TEY-10.2

LOLA THE PLANT HUNTER (Scholastic, paperback, £6.99) A polar bear in the Amazon jungle? That’s not something you expect to see every day! In Lola the Plant Hunter, the first book of Sharon Rentta’s new Animal Explorers series, that is exactly what you have. In a story inspired by real-life plant hunters, we see Lola the polar bear learn about her Grandpa’s adventures as a famous plant hunter. Lola then leaves the Arctic in search of the one plant her Grandpa could never find - the elusive Singing Orchid in the Amazon jungle. She becomes determined to make her Grandpa proud and complete his search. Along the way, Lola makes lots of friends and sees an amazing variety of flowers. Her mantra, “I’m a bear on a mission!” takes her through the jungle in search of that one great prize. After battling heat, a shark and escaping a river of mud, Lola’s dreams finally come true. She finds the Singing Orchid! The highly detailed illustrations bring the story life as the reader follows Lola throughout her search. Lola shows that determination is important in making dreams come true. SUPER SLOTH (Andersen Press, paperback £6.99) It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s......Super Sloth?? In the world of superheroes there emerges the most unlikely character. Every student will be cheering for Sloth as he saves the day. Robert Starling follows up on his success from his debut book Fergal is Fuming to introduce us to Sloth. Everything about Sloth is ordinary, until the day he discovers a strange new leaf- a comic showing him what a superhero can do. When Toucan’s mangos are stolen, Sloth becomes inspired. Even though he can’t fly, or run fast, or leap tall buildings, he demonstrates that courage and tenacity can overcome adversity- and recapture the missing mangos! The children will enjoy the simple, straight-forward story and colourful illustrations as they follow Sloth in his quest. While cheering Sloth as he makes his way past the guards to sneak up on Anteater, the children will learn that maximising your strengths leads to success. Sloths may be quiet and slow, but Starling shows us that they, like our students, can often surprise us. Get ready to be inspired while learning to love sloths all over again! LITERALLY (What on Earth Books, hardback, £11.99) Where do words come from? How do we start using them in everyday language? What words do we commonly use that came from a language other than English? Most of us are accustomed to using borrowed words in our everyday lives, without putting much thought into it. A lot of these words revolve around food and clothing: taco, pizza, pashmina or pants. But what if we were to stop and look at where common words came from? As we know, incorporating entertaining non-fiction into the day can be a struggle. Patrick Shipworth’s latest picture book turns on our brain when delving into the science of etymology, while Nicholas Stevenson’s illustrations delight the eye. Focusing on English words, the book looks at the origin of the word, it’s current meaning and links the word to languages around the world. With strong ties to geography, children have fun exploring the connections to indigenous languages and cultures both past and present, showing how- no matter where we are from- we are all interconnected. A riveting must-read! TheBookCorner GREAT TITLES TO SHARE WITH YOUR BUDDING READERS 56 Teachearlyyears.com