This week’s contributor is Megan Blandford, a fellow book blogger who likes to spend her time writing, reading, travelling and photographing. Megan lives in Melbourne with her husband and their beautiful, energetic toddler. Megan blogs at Writing Out Loud about all manner of things that pop into her head, and indulges her love of children’s literature at Kids Book Review. Megan’s chosen topic for this week’s Fantastic Fiction for Kids is adventure! If you’re ready to explore and have some fun with an occasional Australian twist then I’ll hand you straight over to Megan:
Some stories are told to communicate a lesson, others are just for fun and silliness… but there’s nothing like a good old tale of adventure to capture a child’s imagination. Here are some of my daughter’s (okay, MY!) favourite adventure stories:
Wendy by Gus GordonAn adventurous chicken leaves the farm to pursue a career with the circus, performing as Wendy the Flying Chicken. She becomes famous for her stunt jumps, being written about in the newspaper and interviewed on television. Wendy has everything she ever dreamed of, but she still wants more, so she carefully devises the biggest stunt of her career. But when she crashes, she thinks of life back home on the farm, with her family. It’s back to the quiet life for Wendy… although her schemes aren’t finished just yet. A funny, beautifully written and superbly illustrated story.
Leaf by Stephen Michael KingA little boy escapes his mother and her looming promise to cut his hair, heading outside for an adventure. When a bird drops a seed in his unkempt hair and a leaf sprouts, the boy is thrilled and searches for a way to water it and make it grow and grow. His boisterous canine companion bears the brunt of all the misadventure. This is a unique story without text, allowing King’s wonderful illustrations to shine and tell their own version of events. It will make you laugh hysterically.
Where on Earth is the Moon? by Ruth Martin, illustrated by Olivier LatykLuna is obsessed with the moon and loves to watch it shine down on her. But she’s curious about where it goes during the day. She decides to stay up and watch where it disappears to but, falling asleep each time, she is instead taken on adventures in her dreams. Luna heads higher than the mountains, further than the clouds, beyond the ocean and eventually finds the answer. This is a stunning, beautifully descriptive adventure of the imagination.
Rufus the Numbat by David MillerRufus doesn’t even know he’s on an adventure when he heads from the city back to his home in the bush. But the people he’s encountered sure do. He causes all sorts of chaos and mishap, from sending a cyclist flying to getting under the feet of a dragon at the grand parade. The greatest appeal of this story is the amazing paper sculpture illustrations and the unusual contrast between the slow, methodical text and frantic visual scenes.
Vivi Finds Bean by Vanessa HolleVivi is so keen to meet her godmother, Bean, that she heads on a quest from Germany all the way over to Sydney to find her. Travelling on whales, turtles and kangaroos, she makes her way across the seas and the great big land of Australia to stay with her beloved Bean. This story is told in funny rhyme and the words flow right across the pages in their own mini adventure.
Songs about adventuring!
Activities which might go well with these books:
Megan’s selection has certainly provided me with a few more books to add to my wish list – Thank you Megan!
If any of you have more suggestions for great picture books on the theme of adventure, please let us know about them via the comments, and do please visit Megan over at Writing Out Loud and say hello!
8 Responses
Megan Blandford
Thanks for having me on Fantastic Fiction, Zoe!
Zoe
It’s a real pleasure, Megan!
Tania McCartney
I love it! Adore Megan’s choices and will be scouting through my own collection for more adventure titles to suggest. Wonderful work, Megsy! and keep up the great work, Zoe – we’ll blog about this on Kids Book Review!
x
Zoe
Hi Tania,
Thanks for your lovely comment! One of the things I loved about Megan’s post was the fact that it did exactly what I hoped for with FFoK – it drew on megan’s own background and introduced me to books I’d never have found for myself – the australian books are all new to me and ones I’d now love to get hold of.
maggy, red ted art
Oh Zoe! STOP IT! Our library is already TOO big.. not MORE fabulous books for us to be tempted by 😉 they are going on the wishlist… as Red Ted gets older, I am sure we will, erm, need more books!!!
Maggy
Zoe @ Playing by the book
Sorry Maggy! You should see the length of my wishlist though 🙂
Zoe @ Playing by the book
I’ve just come across this list of adventure themed books from the Booktrust:
http://www.booktrustchildrensbooks.org.uk/Recommended-Books/Children%27s-Book-Lists/Ten-adventure-books
Fantastic Adventure Fiction
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