The class book review: The Light in the Night

The Bumblebees were sitting in silence as we opened the envelope from London and were all so excited to have another mystery book delivered to our classroom. This was the second book we have reviewed this year and Naomi instantly recognised the telltale signs. “It’s a new book, one of the ones that no one else has got yet!” she exclaimed. That was all it took to get 30 children’s attention, all eager to see what was inside.I was pleasantly surprised by the cover. The rich illustrations leave a sense of awe and wonder for the story ahead. The children generated lots of questions from the front cover and were keen to predict what the story would be about. Grace suggested: “I think they are in a river at night and it’s really dark.” Charlie added: “‘But they don’t look scared because they are both smiling – maybe they are looking for something?”Before starting the story, we had an impromptu class discussion about what the word "light" means. This was one of those conversations with a large group of 4- to 5-year-olds that I wish I had never entered into, especially 20 minutes before home time. There were so many enthusiastic questions from the class, I instantly knew we would need to revisit this discussion to enable a deeper understanding about light and dark.