Little lunch: The Block B roof by Danny Katz and Mitch Vane

The Block B roof is one of the more recent additions to the series about what children get up to at school during break times. A TV programme as well, this series has a huge following as children relate so greatly with the characters and what they do when they are not in the classroom at school.

The first story in this book is set on a rainy day when the children are sent outside but must remain under the large shelters outside one of the classrooms.  In this case the children are really bored, and they all start to make suggestions about what to talk about. Someone runs into a wall, someone else shows their bellybutton, riveting stuff! Then Battie recounts a time when he got a haircut and starts to tell it in such a way that the other children turn it into a hair-cut story dance. They start clapping, drumming and dancing around him. They surprise themselves with how entertaining this was, and then the wet weather bell went, of course! The other two stories cover familiar scenarios as well. A crazy sock day incident that ends up with Debra-Jo in the sick bay and a misheard word that gives Manny’s thumb superpowers and starts a chasing game, putting at risk Tamara’s chance to go to Athletics camp. A great series for beginning readers with plenty of interesting illustrations by Mitch Vane as well as a few bonus pages at the end of the book that contain Jokes, puzzles, quizzes and interesting information about things mentioned in the book.

Themes: School stories, Humorous stories.

Gabrielle Anderson