Illustrated by Daniel Egneus
Published by Oxford University Press, April 2022
A new house, a new school, new friends and ... a very special bench!
Topic: children's fiction, friendship
Age: 5+
Pages:32
Level: Young learners
Skills: reading for pleasure
Description: Tilly has just moved to a new house, by the splash and curl of the sea. She loves doing cartwheels in the sand and playing catch with Mummy and Shadow the dog. But when it is time to start her new school, Shadow and Mummy must stay outside. And inside is full of strangers. 'Why don't you try The Friendship Bench?' says her teacher, when Tilly is playing alone. 'It helps children find new friends to play with.' But when Tilly gets there, somebody is already on it . . .
Aims: talk about making friends, feelings.
Language and lexis: revise verbs in the present and past tense.
learn words connected with the beach, making friends or school routines.
My opinion: All the summer reading recommendations are intented to be shared with children in a relaxed period of the year. I also want to offer ideas to engage children in a talk while and after reading the stories, to reflect upon different aspects of life.
Summer holidays are a good opportunity to talk about changes in our lives and how we feel about them. Life, after all, is about changes and adapting to them.
The book is a warm, beautiful story, an invitation to talk about what children feel when moving home, starting school and making friends. Exquisitely illustrated!!.
More books by the author: Wendy Meddour – Children's writer, illustrator and academic
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