A nice simple start to coding for children.
The book uses examples from the world around us to explain what the coding works to do and why it is good to understand. And then uses activities that help children to spark their imagination and inventing ideas.

A fascinating little collection of nursery rhymes, poems and little songs from around the world, accompanied by their language of origin (which I absolutely love) and some very sweet and simple illustrations.

I'm so glad I happened to stumble upon this in the library. This is a great starting place for something that I wish I saw more of in schools. Its not perfect, but I'm very impressed.

The book itself says it is aimed at 8-13 year olds. It talks about family death (specifically illness - cancer, but doesn't go into depth), contains one passing swear word 'taking the piss', and talks about big emotions like anger and grief.

I love that this book focuses on the emotions behind actions, explaining and reasoning why someone might lash out or act a certain way, but also neither condones nor judges the child's actions.

The book allows children to follow the process of resolving an issue, gives them a simple understanding of restorative justice, and how to communicate through an argument.
I love that is in an accessible format, and although it talks about emotions through the metaphor of a protective wall, never over complicates it too much.

It would be a perfect book for year 6 children, either as a tool for individuals who are considered to have repetitive challenging behaviour, or as a classroom tool to be read and inspected as a class to discuss how we never know everything about someone's life, and how communication is key to conflict resolution.

The book has a small back section for teachers/adults that is incredibly useful in providing a deeper explanation of the key points of restorative care, and could very easily be shared with a class and worked upon. It also signposts additional resources for deeper learning as well.

I would also like to note that the back section does a great job at pointing out that the initial reaction of the teachers who witnessed the outburst wasn't the best, but was very realistic - a typical punitive way that is commom in schools and society, and is exactly what leads to such high levels of exclusion.

I picked this up after inspiration from our curriculum design lecture where we were shown historical everyday life portraits.

If I think about history and the passing of time too hard I get a headache, but this collection of photography from the late 1800s to 1970 was still so nice to look through. Seeing how the fashion changes, how the older photos are blurred from children's movement, the differences in economic circumstances, and how some of the photos could easily be assumed as more recently taken!

I would love to use some of these with children in a classroom: I think it's much more useful to have children see other children, allowing them to connect, relate and compare easier.

I especially love comparing them to current day photos - maybe supplying photos of the same place to compare between, or getting children to take their own recreations of the photos with modern variations.

Anyone who has watched me lug this book around for the past month will already know my general opinions, but here we go I guess...

For reference, I really didn't enjoy Who Let The God's Out. I rated that 1 star.
The children in my book club picked this as their focus, so I was ready to give it a try and was hopeful for a change of heart.

Spoiler; no change I'm afraid.

I'd like to start with the fact that the children had very mixed opinions. I'll be talking to them tomorrow about what they thought of the ending, but up to now I've had children who I quote "would die for this book", children who rated it about a 3, and children who really didn't like it at all.

Personally, whilst I loved the story, I have so so so many issues with the book on the whole.

The story itself has so much potential! I /enjoyed/ the plot. If I didn't have so many issues with the writing, I would 100% read the next book because I honestly want to know what happens next. I want to know who big bad Umbra is (and if my guess is right). I would love to see how Vi and Russell get on in their new school. And I loved the ending of Vi's mum and dad's respective relationships - it felt both realistic and still happy.

However.
Vi Spy managed to outrage me on a whole other level, far surpassing the reasons I disliked Who Let The God's Out.

A lot of my issues with Who Let The God's Out came from pacing, plot and characters, which I feel Vi Spy did so much better at.
My only other big dislikes of the first book were the very cheesey, punny, personally not funny humour - which I respect is different for everyone, especially children.

But Vi Spy went way beyond just cheesey humour.

My 3 biggest issues:

1. Vi's mum being continuously and constantly incorrectly named. Practically deadnamed.
There was something so vile as a transgender person to watch everyone in a person's life, their mother, daughter, ex husband, best friend, and even the author, call someone by a name they do not go by and actively dislike. One of the character's (Vi's mother) ongoing punchlines is correcting people that her name is Susan, only to be ignored because 'Easter suits you better'...

I was talking to friends that if this turned out to be a drawn out lesson about respecting people's choices towards the end, I might let it slide, while still disliking the method. But no.
At the very end, Vi's mum instead decides to correct the one person who has always called her Susan (her new fiancé), and tell everyone that her name is really Easter.
No.
That is not how you do this.
Maz has effectively written a whole cast of characters bullying someone into taking their deadname back, because that's who they 'truly' were all along.
I know it is not the same thing as a transgender person's deadname, but it's all in all teaching children to disrespect someone's choice until they eventually listen to you.

2. I can deal with a fart joke every now and again. A smelly, crude, or silly joke. It's not my humour, but I know kids love it. I get it. But this was a David Walliams level of crude humour which I just have never understood a need for. No thank you. It just feels lazy.
Especially Siren. She was such a good character, and she didn't need to constantly have a punchline every other sentence about her warts or her portaloo-smelling breath or her refried bean toilet trips.

3. Dimitri the vampire.
I won't go on a long rant, but let's just say this is not how you write a 'white man conscious of privilege' character, even as a punchline. It was grossly miscalculated.

I hate that I have more, but I'm fully aware noone wants to just watch me rant.

Overall, I'm just so disappointed.
I would give it 1 star, as its made me angrier than Who Let The God's Out did, but the plot, the characters, and the story potential itself redeems it just enough for 2 stars.
In another world, I could have truly loved this book.

Generally, I really enjoyed this book. It had beautiful, creative art. The letter on the front peritext from the government if the city talking about the wall is a great way to introduce the concept (and would be great to use as a teacher to get kids thinking about the meanings), and I loved that a lone or two was referenced at the bottom of pages.

However, for a book that was published in 2019, I'm not a big fan of the 'yellow/blue' metaphor.
If I were to use this with a class, I would definitely have to relate it to actual people and give some real world context. Representation matters. There were so many options of children they could have picked to represent here, but instead fell back on imaginary colours.

A perfectly sweet rendition of the classic 'what do you want to be when you grow up' type of books.
What sets this one apart for me from the ones I've seen before, is its specific message of limitless possibilities, reflected in its adorable illustrations.

The cast of four diverse main characters (1 set of siblings and 2 more friends who all live on the same street) makes the message feel genuine. Unlike most of these kinds of books that I've read, where the main character is usually a singular white child, often male, although more recently I've seen a shift over to female leads.
This book instead presents 3 children of colour, and 1 disabled child- a cast that truly deserves to see themselves in a book with this message.

I love the art style, all the little details, colours and patterns.
I wish there were even more details: little treats to be able to tell even more about the children's lives, and windows into their homes beyond just the parents in the story.

Absolutely gorgeous art!
The story itself is such a good idea, and I can think of a lot of imaginative and artistic activities that could bounce from this story. I just wish it went on a little longer! It felt like only the beginning of something amazing.