Story Sack: ‘The Story of the Little Mole who knew it was none of his Business’ 30th Anniversary!

So a certain mole turns 30 this month, along with his farmyard friends - not forgetting Basil the dog – so here at SOTB we thought we do a Story Sack (or two) to celebrate.

In case you are not aware of this classic picture book from the genius minds of Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Erlbruch, it’s about a mole, who sticks his head out of his hole, only to have something unmentionable land on it. The Mole then goes on a mission to find out who the business belongs to, asking all the farmyard animals, who prove their innocence by demonstration, covering the poor mole in further excrement. It is not until Mole meets some helpful flies, that he finds out the identity of the culprit and can exact revenge.

It may sound like silly book – which it is – but as funny as it is , it is also educational. I had a friend who was a naturalist professor at The Oxford University, who told me they use the book to teach students how to identify and track animals, using their poo.

So before we begin, here’s a reminder about what a story sack contains… 

Story Sack Checklist… 

• A good quality fiction book. (picture book or novel).
• A non-fiction book related to the story and themes in the chosen picture book.
• Toys, (ideally soft toys for younger children).
• A game or activity also related to the theme of the chosen fiction book.
• Optional worksheet based on the story and themes off the story sack.

So, as I said we have not one but two ‘The Story of the Little Mole who knew it was none of his Business’ story sacks, one for younger children and one for older readers.

Story Sack One – Younger Readers

Books

We have paired ‘The Story of the Little Mole who knew it was none of his Business’, with the beautiful picture book ‘Life-Sized Animal Poo’ by John Townsend, which is a beautifully

illustrated non-fiction book, that does exactly what it does on the tin, explains about animals poo, in actual size pictures. It is fun and not too wordy. 

Toys

For both story sacks, we have manged to source a 25th Anniversary edition Little Mole plush, and we have added various soft toys of a similar size, for each of his friends that he encounters. For the flies, we have found a small pack of plastic figures.

Games

Because it’s fun, and educational and will be of interest to all young buddying naturalists, we have ‘Who Did This Poo? A Matching & Memory Game’, by Magma for Laurence king, featuring beautiful illustrations by Charlotte Coulais. We have also found a more physical game which ties into Little Mole’s story, ‘Poo Head’ where you try and catch poo’s on your head.

Activities

Usually I have to get up thinking cap on and get crafty for this element of the Story Sacks, but as it is the 30th Anniversary publishers Pavilion have produced downloadable activity sheets which you can find here.

Story Sack Two – For Older Readers

For this story sack for older children you will see we are using many of the same elements as the first storys sack with the exception of…

Non-Fiction Book

For the older children, we have paired ‘The Story of the Little Mole who knew it was none of his Business’ with ‘Animal Science Poo, A Natural History of the Unmentionable’ by Nicola Davis and illustrated by Neal Layton. 

  

This non-fiction picture book, is just a humorous and educational as Life-Sized Animal Poo’ but it has more fact and text, which is more appropriate for older readers.

Game

For the older children we have swapped the memory game for ‘Plop Trumps, a poo-centric Top-Trumps card game, which has more factual content.

Anyway, this is Space on the Bookshelf signing off and wishing Little Mole, and all his friends a happy 30th Birthday!

Picture Book Review: Emma Lazell’s That Dog!

That Dog! Is the tale of one very clever dog, who outwits the town's cunning yet inept dog-nappers, rescuing all the stolen pets and bring the culprits to justice.

Emma’s vibrant and fun illustrations really bring the story to life, as you follow the story which is unusually told from the villain’s point of view as they pursue their latest target –the spotty dog, with long floppy ears and a even longer tail. 

That Dog, is mischievous and humorous read accompanied by exquisite illustrations.

Lockdown Special: Story Sack Challenge – can you make a story sack from stuff you find around the house?

So, at Space on The Bookshelf we do a lot of features about Story Sacks. Story Sacks are a great educational tool, they’re fun, and can use play and stories to help learning and can be used in line with the curriculum. With lockdown extended and people Home Educating, this is exactly the time when Story Sack could really help people to entertain, engage and educate their children.

However it is lockdown and therefore shops are closed and people are stuck at home, so compiling story sacks isn’t as easy as it was. So, here is a blog post to show it can be possible to construct a story sack with things around your home. So I devised a challenge for my teens – which severed as both an activity to keep them busy, and to show you it is possible to create story sacks from home especially if you have a bookshelf (or two).

The Challenge

I game my children a print out each of what you need in a story sack. I then gave them an afternoon to compile their story sacks. At the end of the day me (an avid story sack creator) and my husband (who works in education) would pick a winner. 

So for you all out there here’s a reminder of what a story sack consists of….

Story Sack Checklist

•  A good quality fiction book. (picture book or novel)
• A non-fiction book related to the story and themes in the chosen picture book.
• Toys, (ideally a soft toy for younger children).
• A game or activity also related to the theme of the chosen fiction book.
• Optional worksheet based on the story and themes off the story sack.

Meet The Competitors

Team B’s Story Sack …

So B, went for a classic picture book to construct her story sack around, picking our ancient copy (from when I was a toddler) of ‘the Tiger who Came to Tea’ by Judith Kerr.

