Through ourTime to Read programme, we give every Reception pupil in England their own book to treasure and share at home.Here's a look at some of the fantastic picture books that we've handed out around the country, for free, over previous years. Little gets bored with the quiet life on the dark, dark hill. So he decides to go to the city before he gets worried about Big and Dog getting lost. "There are too many skeletons" says the Big Skeleton in the city and even the underground has them. Janet Ahlberg (1944-1994) was a British children's book illustrator, and the co-creator, together with her husband Allan Ahlberg, of the best-selling Jolly Postman series. Born as Janet Hall in Yorkshire in 1944, she studied at Sunderland Technical College, where she met Ahlberg. The two married in 1969, and began to work together, publishing their first co-venture - The Old Joke Book - in 1976. She won the 1978 Kate Greenaway Medal from the British Library Association - an award recognizing the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject - for Each Peach Pear Plum.

The skeletons like to explore at night time. Why do we have day and night? What happens to the Earth and Sun to give us light times and dark times? One night the skeletons decide to take their dog for a walk and frighten somebody. That's what skeletons are supposed to do, right? So off they go. Dog: The pet dog of the skeleton brothers who loved bones, digging holes, and found everything that the skeleton brothers need. It is 1953, and in Oldbury Town there is to be a football competition. Rood End Primary enters its two best teams, but there are a few others who want to make their mark too. In the first book of this now classic series, we are taken down the dark, dark street to the dark, dark house and into the dark, dark cellar in which the skeletons live.Als kind vond ik dit boek fantastisch en nu nog steeds! Er zitten komische details in de teksten en de tekeningen. Ondanks de thematiek is het totaal niet eng.

The use of repetitive language and songs further add to the stories features and add a great amount of fun and laughter when the story is read aloud. Both the adults reading the text and children can join in with this. I feel that it cannot only be used as a literacy focus, but the story itself has scientific features. Children are able to extend their biological knowledge of the structure of the human skeleton. This will assist in enlarging their language vocabulary.Allan Ahlberg has published over 100 children's books and with his late wife Janet, created many award-winning children's picture books. The book has a lot of emphasis on the word ‘dark’, such as dark dark street...dark dark house...the effect of this is that children are able to remember this and they also get a sense of the way it has been used for effect. Funnybones’ can be used in the classroom in several ways. In English lessons for example, children can learn to appreciate the use of rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, punctuation, speech and simple sentences. Pupils could explore the beginning of the story to help them write their own creative story with a repetitive refrain. In KS1 classes, the teacher could also use the book as a point of reference to explain how speech marks are used as well as other relevant punctuation. This is a kid's book my husband showed me because he thought I might like it. Of course I was interested. Not only does it feature skeletons, which I love, but the cover glows in the dark! The Big Skeleton, The Little skeleton and The Dog Skeleton are fast asleep, dreaming about dinosaurs. But what started as a lovely dream suddenly gets a bit scary when the dinosaurs start chasing the skeletons - and these dinosaurs have roller skates!

Draw around somebody you know on a large piece of paper and label the different bones inside their body on it. Watch the animated series and explain which you prefer. There are lots of episodes available online. Here is one of them: Funnybones: Bumps in The Night - No matter where they are, the two skeletons keep going bump in the night - clonk! Janet Ahlberg (21 October 1944 – 13 November 1994), née Janet Hall, and Allan Ahlberg (born 5 June 1938) were a British married couple who created many children's books, including picture books that regularly appear at the top of "most popular" lists for public libraries. They worked together for 20 years until Janet died of cancer in 1994. Allan wrote the books and Janet illustrated them. Allan Ahlberg has also written dozens of books with other illustrators. When using this book in placement in Year 2, all children joined in and sang along. They all enjoyed singing as there were a lot of rhyming and repetition words.

Most of the recent additions to my daughter's book collection are mainly consisting of favourites from my own childhood that I've wanted to revisit.