It’s sometimes amazing how a book comes into your world at just the right time. A dear friend whom I don’t talk to often enough sent me Uncle Oscar’s Chairs: From A to Z out of the blue. I had not heard of it, but a book is always an exciting gift, right? Plus, she picked up the book at Storyteller, one of the lovely independent bookstores that supply books for my book clubs.
And the book was perfect in so many ways. For one, it’s unusual. It’s a book about chairs. Real chairs.
A is for Ant designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1952
B is for Ball designed by Eero Aarnio in 1963
C is for Coconut designed by George Nelson in 1955
You get the picture.
So it’s an alphabet book, but also an introduction to all sorts of chairs, some of which are familiar and some so zany that they surprise a laugh out of you. I loved it!
But the reason I call it a perfect book at this time is that my online creative writing programmes begin this week and the first module we’re working on is non-fiction. During my session on Monday, we spoke about writing non-fiction in unique ways.
Okay, so there’s a subject you find fascinating. What do you want to do with it? A list of facts would be dull. Take the idea and do something fresh with it.
And voilà, we have Uncle Oscar’s Chairs – an alphabet book about something that a Scandinavian furniture expert, Magnus Englund, and a leading British illustrator (who also loves chairs), Daniel Frost, find exciting!
Teaching non-fiction is delightful when we have the right resources, and I’m already amazed at the things children create when they play with form. One 11-year-old, for instance, wrote a cinquain about chemistry. I’m waiting to read the others!
| Title | Uncle Oscar’s Chairs: From A to Z |
| Author Illustrator | Magnus Englund Daniel Frost |
| Tags | Non-fiction, Alphabet Book, Picture Book |
| Rating (out of 5) | 4.5 |
| Age-group | 2+ |
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