The Great Fire of London

Review also includes:

Homes, ***, 978-0237524074

Seaside Holidays, ***, 978-0237524098

Florence Nightingale, ****, 978-0237524104

Toys, ***, 978-0237524081

The titles in this new series have a clear purpose: they support the units in the History Schemes of Work at Key Stage One (5-7 year olds). Young children are prepared for later study by being introduced to ways of acquiring evidence and ways of comparing ‘then and now’. Each book also tries to develop a sense of time by providing chronologies of selected background information and, in Florence Nightingale and The Great Fire of London, including a sequence of pictures as a framework to help the child retell the events. In the United Kingdom, texts to support the curriculum areas often also have a role in the literacy hour as examples to explain the construction of non-fiction texts. These books contain a useful range of non-fiction writing – non-narrative text, diary entries, newspaper reports, letters and annotations on diagrams and posters. The clear, attractive design and the quality and abundance of the illustrations (which include old and contemporary photographs, posters, paintings and diagrams) are likely to appeal to the visually aware, computer literate 5-7 year olds of today. The ‘straight off the press’ impression is further reinforced by the copious websites included alongside books and places to visit in the ‘further information’ sections.

Old photographs and paintings appeal to young imaginations and these are particularly well chosen and placed in Florence Nightingale. Children are told the story of Florence’s work in tending soldiers during the Crimean War, but also encouraged to think like young historians by reflecting on how we find evidence of a person’s life and times. Seaside Holidays also has interesting photographs but, in some cases, larger images would have been more helpful to compare the clothes worn a hundred years ago with today’s.

Toys does rather better with delightful, large pictures of rubber Minibrix, wooden toys like a Noah’s Ark, old steam engines and rag, plastic and china dolls. The contrast between old and contemporary materials used for making toys is clearly shown, but adults should be prepared to answer questions about how some of the toys worked.

Supplementary material on each topic is provided for parents and teachers and I particularly like the vocabulary lists. (The same words appear at the bottom of appropriate pages throughout the book.) I have often said that reflective practitioners like to think of their own ideas for activities and discussion topics, but many of those suggested in each of these books would be a helpful starting point.

Each book aims to stimulate thought and intelligent speculation but I think some of the titles succeed here more than others. The Great Fire of London encourages young readers to discuss why a little fire became a big fire and whether there were any good outcomes from a tragic event. Perhaps Homes is a little less exciting, not really going much beyond the familiar ‘then’ and ‘now’ comparisons. Telling us that a microwave oven ‘uses electricity and cooks food quickly’ does not take us very far but, to be fair, the teacher or parent can explain further. And this is the point to emphasise about these books. They are well organised and often imaginatively illustrated but the text is fairly minimal so that we need the informed mediation of teacher or parent in answering questions and extending comment if children are to learn from them.