The playground is like the jungle by Shona Innes
Ill. by Irisz Agocs. Big Hug series. Five Mile Press, 2015. ISBN
9781760064150
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Playground, Safety. Clinical and forensic
psychologist Shona Innes has taken on the topic of safety in the
playground at school or in the community, to help parents and
teachers initiate discussions between themselves and students or
offspring about the behaviour they will come across when socialising
in these places. With funny and apt watercolour illustrations, Agocs
parallels the information given, using animals as the focus of the
story. Younger children will be enchanted seeing the animals and the
behaviour they display and will be able to act this out for
themselves, or discuss the sorts of animals they see in their
playground.
Innes begins by showing what a fun place the playground can be with
all sorts of people coming to it and displaying all sorts of
behaviour. She parallels the wide variety of people with the animals
in the jungle. So a baboon may bang his chest wanting to be noticed,
a snake may pretend to be a friend one minute, then slither away, a
tiger may be aggressive, and little insects annoying. Some will want
to be alone, while others might want to be with friends, some may
put on a happy face while others avoid those who make them
uncomfortable.
Then we get to the crux of the story that if another animal makes
them feel uncomfortable, then they can seek the company of others,
or ask an adult to be with them, or yell loudly, or simply avoid the
person who makes them fell ill at ease.
Much discussion will come of sharing this book with younger readers,
all of whom will have come across the sorts of behaviours shown in
this book.
At the end of the book Innes outlines her reasons for writing this
book, as with the others in the series, The internet is like a
puddle, Life is like the wind and Friendship is
like a seesaw, all of which deal with specific issues that can
engulf younger children.
Fran Knight
Editor's note: Teacher's
notes are available on the author's website.