Family Forest by Kim Kane. Illustrated by Lucia Masciullo. Published by Hardie Grant Egmont
This book makes clever use of a child’s perspective of family through language. Everyone’s family is different. This family has half sisters, big brothers and step-parents that are all delightfully depicted through play on words. Together the text and illustrations bring together the extended family into the wonderful idea of a family forest rather than a family tree. Students of all ages will love the play on words and the humour conveyed through the clever illustrations.
Activity ideas
- Older students might like to listen to the audio or read the transcript of an interview with Kim Kane about being a writer. The transcript is from an interview on The BookShow which was on Radio National in 2008.
- Fitting in with our theme this year, this story about judgment and acceptance, is told with humour through the play on words and colourful illustrations. Suggest your students create their own ‘family forests’ by including their extended families and close family friends. Some individuals or groups might like to contrast these family depictions with a more traditional family tree. See how far back they can go.
- Compare the families in the class with the ones in the books the class is reading. Make a list of all the different families the students find while reading.
- Brainstorm words that have ‘double’ meanings and illustrate and display the lists.
- In the story (and in the digital story) some stereotypes are used such as the ‘wicked step mother’. Discuss these and how they came about and why they are no longer common. This activity will take students back into more traditional stories when stereotyping was more common.
Engage in some of the suggested activities or view the digital story with your students as inspiration to get them to work to make their own!
Use the link below to the teacher’s notes on the publisher’s website.
More about the author, Kim Kane
Kim Kane was born in London She worked as a lawyer and a part-time writer until 2008. Since then she has been busy with her twins and writing. Kim has won awards for her 2008 children’s fiction release Pip, the story of Olive. For more information on Kim Kane visit her page on the Allen and Unwin website.
About the illustrator, Lucia Masciullo
Lucia started working professionally as a freelance illustrator in Italy in 2004. Since then she has received many honours and prizes for her work.
She moved to Brisbane in 2006 and continued her work as an artist. Her paintings have found homes internationally in America, Europe and Australia.
Lucia works mainly in acrylic on a variety of diverse textured surfaces. She loves to mix colors in such a way to preserve their unique brightness and intensity so that they can quickly capture the viewer’s imagination. See more of the illustrator’s work on her website.