This week, the Junior Librarians Shiv and Maya, both from Owl class, are sharing with us their favourite reads.

Firstly, Shiv recommends Supertato: Veggies in the Valleyof Doom, written by Sue Hendra and illustrated by Paul Linnet.

Shiv’s reason for his choice:“Supertato is one of my favourite book characters and this is my favourite Supertato story.”

Mrs Harvey would also promote Shiv’s choice. We hope that Shiv’s recommendation will encourage you to borrow one of our Supertato stories and have a chuckle with your grown up as you share the story together! We have all the different stories from the Supertato series in our Grimsdell library. It is a book that really demands to be shared -who doesn’t like to giggle over a story line?

In the fight of good versus evil many superheroes stand out. Batman. Spiderman. And now, straight from the aisles of the supermarket, we have Supertato. He's a cape wearing, belt toting spud. Variety unknown. The new superhero in town …

If you are not familiar with the Supertato stories, then now is the time! Join Supertato, the veggies and a certain Evil Pea on their adventure in the supermarket. This story forms part of the bestselling Supertato series by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet.

Supertato, Broccoli and their fruity friends discover a treasure map while they are playing hide and seek. The gang set off to hunt for treasure in the supermarket but dangers lurk down every aisle.

Quick-thinking Supertato keeps his friends safe from hungry creatures in the Valley of Doom and escapes a prickly situation in Cactus Canyon – but disaster strikes when quicksand leaves the group helpless. An unexpected hero takes centre stage which surprises everyone. Could Supertato’ s old foe, Evil Pea, be turning a new leaf?

This fifth book in the Supertato series brings another fast-paced and colourful story, full of exciting twists and turns. But as well as being an adventure story full of fun and laughter, it’s also a sweet tale about friends who always look out for each other.

This is a pacey romp of a book – every page is bursting with action, peril and drama. A hilarious and anarchic story with truly brilliant characters. No child could fail to fall in love with Supertato and his veggie companions. Bright, fun illustrations sit alongside straightforward but clever text that both adults and little ones will enjoy. But be warned: you will be asked to read it again and again. And again …

Secondly, Maya recommends one of her favourite fiction books, If I Had a Polar Bear written by Gabby Dawnay and illustrated by Alex Barrow.

Maya explains her choice:“I love the illustrations in this book and I think that my brother would really enjoy this story.”

Mrs Harvey supports Maya’s book of choice. It is a highly entertaining read. A great book for reading at bedtime and for encouraging young children to use their imagination.

If I Had A Polar Bear by Gabby Dawnay and Alex Barrow is a heart-warming picture book about love and imagination. A young girl dreams of owning a polar bear and all the things they could do together. As well as being a lovely story it is full of interesting facts about polar bears. I enjoyed the way the illustrations are part of the text.

What would it be like to have a polar bear as a pet? It might be an unconventional choice, but it would be sure to give the best bear hugs… Polar bears are cuddly but they’re also very strong. As marine mammals, they can swim for days at a time – that’s serious perseverance! So, if Santa ever needed help delivering his presents, guess who he would call? Join our funny female protagonist as she wonders ‘what would life be like… if I had a polar bear?’

Written in rhyming couplets this book is easy to read aloud. The illustrations of the polar bear as a faint pencil outline gives the desired effect of the polar bear being imaginary but also highlights how a polar bear’s fur is translucent not white. I particularly liked the addition of double-page spreads with no text. The pastel colours add to the magical feel of the story.

I have written before of the importance of rhyme in the development of early language and literacy skills. Research into early literacy skills shows the importance of rhythm and rhyme. Developing literacy skills begin with listening and verbalising rather than reading and writing. That comes later. Children need a good grasp of phonics and the ability to discriminate sounds and rhyming patterns in an audible way in order to become confident readers.

Stories written in rhyme and rhythm help our children develop auditory discrimination, listening skills, a rich and broad vocabulary, a love of words, concentration skills, phonemic awareness and poetry skills. This in turn stimulates imaginative, descriptive skills – an essential component of creative writing.

Recent research (Sullivan and Brown, 2015) into the development and acquisition of early literacy skills has conclusively shown that rhythm and rhyme play a hugely important role. This is because children’s early literacy skills are about listening and speaking rather than reading and writing. These first two skills are the bedrock foundation for the latter and create much stronger ability in the latter if ingrained deeply and early on. It’s simply not possible to be a good writer if you don’t first of all have a good vocabulary. Similarly, it’s very hard to learn phonics and sight words if you can’t discriminate sounds and rhyming patterns in an audible way.The research states that when comparing the literary abilities of school age children, those who had a good understanding of rhyme from an early age, vastly outperformed those who had little exposure to it before they started school.

Happy Reading!

Mrs Harvey