I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married. Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my BEDTIME STORIES list. Peter Fogarty has kindly contributed a set of Thinking Hat resources linked to the book (see Resources below). This favourite picture book is a real delight: an ingenious and humorous story with a rhythmical text that is ideal for reading aloud. Axel Scheffler has artistically surpassed himself with the brightly-coloured illustrations, which give convincing and expressive features to all the different characters. The unlikely group of a cat, dog, bird and frog form a great alliance as the continue to help the witch and continue their travels together.

We just loved the story, the frog with his pond, the cat, the dog and a bird - overload the broom to the inevitable snap point - but the witch is too generous to worry about details like that, and anyway she simply magics up a new broom at the end of the story, a new de-luxe version. There's a dragon, who is scared away by the joint, although unplanned creation of a monster, covered in mud. Questions for Philosophical Discussion » Summary Room on the Broom considers questions about friendship, helping others, and teamwork.My son loves this book and watching the film. He loves when I use different voices for the characters. He knows the story so well he is beginning to retell the story independently. We love reading books by Julia Donaldson. Noisy books aside, this is the best. He likes to point at the witch and the cat and the dog and the bird and the frog. He likes to mimic the dramatic, booming, Brian Blessed-esque voice I used for the ' down came the broom' line, around which each verse hinges. My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes. This, archetype-ally, is about the power of the Crone. She cares for others and they become loyal to her. They area force for good. She is not alone after all her children are gone. It's a great representation of that.

If the animals knew that the witch could not make room on her broom for them, do you think they still would have helped her? A really good read-aloud story, with great rhythm, rhyme and repetitive elements. My son is 16 months old, and Room on the Broom is currently his second favourite book - he goes and gets it himself from his book shelf most days, which is really cute. The dog, cat, frog, and bird all contributed to the statue to scare off the dragon. Would it have mattered if the frog had refused to help? The kids love this story. They have watched the show over and over and love the book. They both gave the book 5 stars, which might not be fair, but they love it. They can practically recite the lines of the book. Still, it's the first time to read it for all of us. Look at the use of punctuation within the story. Can you explain why each type of punctuation has been used?At the end of the story, the animals unite to save the witch from the mean dragon. Why did they do this and what made them successful? What does it mean to work on a team? What makes a good team? Questions for Philosophical Discussion Friendship As far as children's books go, this is a better one. It takes for granted that everyone knows what a witch is and that they fly on brooms. This doesn't feel like an unreasonable assumption. Then, without any judgment for the witch, it proceeds in a sing-song manner to show the witch including more and more friends with her as she flies. Their friendship ultimately pays off.

It is in my opinion often rather difficult if not even pretty well rare to find poetry specifically conceptualised for younger children that is not only thematically and content wise fun and engaging but that also presents itself at the same time as lyrically and rhythmically adept (in other words, I mean to say that I do tend to find it often not all that easy to find children specific poetry that does not read somewhat awkwardly and haltingly at times, that continuously presents both a good and successful rhyme scheme and a decent and melodious lyrical flow).If the animals only helped the witch because they wanted something in return, does this make it a selfish act? We're a family of witch fans and this book is so much fun to read and very exciting for my little boy. Great opportunity to do silly voices for all the different characters and the rhymes are fab. Love this book! I bought this for my 2-and-a-half year son, and this soon became one of his favourites. The rhyming, repetition and illustrations keep his attention throughout the story. My son found a broom in the garden shortly after and was acting out the story using it! Great book for capturing the imagination. Funnily enough, I find it harder to write not in verse, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it! My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. I have just finished writing a novel for teenagers. And you can never get them started on fantasy too young - good witches and bad dragons - perfect! We'll get him reading Tolkien before he's ten...

Think about a time when you have worked with a team. Were you successful in what you wanted to accomplish? The witch eventually makes room on the broom for a cat, dog, bird, and frog. Are all of these characters considered friends? Students can discuss what makes people friends. Would you have made friends with the witch? How do you treat your friends? Further, because the witch allows everyone on her broom, it snaps in two. Students can consider why the witch continued to make room on her broom when there wasn’t really room.

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler are the creators of many beloved picture books including The Gruffalo , The Gruffalo's Child , The Snail and the Whale , and The Spiffiest Giant in Town . Fantastic book defo mummys favourite! We love the rhyming in and my little girl (10 months) loves it if you put on different accents for the different characters and do the sound effects too. The story really flows making it easy to remember so you can really get into it and act it out. From former Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson and longtime collaborator Axel Scheffler comes this much-loved tale about a witch and her gang of friends. Why did the witch let the animals on her broom? Would you have made room on the broom for the animals?