She paired this with a non-fiction picture book that we had yet to re-home about Big Cats.

For toys she raided her teddy collection and found a plush Tiger and cub. For the game element she manged to find a Trivia Pursuit special expansion pack about Wildlife. She also went the extra mile and found some activities, a colouring in sheet and big-cat themed word search on the internet and printed them out.

Team S’s Story Sack …

So S, an avid keeper of beetles, stick insects, hissing cockroaches, praying mantis and giant African land snails, went for an insect themed story sack. He picked the picture book ‘Moth’ by ‘Isobel Thomas and Daniel Egneus’ which is a beautiful book that is all about moths and their evolution.

He then paired this with the equally beautiful ‘Insect Emporium’ by ‘Susie Brooks’ and ‘Dawn Copper’.

For toys he put in his much loved TY beetle plush, which is always on his bed. For toys he went with the amazing tile game HIVE which features an array of insects.

The Verdict

Both story sacks were well thought out and ingeniously constructed with books and games and things from around the house (they were not permitted to use anything form my Story Sack stock). But the overall winner of the challenge, just taking it for going the extra mile and finding worksheets, was Team B’s Tiger story sack!

Thank you stopping by and we hope that this maybe inspires you to see if you can construct a story sack in isolation from bit and pieces you find around your home.

Budget Story Sack – The Kiss That Missed – David Melling.

I’m often told by people that they like story sack but they are too expensive to put together so every now and then I like to do a post where I put together a budget story sack. I achieve this by setting a budget and timescale to assemble the story sack in and then go and out and see if I can actually construct a story sack within both the finical and time constraints. So this is my latest Budget story sack feature, but before we being let’s have a reminder of what is in a story sack…

Story Sack Checklist

• A good quality fiction book. (picture book or novel)
• A non-fiction book related to the story and themes in the chosen picture book.
• Toys, (ideally a soft toy for younger children).
• A game or activity also related to the theme of the chosen fiction book.
• Optional worksheet based on the story and themes off the story sack.

So my Budget was set at £10.00 and the timescale at a week (obviously this was done pre-lockdown!), and I went out to my local town. So in my first job is to look for a suitable book to construct the story sack around, here’s a quick tip; if you are going to do a budget story sack then stick to popular topics, like, dinosaurs, space or as I have in this one – knight and dragons – as you will find more choice of cheap components in charity shops, toy shops and pound shops etc.

Books

So I was lucky enough to find a lovely good quality second hand copy of David Mellings beautiful ‘The Kiss That Missed’ for £1.00. The story is of knight who is on a quest to find and bring back the Kings Kiss for its intended recipient the prince. The knight journey is perilous and funny as he has to bravely tackle magical forest and ferocious dragons.

In the same shop I found a good condition copy of the book ‘100 Facts – Knights and Castle’ which provides the non-fiction related picture book which is crammed full of interesting knight educational facts, for only 50p.

Toys

For the toys I was lucky enough to find a BNWT ‘Puppet Company’ dragon & knight finger puppets for £1.00 each. I also found a BNWT box of ‘Tellatale Cinderella Finger Puppet’ set that provide the royal household for £3.00. I was stuck a little for a toy to be the Knights loyal steed but we happened to be going to Ikea that week and serendipitously they has a white horse finger puppet for £1.49. So we ended up with a whole cast of finger puppet characters which not only keeps the cost down, but also makes the story sack non-bulky and easy to transport.

Game

For the game I found a complete unused second hand box of ‘Usborne Knights and Castles Snap’ for £1.50. Which can be used to play snap or utilised to play storytelling games - like story dice. As a bonus, I happened to find a foam knights shield for 50p, to encourage make-believe play.

All in all the Story Sack came in a budget just £9.99. Proving that with a bit on imagination, and a keen eye, you can construct a story sack on a limited budget.

Also if you would like to hear David Melling reading ‘The Kiss that Missed’ press here.

Look Up! by Nathan Bryan and Dapo Adeola – Story Sack

Since this picture book was published and before it deservedly became such a hit, I wanted to create a story sack based around it. However due to issues (discussed in this blog post) about sourcing games, and plush toys in diverse ethnicities, I wasn’t confident it would be possible. However I am truly happy to say that the stars must have been aligned, as I have manged to source everything relatively easily from standard shops on the high street, which I very much hope is a sign of things to come.

So before we start here is a quick reminder of what a story sack contains…

Story Sack Checklist 

• A good quality fiction book. (picture book or novel)
• A non-fiction book related to the story and themes in the chosen picture book.
• Toys, (ideally a soft toy for younger children).
• A game or activity also related to the theme of the chosen fiction book.
• Optional worksheet based on the story and themes off the story sack.

Books…
 

So for our main picture book, we have the vibrant and brilliant ‘Look Up’ penned by Nathan Bryon and illustrated by Dapo Adeola. This book is everything a picture book should be; fun, heart-warming, thought provoking, educational, and fabulous story where the exquisite illustration that truly enhance the text.

