Tag Archives: Ben Long

Oct1

Good Night, Ivy Bright – Ben Long/Andrew Plant

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Ford St Publishing

April 2021

RRP: $16.99

ISBN: 9781925804720

Click to access Good-Night-Ivy-Bright-Teachers-Notes.pdf

This is a glorious book with both a joyful rollicking rhyming text from author, Ben Long, and (as always) sublime illustrations from Andrew Plant. On the surface it is a splendid introduction to both colours and colour mixing but it goes much deeper than that. To be honest, I can’t say it better than Ben himself:

What I didn’t realise while I was writing this story was the importance of the moose.
Everyone needs a moose. We all have times when we’re challenged – when we are tired,
troubled, or in tears. And it’s at those times when we need someone to sit down next to us
and be there for us, just like the moose in this story. For some people, the moose might be
their mum. For others it might be their dad, sister, brother, friend, or all of the above.
Similarly, sometimes we need to be the moose for someone else. It’s a good reminder to ask
for help when you need it, and to offer help when it’s needed.

Just imagine using this with your class and investigating all the artistic possibilities but at the same time inviting discussion around when we might need a ‘moose’ in our lives. It would take very little encouragement to generate the most valuable of conversations and giving small humans the reassurances they need, as well as putting into their minds the possibility that they might, in turn, be someone’s ‘moose’.

I just love this and can easily envisage it in either your library session or a classroom setting – especially since there are brilliant teaching notes provided!

Highly recommended for little readers from around five years upwards.