Friday 22 June 2012

Today Was a Terrible Day-Patricia Reilly Giff

Absolutely delighted reading this book!

On first glance it does seem it is in line with Judith V's book, 'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day' but it differs with a twist in the tale and its classroom setting.
Susanna Natti has done a wonderful job of illustrating those frustrating emotions and feelings as well as school life. I loved the hand written note-it looked so real with the blue ball point ink!
In my internet search about Patricia I came across her blog and understood the book better. Patricia was a teacher for 20 years. As part of a write up on her here, she says,
"All of my books are based in some way on my personal experiences, or the experiences of members of my family, or the stories kids would tell me in school."
I liked this book even better when I read this as well in the write up: "I want the children to bubble up with laughter, or to cry over my books. I want to picture them under a cherry tree or at the library with my book in their hands. But more, I want to see them reading in the classroom. I want to see children in solitude at their desks, reading, absorbing, lost in a book."

Worth recommending for talking to your kid about having a sense of humour. My kid laughs loudly every time we go over the , "Hello Michael? This is Snakey." bit in the end.
Worth recommending also for narrating how school life really is-being called names, being laughed at, feeling left out , and then happy times because I really do believe children live in the moment.
But most of all worth recommending for the delicate teacher-student bond that shines through in this book.