Before going any further I should admit that I’m re-reading this book right now sighing with recognition; as a parent who just wants a little bit of piece and quiet, but with children rushing around thinking they’ve got the latest, greatest idea for having fun, and who just cannot understand why I don’t find their games (jumping out at me, sneaking up on me, making a racket) just as enjoyable as they do… I think this review is going to reflect my current end of half-term (holiday) weariness!

All Solomon (a rather handsome crocodile) wants to do is have fun, whether it’s splashing through mud or charging at hippos. But unfortunately for poor Solomon, those around him do not enjoy his high jinks. Rather they snap at Solomon for being a nuisance, a pest, for being trouble. Poor Solomon! All he wants to do is play.

After several failed attempts at fun Solomon hears a familiar noise… Who is bugging the dragonflies? Who has the storks in flap? Could it be that double trouble is on the horizon?

Kids will love the playfulness, the naughtiness and the idea of having a partner in crime. Adults (or at least those who’ve played their hearts out all holidays and now just want to have some time alone!) will empathise with the harried river residents Solomon sneaks up on in his quest to have fun. Everyone will love the dazzling, bold illustrations for which Rayner is well known.

Some readers may be disappointed this story doesn’t take a more upright moral stance on Solomon’s at-best-mischievous-at-worst-annoying behaviour, others might say this book is more about observation than sermonizing. Solomon may be a rather rascally little crocodile but he’s one, drawn with great charm, that has found a place in our hearts!

Inspired by Rayner’s beautiful, highly textured drawings of Solomon we wanted to create our own scaly creatures. The girls used ink and cotton buds to draw outlines of their animals (mostly snakes and dinosaurs) and then sprinkled wax crayon shavings inside their bodies.

I placed a piece of baking paper over their drawings and ironed the wax shavings, which melted creating mottled scales. The girls then filled up their animals with watercolour washes.

A final touch was using gold and silver pens to add highlights to the scales – just as is done on the very alluring front cover of Solomon Crocodile.

Our artwork complete, it was hung in our favourite gallery (aka the kitchen).

The texture is something best appreciated up close!

Whilst painting we listened to:

Other fun activities that would work well alongside this book include:

What’s your favourite crocodile book? What do you feel about picture books which don’t take a principled stand against “bad” behaviour? Should naughtiness always be commented upon if we want to use books as a way to explore appropriate behaviour with kids?

Disclosure: Solomon Crocodile was provided to me gratis by the publisher. This review, however, reflects my own and honest opinion.

Over at the Simply Science blog Shirley reviews the Wild Animal Atlas from the National Geographic, which looks like a wonderful Christmas present to me

My own contribution to NF Monday is all about a series of fantastic science project books I’ve recently discovered.

Heinemann Library’s Science Projects series consists of 10 books jam packed with stimulating, engaging science projects on topics ranging from Astronomy and Space to Ecosystems, Cells and Systems to Matter and Energy.

Each book includes an introduction with clear, thoughtful information on how to carry out scientific research appropriately pitched at 10-12 year olds. Both my husband and I have taught research methods and were very impressed by the discussions in these books including the importance of background research, what an experiment is, how to formulate a hypothesis and how to keep records.

If you were a homeschooler without a science background I think these books would be a fantastic starting point. That said, the experiments described are so engaging and fun (the sort of thing that might be repackaged with less thorough discussion in books like The Dangerous Book for Boys) that I think any family would enjoy these projects.

Although aimed at kids older than M and J we’ve ordered the entire series through our library, so impressed have we been by the imaginative experiments. With a bit of adapting, we got lots of projects lined up to do as a family including investigating the absorbancy of nappies, discovering why the Statue of Liberty is green, working out what makes the difference in a good biscuit recipe, what effects the twinkling of stars, and how good mud is as a suncreen! If you’ve got a science fair coming up or simply a curious mind treat yourselves to these books – they really are the best science books I’ve yet come across for kids.

Illustration: Shirin Adl for Children's Book Week 2010

As part of Children’s Book Week a special pack has been created (primarily with teachers in mind, but available to anyone to download) including book lists relating to this year’s theme for different age groups, for example:

For younger children:

For emerging readers

Poetry from around the world:

Photo: Noel Feans

For 5-7 year olds one of the featured books is The Day The Rains Fell by Anne Faundez and Karin Littlewood. I loved Littlewood’s illustrations in The Colour Of Home (included in my round up of books for National Refugee Week), so I was keen to get hold of The Day The Rains Fell to read with M and J.

The Day The Rains Fell is an African creation story. Lindiwe and her daughter Thandi descend from the sky to visit Lindiwe’s creations – animals and landscapes around the word – to check that all is well with them. Although pleased with what they see, they realise that something is missing: life-giving rain.

Not only does Lindiwe the ensure that the rains do fall, she also creates pools from clay pots for water to collect in.

Lindiwe spoke to the animals.
“From this day on, when it rains
my pots will fill with water and
you will enver go thirsty again.”

Whilst Lindiwe was creating pots, Thandi used some clay to create beads. To thank Thandi and her mother for the rains, the animals use their plumage, skin and scales to colour the beads (“…Flamingo used her feather to paint some beads pink. Zebra rolled on his beads to turn them black and white…”) creating a glorious, rainbow necklace for Thandi to wear.

Both girls and I enjoyed the story, especially over a very wet weekend as we’ve just had, where it has been good to be reminded how important rain is! Although it does not detract from the storytelling in the book I have not been able to establish whether this creation myth is one actually based on an African tradition, or simply a creation (no pun intended) from the head of the author.

Nathalie Mvondo, who writes at the wonderful Multiculturalism Rocks! helped me out with some background; there are indeed several earth creator goddesses in various African traditions (such as Ala, an Ibo/Nigerian goddess incarnating Mother Earth or Asase Ya an Ashanti creator goddess), but none that she or I could immediately identify as Lindiwe or Thandi.

Given that at the end of the book there is a double page spread contextualising the manufacture and importance of pots and beads in Africa, a note on the cultural/religious context of this story would have fitted in very naturally. Perhaps its absence is explained if this version of the creation myth is not one that is actually documented in Africa.

Leaving aside issues that are perhaps mainly the interest of cultural scholars, what really stands out in this book is the visual imagery. Vivid, bold, but also tender, Karin Littlewood’s watercolour illustrations are sumptuous. Her characterizations of African animals is spot on – they are beautiful, noble and yet full of the fun that is so appealing to young children. If you’d like to see for yourself what I mean, several illustrations from The Day The Rains Fell can be seen here on Karin Littlewood’s website.

As well as being a thoughtful, interesting story, with illustrations full of brilliance and colour, The Day The Rains Fell offers so many possibilities for further play. Our immediate response was to make some colourful bracelets, inspired by the lovely necklaces in the book.

First we used food colouring to paint handfuls of cheerios.

In the process we ate quite a few cheerios and spread food colouring all over the place.

Once the food colouring had dried (we left our “beads” to dry over night), we threaded them on to long pipecleaners.

We filled up our pipecleaners with our colourful beads and then twisted the ends together to complete our bracelets. Easy peasy, surprisingly beautiful and rather satisfying to make.

The Day The Rains Fell: ** (2 stars)

Music to enjoy alongside this lovely book could include:

Further ideas for games and creativity inspired by The Day The Rains Fell include:

A nonfiction book which would pair up brilliantly with The Day The Rains Fell is Animal Colors: A Rainbow Of Colors from Animals Around the World, which I first discovered thanks to this review at Wild About Nature. Another book I can’t wait to read Karin Littlewood’s newest book, which came out last month – Immi. It looks like a winner!