done.
You can browse the Usborne catalogue here.
Can you recommend any non-fiction books for primary school readers? Post them in the comments below.
Reviews and New Fiction by Christopher M. Bell 