I haven't even had a chacne to read this yet but the art for this is so beguilingly gorgeous that i can't help but give it 5 stars already. Varmints is a beautifully illustrated and thought-provoking picture book. The illustrations are dark and surreal, but they perfectly capture the sense of loneliness and isolation that the varmint feels. The story is simple but effective, and it teaches children important lessons about courage, friendship, and environmental protection. But someone is nurturing a little piece of wilderness, and at the right time takes it to the right place... and that little bit of wilderness grows. Even those who cannot access the text can understand the story from the pictures. The use of colour telling the reader everything.

This is athree-session spelling seed for the book Varmints by Helen Ward. Below is the coverage from Appendix 1 of the National Curriculum 2014. This is a three-week Writing Root using the film (which can be found online) and text of Varmints by Helen Ward and Marc Craste. The sequence of learning starts with children entering the classroom to find seeds and flowers mysteriously left with an urgent letter of appeal from the main protagonist in the text, urging children to look after them and learn all they can about these gifts. Children will go on to plant the seeds and write instructions about the process, collecting subject-specific vocabulary as they go. Children will also dissect the flowers left behind, identifying and labelling the various parts and explaining their various roles in reproduction and pollination. Children will be given opportunities to describe flowers, write letters and make speeches to a secret society of gardeners who plan to change the world through the power of nature. This series of lessons culminates in children writing an explanation text about the life cycle of a plant with a clear structure. Synopsis of Text:Once, the only sounds to be heard were the buzzing of bees in the grass, the murmuring of moles in the earth, and the song of birds in the sky. These warmed the hearts of those who cared to listen - until the others came to fill the sky with a cacophony of noise. With dramatically lit artwork and a spare, intriguing text, Varmints tells of a pastoral world in need of protection and of the souls who love it enough to ensure its regeneration. Text Rationale: A varmint is an animal that is considered to be a pest. Can you think of animals that this definition might include? Could you write a report about them? A breathtaking and magical piece of work, that is wholly original and allows your imagination space to work. Craste makes outstanding use of light to haunting and often poignant effect.'

How does the use of colour change as the story progresses? Could you use this technique in a storyboard for your own story? There is a Spelling Seed session for every week of the associated Writing Root. Coverage: Word List Words This book demands attention. From the curious creature staring out at the reader on the cover, to its large physical nature and wild typography and breath-taking art, Ward and Marc Craste's creation needs a patient orator and audience. A variety of themes could be interpreted - loss of natural habitat through urbanisation, loss of identity, societal collapse, Communism(?!), enduringly persistent hope and the joy of love - but therein lies the crux of reader response and exploratory talk. Varmints reminds me of Helen Ward's The Tin Forest also. Helen Ward trained as an illustrator at Brighton School of Art, under the direction of well-known children's illustrators such as Raymond Briggs, Justin Todd, Chris McEwan and John Vernon Lord. In 1985, her final year at Brighton, Helen was awarded the first Walker Prize for Children's Illustration. Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks. Home >Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments What are we to make of this book? Who does it suggest is to blame for despoiling of idyll there once was? While the text is self-consciously elliptical, one thing is clear: the blame lies with ‘Others’ who ‘came one day’ from outside, the ‘varmints’ (a variant, we are told, of the word vermin), with THEM. My notebooks and accompanying activities based on Helen Ward’s Varmints. The book heavily centres on environmental changes, with subtle hints of capitalism. Varmints tells an analogy, or parable, that mirrors our history in a condensed form. There are those who love the hum of bees, the whisper of the wind, the wilderness - and then others arrive, with their tall buildings that "scratched the sky where birds once sang. Those gentle sounds faded and were gone." Every day, more newcomers arrived, the noise grew and grew until they couldn't think ... "So they stopped thinking."

Spelling Seeds have been designed to complement Writing Roots by providing weekly, contextualised sequences of sessions for the teaching of spelling that include open-ended investigations and opportunities to practise and apply within meaningful and purposeful contexts, linked (where relevant) to other areas of the curriculum and a suggestion of how to extend the investigation into home learning. Once, the only sounds to be heard were the buzzing of bees in the grass, the murmuring of moles in the earth, and the song of birds in the sky. These warmed the hearts of those who cared to listen - until the others came to fill the sky with a cacophony of noise. With dramatically lit artwork and a spare, intriguing text, Varmints tells of a pastoral world in need of protection and of the souls who love it enough to ensure its regeneration. About This Edition ISBN: Hello Yellow - 80 Books to Help Children Nurture Good Mental Health and Support With Anxiety and Wellbeing -This story has been turned into a short film. Watch it and compare it with the book. Which do you prefer? Why?