This all new ‘Read & Respond’ title provides teachers with a range of activities to share and explore Philippa Pearce’s masterpiece Tom’s Midnight Garden with their classes. Divided into sections on guided and shared reading, textual analysis (plot, character and setting), speaking & listening, writing, and assessment, it provides a wealth of suggestions from which teachers could construct an extended unit of work, both in literacy and across the curriculum.

In the shared reading section, carefully-chosen photocopiable extracts and discussion prompts offer opportunities for close, attentive reading of Pearce’s skill as a wordsmith. These are supported by guided reading notes for over a dozen sessions, providing an excellent structure for tackling a long novel. There are invitations for children to pose and explore their own questions, to reflect on word choice and to discuss characters, issues and key themes.

A multi-sensory, active approach to learning is the foundation for all the suggested activities, allowing for deep and sustained engagement with a rich, multi-layered novel. To enable a range of response, Gamble proposes the use of a multimedia journal, where children can make written responses alongside more creative works of poetry and drawing, music and collage. Numerous opportunities for drama are outlined. These range from the more familiar hotseating and freeze framing, through a structured approach to improvisation, to the exploration of the story as playscript (using an excellent extract from David Wood’s stage adaptation).  Although some of the accompanying worksheets seemed rather unnecessary, I was impressed by the ‘Time Flies’ talk cards, a resource which could prompt rich discussion of the novel’s central theme. Teachers will also find useful ideas for incorporating ICT and multimedia, from comparing the novel and TV adaptation to creating web pages and digital recordings.

Flexible, inexpensive and accessible, this ‘Read and Respond’ title offers more than time-saving ideas for busy teachers; it suggests a model approach to classic children’s fiction and to placing it at the heart of a creative primary curriculum.

2009-08-13