Monthly Archives: October 2018

Paul Fleischmann, The Matchbox Diary

Posted on October 14, 2018 by KW

If you enjoyed the themes of The Arrival, this might be a picture book you would enjoy next. There are words in this, but only a few to tie the story together; most of the story focuses on the fascinating individual matchboxes in the collection of a little girl’s great-grandfather. These matchboxes create the diary of his life which he started when he was unable to read or write. His marvellous collection of objects reveal the twists and turns in his life following his immigation to New York from Italy as a child. This makes a thought-provoking and almost poetic tale which sends you on a voyage of discovery. Its themes and images of early twentieth century migration offer an interesting parallel to The Arrival.

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Shaun Tan, The Arrival, a review by Meerkat34

Posted on October 14, 2018 by KW

The Arrival is a heart-warming story about a family of three and… a threat.

When the threat begins to take over the whole town, the father must find a new home for himself and his family. He travels over to a new country which is very strange and different to his old home.

After around a month, the man writes a letter back to his wife and daughter to tell them he will send money when he gets a job.

Two years pass and the family still haven’t reunited! Will they ever meet again?…

This is a great book for any age. I recommend that you discuss the pictures on each page as it really helps you to understand the storyline. I enjoyed this book because the idea of just pictures is fantastic – something really different to books I’ve read before. Also, the illustrations were very well drawn. The book is successful because it has a very strong message about working together with your neighbours – something that made me feel very positive. The author set out to help readers understand what life might be like moving countries and I definitely think he did this: his descriptions of the new country particularly helped this. I would love to be able to read more of Shaun Tan’s books, particularly those that just have pictures.

Posted in Book Blog, Book reviews, pupils, Year 6 | 1 Comment

The Arrival, a review by Koala27

Posted on October 14, 2018 by KW

I found The Arrival a very interesting book to read. Even though this book has no words and is just drawings, it is still very exciting and full of cliff-hangers. This book is full of outstanding black and white portraits that bring the story alive.

The Arrival is a book about a family who are very poor so they send the father to a peculiar world to work. He starts to learn more things about the city and this is when he gets a job and starts sending money back to his family so that they can come to live with him. Two years have passed and he is still waiting for a letter from home…

I found this story very interesting. However, I don’t think I would have enjoyed reading this book as much if I had read it alone as I liked explaining answers from the book with my class. I would recommend this for people of older ages so that they can understand it more. However, for this book you do not have to be able to read but you will still have to be able to understand the drawings.

Many people will find the ideas of a book with no words very strange but, as you start to realise what this book is about, you will become drawn to it and you will never want to stop reading it. I found this book very interesting and suddenly realised how good Shaun Tan’s books really are. Now I am intrigued to read more!

Posted in Book Blog, Book reviews, Year 6 | 1 Comment