What the Ladybird Heard

Product Information

One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading.

Try to find where different farms are in your local area. What crops do they grow? What animals do they look after? It is also really great to introduce rhyme and patterns into a book, There is a nice repetitive structure to the book with a good natural flow, making it easy for children to follow and spot the patterns and rhymes. Can you sort the animals in the story using Venn or Carroll diagrams? Which ones have two legs? Which have four legs? Which ones have a beak or a nose? How many other ways could you sort them?

The ladybird whispered into each animal’s ear. Think of other words that describe how we can communicate with others (e.g. shouted, screamed, hissed, chattered). 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. I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him). I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married. I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs.

Identify the rhyming words used throughout the book. Can you make your own rhyming dictionary, adding other rhyming words for the ones found? The thieves ‘crept’ into the farm. Think of synonyms which describe how people can move. Can you demonstrate each one (e.g. sprint, crawled, paced). This is a really fun and engaging KS1 book. This cane looked at in many different areas of the Literacy curriculum. When looking at fiction stories there is a nice link to baddies and heroes, and in this case the hero is small and clever as opposed to big and strong. Look at the adjectives that are used to describe each animal. How many other adjectives can you think of to describe them? Use the animal posters (see Resources below) and write adjectives on them. Think of some speech bubbles to show what the ladybird might be thinking at each point in the story.

What the Ladybird Heard Picture Books

Think about what stealing means and why it is wrong. How would you feel if someone stole from you? What happens to people who steal things from others? I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books.