SmallBean loves history. Knights, Romans, vikings, ancient Greeks, celts and Robin Hood(?) all feature a lot in his imaginative play. He has many books which he reads and reads and reads, and his knowledge of certain historical periods outclasses mine hugely. (Well, let's face it, my history is zilch so even SmallerBean aged 2 1/2 probably knows more than me...)
One of his favourite authors is
Marcia Williams. Have you heard of her? She rewrites history books in the form of comic strips with the most detailed pictures you can imagine. And she often includes little speech bubbles which are a bit rude. Which makes Small love them even more. Her books we have read include Robin Hood, The Iliad and the Odyssey, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Greek Myths and King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
We will be dipping into Shakespeare, Dickens and Inventors at some point. If you have a child who is not too keen on history or reading, I cannot recommend enough for you to go and borrow one of Marcia's books from your library or buy one
here or
here. I have truly learnt lots from her. Maybe my historical understanding would have been better if I had listened harder to Mrs Anderson and Mrs Rhys when I was in 4UN but they really could have made Sutton Hoo and raising the Mary Rose heaps more interesting. I was asked to stop doing history at the first possible opportunity ie at the end of 4UN. Just think. If
Marcia had taught me history I could have been an academic on TV, working with The Snows and making programmes about battles in fields in 1538. Or digging up the City of London with Baldrick, sorry, Tony Robinson and talking for twenty minutes about a chink of brown pottery. Mmmm. Worth thinking about isn't it?
I digress.
Look at the detail and humour in the pictures.
Aren't they incredible?
The reason I am telling you all this is because the other day, SmallBean decided to write his own book. This is a BIG THING because although SmallBean loves to read and can do so very well, he is Not So Keen On Writing. Or drawing. So I had a huge smile on my face when he made his announcement. And he was most adamant that he would be illustrating and scribing in the style of Marcia Williams. He is writing Robin Hood and I thought you might like to have a peek at what he has done.
There. Isn't that marvellous? Can you tell which one is Robin? Pick out that dastardly Sheriff?
Don't you love the way a volleyball game suddenly starts?
There are Other Books on the last page
and a bar code on the back cover.
Now those of you with girls will be thinking 'Well, Florence/Maud/Donatella (delete as necessary) has been doing that sort of thing since she was three. Just what is the big deal?' Those of you with boys may be sharing in my incredulity and glee. You will possibly understand where this big smile has come from. Pencil choosing is a rare occurrence in this house and when it happens I like it. Especially when something so fab has been achieved. When the rest of Rodin (sic) Hood has been written and illustrated, I am going to scan it and send it to Marcia (you see how I am on first name terms with her??) just to show her how she influences Young People (or Young Person) in such a good way. I hope she likes SmallBeans book as much as we like hers.
Thanks Marcia.
(I emailed Marcia Williams and she gave me permission to use photos for this post. Thanks You.)
