Our First meeting after theSummer holidays was on Thursday 17th of September. We had some new members and kids from last year as well. This meeting was all about picture books for older kids. There are some realy great picture books aimed at older children that often get missed, they can  have fantastic pictures and great stories in them. Some books just have pictures and you have to guess the story. We picked two books to look at together

Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocenti & Ian Mc Ewan

Rose Blanche was the name of a group of young German citizens who, at their peril, protested against the war. Like them, Rose observes all the changes going on around her which others choose to ignore. She watches as the streets of her small German town fill with soldiers. One day she sees a little boy escaping from the back of a truck, only to be captured by the mayor and shoved back into it. Rose follows the truck to a desolate place out of town, where she discovers many other children, staring hungrily from behind an electric barbed wire fence. She starts bringing the children food, instinctively sensing the need for secrecy, even with her mother. Until the tide of the war turns and soldiers in different uniforms stream in from the East, and Rose and the imprisoned children disappear for ever . . .

Grandfather's Journey By Allan Say

A Japanese-American man recounts his grandfather's journey to America, which he later undertakes himself, and the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.


After reading and taking about these books we had a look at other picture books for older readers

 

And then everyone picked up the book for the next meeting on  Thursday the 15th of October

Mr Gum and the Biscuit Billionaire by Andy Stanton