Find out more about badgers. Where do they live? What do they eat? Can you write a report about them? Look at photos of badgers (and other forest animals) and use these as the starting point for your own pictures and paintings. Julia Eccleshare, the editorial expert on Lovereading4kids says, Prize-winning illustrator Emily Gravett’s distinctive illustrations are always full of wit bringing the unexpected into stories and injecting them all with delightful humour. There’s magic in Spells as a frog turns himself into a handsome prince – well, almost!, excellent advice for rabbits on how to spot the danger of wolves in Wolves, lots of useful tips on how to be braver than you feel in Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears, a thoughtful exploration of how home often turns out to be best despite feelings of wanderlust in Meerkat Mail, a celebration of exuberant movement in Monkey and Me and a fresh and delightful look at Dogs. The Window is a stunning example of collage work which may inspire creativity in illustrations of children. Can you create a book that has a ‘window’ in the front cover? Could you use this window in different creative ways?

Create some pictures of trees using finger painting. Here are some instructions from the author, Emily Gravett: The winner of two CILIP Kate Greenaway Medals, her skill and wit are second to none. Emily first sprang into the limelight with the ground-breaking Wolves in 2005, which has been followed by such modern classics as Meerkat Mail, Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears, Monkey and Me and Again! and the fabulous Bear and Hare series for younger readers, as well as the beautiful Tidy, Old Hat, Cyril and Pat and Meerkat Christmas. Carry out some role-play activities based on the book, e.g. interview the other forest animals to ask them what they think about Pete’s actions. The message is admirable and the cut-out cover enticing, but the greatest joy is in the comic expressions, hand-wrought images and witty detail. Sunday Times Children might like to try use the Drop Box programme to try and make their own illustrations more detailed and entertaining.

Give AI a Try!

Look at this animated version of the story. Could you create your own animated retelling of the book?

This book is also about the impact humans have on the world. It has no words and uses beautifully created collage to show the progress of a scene from a window showing creeping urbanisation, over a period of possibly twenty years. The attention to detail is fascinating and the message, like the other books, is about our own part in the impact on the environment and the changes we might need to make. Badger Characters in children’s literature. Find the locations of forests in your local area. Could you visit some of them? Plan the journey there. I laughed myself silly reading this one. I just could see what would happen to the forest, well OK I didn't totally expect that at the end, but I was close. :P Poor animals, I wonder why they didn't try harder to stop the badger. It was quite fun how it started with just cleaning here and there and then escalated to that. Lush foliage and delightfully funny characters abound in this dramatic tale of overzealous neatness that delivers its message of environmental preservation with subtlety and humour. The freshness and vibrancy of the illustrations, the endearing charm of the animal characters, and the many deft comic details throughout make this a very special book - once you enter this forest, you'll never want to leave.

Curriculum

With some adult help with cutting, children can make their own peep through picture. Your child can draw their own picture of Pete or another woodland animal in the centre of a piece of A 4 paper. (Find the centre of the paper by folding it in half and then half again). Fold the second in the same way then draw a wiggly circle around the centre and cut around the line to make a hole slightly bigger than your child’s picture, the drawing should peep through. Children can decorate the frame with a woodland scene using crayons or felt pens. As you read the story again leave gaps so children can join in with parts, for example finishing some of the rhymes and the repeated section ‘No mud, no leaves’ etc. Talk more about the story Look at this video interview with the author. Think of some questions that you would like to ask her: After really enjoying Meerkat Mail, I decided to look at some of Emily Gravett's other work. Contrasting MM, this is a very simple story, most suitable for EYFS (but still wouldn't be out of place in a KS1 book corner). A badger named Pete loves to clean the forest - to the extent that he chops it all down and replaces it with concrete, so it can never get messy ever again. But he realises that he's gone too far - both he and other animals rely on the forest. Together, they re-build it, and from now on Pete decides that only the actual rubbish should be put in the bin.