Shona, Word Detective: (Dyslexia-friendly): 1 (4u2read) Paperback – 19 Mar. 2018

When you see the name John Agard on a cover you are pretty sure you will be enjoying a good read and this delightful first chapter book certainly lives up to it's cover promise. Shona is intrigued by language and the thought of languages dying upsets her. She's very excited therefore when her maverick 'out of the box' teacher decides to create a language nest in the classroom that celebrates all the different languages her pupils speak. (Miss Bates, the teacher, is a winner of the teacher of the year award despite her off the wall teaching - nice subtle little dig at the prescriptive teaching forced upon the profession by the constraints of the national curriculum I think!) Michael Broad's illustrations carry on the fun of the text, I particularly like the picture of the language tree. The theme of the book, disappearing words, is very akin to that of Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris' The Lost Words so it would complement any classroom study around this gorgeous book. Much for youngsters to giggle about here too - I'm sure 'quakebottom' and 'bumbazed' would put a smile on many a child's face. All of the usual fantastic features for dyslexic readers are still here - dyslexia friendly font and cream pages - but this story is a bouncy fun read for all. Excellent for promoting acceptance of differences and collaborative working.