The Way Back Home: Oliver Jeffers

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On the pleasant side of things, I really did love how the relationship between Zoe and her Granny was portrayed. The love between the two of them was just amazing. Ok so Zoe was very stupid taking her Granny cross country to Toronto but at the end of the day, Zoe just wanted to help and get her Granny away from a place where she knew that she was miserable. I also thought that Granny's Alzheimer's was written perfectly, I genuinely couldn't fault it and I also loved how Zoe didn't lose her patience with her, she just kept calm and tried her best to make sure Granny was getting what she needed.

The main character Zoe is the worst teenager to ever exist. And she is the "relatable" protagonist. Her and cousin Madi hate each other. One point Madi and her gang tries to kill her by pushing her off a cliff. I've never heard of girls bullying each other to the point of death. What's her plan? To be a murderer? How can a normal high school bully risk jail time? It's very clear that author Allan Stratton doesn't have a single clue how teenage mindset works. This isn't Gone Girl, Allan. No teens kill other teens like that. So yeah, as you can see, I have a lot of anger about the parents on this book. I'm going to try and not get into another massive rant about the character of Madi because that would last forever. She's just a hateful, self-absorbed brat. Anyways, her granny is put to an elderly house, a decision (a reasonable one) made by Zoe's parents. This makes sense since she has dementia, and barely has the ability to take care fo herself. Zoe doesn't like that. She plans to take care of granny alone, and giving up school. If anything is important school is. Being able to afford elderly house is great enough. Why do it yourself if you can put granny in somewhere safe and nice? Zoe is one selfish moron. A story which shows family loyalty at it's finest as Zoe refuses to let her gran be unhappy where she doesn't want to be. The bullying aspect is horrific but not unbelievable as situations have probably happened were things have been that severe in events. Meanwhile, the family relationship is so broken when they begin to make amends for not listening to their daughter they finally bond a little like a realistic normal family. I immensely enjoyed this book especially highlighting Alzheimer's as an illness in YA as any young carers will relate to Zoe in how she has to aid her gran so much. It was also amazing to be introduced to a transgender charcater and even though this was the only element of diversity that existed within the book. However, I have no experience with transgender indivduals so I cannot say whether this representation was all good or not. But, she was an amazing woman who deserves a medal for what she had to put up with in her family when she was younger. No one should ever have to go through the transition without the support of their loved ones.The book was adapted into a play. Watch this promotional video and look at some of the props / costumes that were made for it. Could you make your own props and costumes and perform the story yourself? Model on separate pieces of card (or paper) how you would just write one or two keywords on each piece to act as prompts. Alternatively, you could draw pictures or symbols instead of words. For example, if you are using words you could write: Jeffers was born in Australia in 1977 and brought up in Belfast. He studied visual communication at the University of Ulster, and graduated in 2001. Jeffers became passionate about making picture books when he began to understand the subtle relationship between words and pictures –‘that was what excited me. Until I got really involved, I hadn't realised how just a few words can totally change the meaning of a picture.’ Now living in New York, he works as a painter, designer, printmaker and installation artist, but remains very busy making picture books.

With the children, identify the key events in the story. The events below are just suggestions but the children may sort their ideas in different ways. However, try to restrict them to between six and eight events otherwise it can become too complicated! Third, the whole book is basically built around the fact that you’re supposed to feel sorry for Zoe (the main character), which I didn’t obviously . The side characters are if possible even worse than Zoe. Madi, her cousin, is an absolute bitch. She is literally evil. Madi even got her friend to nearly kill Zoe, simply for the fact that she hates her. There are also several mentions of Zoe wanting to end her life. Suicide and murder are NOT to be taken lightly and having teens nearly kill each other or themselves over a stupid fight is not okay. Ok. Granny and Zoe love each other, so they go on a road trip to visit her long lost uncle Teddy. Granny is not stable, but the very smart Zoe lets her drive them to the train station. Geez. If you're being adventurous at least have a plan. Granny has cash. Call a cab or something. They get to the train station with no injuries, and go to Toronto. What's her plan then? She acts like she has one. She is one impulsive, selfish moron. He loves travel, cats and dogs, ice cream, working out, doing readings and workshops -- and, oh yes, meeting readers!Overall pretty good, and better than I bargained. I was looking for an easy read (it is) since I had stopped reading for awhile (life and death and crises intervened), and it worked for that, but there were gems, there was hope, there was insight, there was growth.

