Mrs Noah's Pockets

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In her enthralling debut, I Have No Secrets (Electric Monkey), Penny Joelson undertakes a difficult task, narrating from the perspective of a character without speech: 14-year-old Jemma, who has cerebral palsy. Relishing her apparent helplessness, her carer’s boyfriend confides to her that he has committed a murder – but when a technological advance offers Jemma the chance of a voice, she becomes a danger to him. Both a compelling thriller and a warm, lively portrait of unusual family life, Joelson’s first book marks her out as a writer to watch. Before you start sharing the story you might want to talk about the story of Noah’s Ark (see link below with a retelling). Read the story aloud to your child pausing to talk about what is happening in the story and the illustrations. Join in

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Look together at the rainy day pictures in the book and make your own. You could try with crayon or paint or draw lines, dashes and dots with a candle on paper and then paint with well diluted blue paint or ink. Be a weather spotter Comprehensive teachers’ notes designed to develop critical thinking skills and a more sophisticated, considered response to texts and illustrations.

Mrs Noah saved several mythical animals, including unicorns, dragons and griffins. Make a zig zag book for your child to draw illustrations of them. You could write some information together too ( see links below). Make up a story together

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We then read ‘Mrs Noah’s Garden’ which was focusing on renewal and starting afresh, just like we were doing in school. Using musical instruments, we completed some science showing how sounds travel, while making sounds that would be found in the garden.

Mr Noah is busy building the ark and sorting out the pairs of animals to join him, anxious at the same time to ensure that the ‘troublesome creatures’ are not included. There is no explanation of which animals fall into this category. Meanwhile, Mrs Noah is busy sewing, clue in the title, and visiting parts of the woods that are her special domain. Mysterious and intriguing, what she is doing is not revealed until the ark finally finds land after the great rains and we see, in a series of beautiful illustrations, the fantastical creatures she has saved.