This blog post is a small excerpt taken from a full review written in the UKLA’s 4-11 magazine.
Who hasn’t wondered what a certain key in their set of keys might actually be for? A long forgotten desk drawer, a cupboard, a gate, a long lost door? Well, the narrator and reader’s companion of this story (Skeleton Keys), has 10 keys (instead of fingers), and he knows exactly where they will take him – it might be places you’d rather not go! Keys open gateways to possibilities, and this story is full of them. The main protagonist, Ben…
This book would work nicely in a Year 3 or 4 class. It could be used to discuss ideas of loneliness and how to cope with it and what a friend is and does. It DT lessons children could try building things out of matchsticks, like Ben’s dad: this could be turned into a STEM challenge (tallest tower, strongest bridge etc). Children could imagine and draw their own and other peoples’ unimaginary friends. With the Gorblimey never speaking, children could act out his scenes and create dialogue for him, based on his character traits hinted at throughout the story. The wonderful illustrations, by Pete Williamson…
On the Literacy Shed Plus website (https://www.literacyshedplus.com/) there is a full set of 10 writing lessons planned to go with this book, and a reading planning scheme to go with the whole book!
A full review is available in the UKLA’s 4-11 magazine, along with many other reviews of books for children, along with many interesting and thought-provoking articles – https://ukla.org
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