Her gran suffers with Alzheimer's and is getting slowly worse and more forgetful as well as being prone to going want ring alone with her confusion getting herself into dangerous situations. Before you start reading look at the cover together and talk about what the story might be about.As you read the story aloud pauseif your child wants to look at the pictures and talk about what is happening. Talk about the story The Heart and the Bottle is wholly compelling for the importance of its message and the brilliance of how that is conveyed in words and pictures. This is a book to return to time and time again says Julia Eccleshare, Lovereading4kids’ editorial expert. One of the things about this book that I thought was written extremely well was the dementia aspect, and you can tell that the author has personal experience with it. It's the little things, like Granny being asked simple questions and deflecting instead of answering in the hopes that no one will notice she doesn't know what the answer actually is. It's her taking her granddaughter out for ice cream and forgetting where they're going, why they're going there, how long they've been there. It's how the dementia gets progressively worse as the story goes on, to the point where Zoe can no longer deny that something is seriously wrong with her grandmother and that it's not just a quirk in her personality, or a defensive response because she feels threatened. That's where the real heart of the story lies, and I kind of wish there had been a bit more of that shown as well.

Some of the illustrations use lots of pictures to show a single action (e.g. the boy putting on his pilot’s outfit and the conversation about fixing the two machines). Can you make a storyboard that shows an action / event? So then her grandmother is sent to an elderly home, which is something I think is completely grounded because she could barely function alone. Zoe completely disagrees with her parents. I am on the parents’ side this time. Zoe’s parents are not perfect and I would say they were quite bad parents (they believed Madi over their own daughter!). On this topic, however, I think they were completely in the right to put grandma in the home. When you start to agree with parents in YA books, you’re either just too old for the book, or the kid is just stupid. This time it’s the latter. The first half of the book spends time on showing readers why Zoe feels alienated by her parents and so close to her granny. She's in denial of her grandmother's dementia and believes that her parents see her as a problem they want to get rid of. And after one too many times of trying to tell them the truth about her cousin Madi bullying her only to have them think she's lying and talk about sending her away, too, she decides to solve the problem for them and take her granny to see her kind-of long lost son. You can understand what the writer was trying to achieve with this - that Zoe feels a strong connection to her granny, not only because of their relationship, but specifically because of the relationship they share with Zoe's parents. It just felt like it was missing something, and I'm not sure what, but that's kind of what I mean about this story as a fast read kind of working against it a little. The second half of the story focuses more on Zoe's denial of her grandmother's dementia, and her slow realization of just how serious it is. She comes to understand, in taking care of her grandmother, why her parents felt that she was a danger to herself and in need of professional care, but still strives to find a different solution that can work for everybody. This poetry anthology was written with the panic and claustrophobia, the grief and the uncertainty, that the recent pandemic brought to all our lives. It is very personal, focusing on Peppernell's own losses and mental health struggles, but with themes that are universally experienced. I found many a beautiful passage to underline and much hope delivered after the very bleak first portion. Grab your tissues, because you're seriously going to be taken on an emotional rollercoaster ride with this book. I found this particularly difficult to read because it hit very very close to home with the character of the Granny. I got half way and I just didn't think I could read anymore because it was getting too personal, but I ploughed through it and I'm really glad that I did.

This YA novel by the author of The Dogs didn't give me the best first impression, but it certainly grew on me.First things first, do not read this book. Unless you hate yourself, then be my guest, read this book. Children could write an imaginary letter from the boy to the Martian aboutwhathe hasbeen doing on Earth. Make a mobile