‘Look Up’ tells the story of Rocket, who like her Hero, Maye C Jemison, wants to be an astronaut. She lives and breathes everything space, and is always looking up, unlike her big brother Jamal who’s always looking down at his phone.

With a Meteor shower due to be visible that evening, Rocket arranges for the community to come to the park to view the meteors and she even manages to get Jamal to look up from his phone.

  

'Look Up!' is a story of sibling love, dreams and dedication that all children should read.

I’ve chosen not one but two non-fiction books to accompany ‘Look Up!’ First the lovely highly illustrated National Geographic Kids Meteors, which does exactly what it says on the cover, providing lots of interesting educational facts along with beautiful photographs.

The second book is Mse C. Jemison, picture book biography part of the Woman in Science & technology range by ‘Discovery Library’ by Meeg Pincus and Elena Bia, which gives more insight into the story of Rockets Hero, the first African American woman in space.

For younger readers, I would recommend the beautiful ‘Little Leaders, Bold Women in Black History,’ picture book by Vasti Harrison.

Plush / Soft Toys… 

So, I was lucky that because I squirrel away plush toys when I find them, I had a doll that I could adapt to look like Rocket, so I went about crafting a spacesuit, glasses, and braiding her hair. Although if you are not crafty or just don’t have the time, to source a doll and adapt I have found a Jelly Cat plush that is available online, and in toy shops, that is in a Space Walk suit and has a medium skin tone, called ‘Jellynaught’, RRP £11.99.

I also picked up a Jelly Cat, cat to keep Rocket company as sadly I couldn’t find a doll suitable to be used a Jamal.

Games…

So, I found in my local toy shop a ‘PetitCollage’ ‘Shine Bright’ ‘Space Bound’ tin, which has a black female astronaut doll with a host of space outfits to dress her, including a Nasa suit and spacewalking suit. I’ve also included glow in the dark starts to use as the meteors.

So here we are on ‘Look Up’ Story Sack, that was truly a pleasure to put together. Thank you for stopping by, and do come back for more story sack ideas.

William Bee’s Wonderful World of Tractors and Farm Machines – Review

William Bee’s Wonderful World of Tractors and Farm Machines, is a fun vibrant educational non-fiction picture book, with a retro feel that will appeal to adults and children alike.

Full of retro filled illustrations that really have a ‘Rosie’s Walk’ feel to them, the book follows the author/ illustrator titular charter William Bee, as he explores tractors and farm machinery. From small tractors to monstrous ones, he takes the reader on a journey explaining what different types of tractors are used for, as well as bringing in a dose of the history of agricultural machinery.

This book would have appealed to be when I was child, (I could name the tractor make from a single glance from a moving car three fields away), but also to both my children, who loved learning about all things with engines. 

All in all William Bee’s Wonderful World of Tractors and Farm Machines, is a fun educational read, that has the potential to be a future classic as it focuses on a topic that has a perennial appeal to small children.

Story Sack – The Dinosaur who lost her Voice by Julie Ballard and Francesca Gambatesa

Today’s story sack has been assembled specifically for one of my nephews who is coming up to his third Birthday and is still finding his voice. So for his Birthday, I’ve assembled a story sack based on the recently published picture book penned by Julie Ballard and illustrated by Francesca Gambatesa ‘The Dinosaur who lost her Voice.’

So before we start our post, here is a quick note on what a story sack is, and what it includes…

Story Sack Checklist

•  A good quality fiction book. (picture book or novel)
• A non-fiction book related to the story and themes in the chosen picture book.
• Toys, (ideally a soft toy for younger children).
• A game or activity also related to the theme of the chosen fiction book.
• Optional worksheet based on the story and themes off the story sack.

Books - Fiction

The Dinosaur who lost her Voice is a charming positive tale about friendship and overcoming disappointment. The titular dinosaur has a song in her heart and a passion for singing, until one day tragedy strikes and she loses her voice. The dinosaur is sad, and her friends wanting to help her form a choir and sing, creating a cacophony of that is not pleasant to the ears. So the voiceless dinosaur teaches them to sing, until their ensemble is performing harmonious and beautiful songs. Everyone is happy including the dinosaur that lost her voice. 

  

The book is full of positive messages and themes including friendship, empathy and kindness but also accepting who you are and showing that when adversity derails your dreams you can find other ways to realise them. The Dinosaur who lost her voice is further enchanted by Francesca Gambatesa’s vibrant illustrations both compliment and enrich the heart-warming story. 

Book – Non-Fiction

To accompany the ‘The Dinosaur who lost her Voice’ I’ve chosen two non-fiction titles. One a dinosaur picture book, full of fun facts which are always popular with young children.

The second is a picture book which through its lovely illustration teaches how to use British Sign Language to sign the song ‘5 Little Ducks’ so my nephew can sing in sign.

Soft Toys

For the plush toys, I found a beautiful knitted doppelganger for the Dinosaur who Lost her voice, and a few other dino-teddies to be her friends.

Activities

For the toys and activities I’ve included a toy microphone for singing and free-play, and a set of dinosaur puzzles. If you wish to make a story sack based around The Dinosaur who lost her Voice, you can find many puzzles and games that are dinosaur themes for any ability and age range.