What We'll Build: Plans for Our Together Future

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The story begins with the father and daughter building a door, symbolic of the many doors we can open for our children as parents and educators. Open doors stand for opportunity, hope and positivity which are recurrent themes in the book. Nonetheless, even while despairing about the “tribal thinking” of the Brexit negotiations, Jeffers retains a bouncy hopefulness. “I have described myself in the past as a grim optimist,” he says. “And even when I’m pointing out dark things, I still think there’s a lightness of touch there because otherwise I’d just be a nihilist. And what’s the point in hopelessness?” What We'll Build' is a timeless classic in the making for every parent and educator building a future for the children in their care. Jeffers wrote this book for his daughter Mari and it is the story of a father and daughter exploring the endless possibilities and adventures that they can enjoy as they build their lives together.

Children will love his playbook for building a future of love and imagination, and they will delight in the special relationship the father and daughter share.”— Booklist Just when you think Oliver Jeffers’ work can’t get any better, he releases yet another stunner. Every bit as wonderful as his other books ‘What We’ll Build’ is the story of parenthood; the hopes and dreams we have for our children’s futures, the protection we give them and the sharing of ever-lasting love.The striking illustrations in Jeffers’ instantly-recognisable signature style are simply delightful and so detailed that each time of reading you will notice something new. Young children will enjoy spotting the little pink pig throughout the story and the penguin, a well-loved recurring character in Jeffers’ books makes an appearance. This week is road safety week. As a class we have talked about the importance of holding an adult’s hand when crossing the road, as well as looking at the different road signs and what they mean. We played a game where we needed to look and follow the road signs such as stop and go. Problematic classics: All that mostly Medieval, pre-20th century stuff where children are eaten by witches or ogres if they disobey their parents, or otherwise mutilated (fingers cut off, turned into mince pies, etc), or terribly sexist stuff where women are almost always damsels in distress/princesses in towers waiting on some plastic Ken doll. Colorful, fun, something we choose to basically never expose to our kid except via movie time (i.e. old Disney). It’s as much about what you read into it as what Jeffers tells us. So adults and small children alike will be able to connect with the words and the characters.

The children have also enjoyed listening to the story ‘Peace at Last’ by Jill Murphy, where Miss Wilson and Mrs Campbell acted it out with props. The children were then able to retell the story themselves during playful learning, making the different sounds that could be heard in the house and the garden, including a drippy tap, a humming fridge and hedgehogs snuffling. Agenda books: Anti-Racist Baby, Feminist Baby. I gave my kids Buddhist baby books and I already feel embarrassed/silly about it. Like I'm taking advantage of their age and impressionability to start a brainwashing campaign. Anyway, these are the books that have Important Values that the parents are anxious to impart on their kids, but that are probably just waaay over the kids' heads and I almost feel bad dragging them into the shitty parts of society (prejudice, etc), especially when it's clumsily written. Don't get me started on the anti-racist baby book: "point to policies, not people" - right. I'll tell that to my toddler. : Before I became a parent, I didn't - obviously? - traffic in any of the Parenting Industrial Complex and various parenting subcultures. I had zero knowledge of "attachment parenting", zero opinion on "parenting philosophies", and basically zero experience in any of this stuff. Family- and child-centric entertainment and culture had mostly eluded me for the ~20 years between me being a teenager (and rejecting "kid stuff") and me actually having a kid.The father-daughter duo build their home, the only material thing they construct, and then they invest their time in the importance of building love, hope, resilience, forgiveness and warmth. The tools are laid out at the very beginning, a selection of hammers, saws, drills (and a tiny pink pig!) from a shiny, red toolbox but we come to realise that the real ‘tools’ we need as parents when building our futures together are trust, comfort, compassion, unconditional love. The toolbox appears throughout the book as if to remind us that we carry these tools around with us on our parenting journey. We will also be setting you a Half Term challenge to make up your own dance to one of your favourite songs! Look out for a video on Evidence Me towards the end of the week!