Jack at Sea

Characteristically imaginative picture book from the artist whose Going West and Dear Daddy are now firm favourites. There's pace and atmosphere in this tale, set in the Napoleonic wars, of a young boy who follows his press-ganged friend to the high seas. The artist's particular skill is in keeping the surface text simple (seeming): past tense narrative, with detail kept to a minimum. This enables readers of seven-up to read the book in one setting to get the story. Then, they pore over the picture, with their abundance of detail. So, the whole of the book is much greater than the parts. I know of one class of tens who've both researched the history and written their own texts, based in other times, for younger children.