I am the sort of person that likes to get their travel experiences vicariously. I do not need to find mice in my rucksack, worry about being impaled on a cow’s horns or try and find a lift halfway back across Africa in time to catch a flight. I am always very early for my flights!
It’s just as well then that Simon Chapman, a real-life explorer, author and illustrator, has created a whole series of Expedition Diaries
The diary opens with an overview of the expedition, a kit list, information about the Kalahari Basin and a map showing an outline of the trip. The information is placed on the page in snippets with post-its, maps and photos making the layout engaging and non-threatening to those who have not yet developed the stamina to read dense prose! Also included are sketches and water-colour paintings of animals and places seen along the way.
The diary follows a day by day account describing the highs and lows in a mix of fonts: handwritten, normal publishing font and typewriter like font, although I am not sure that Chapman would use a typewriter. It does, however, have the effect of distinguishing different types of text on the page. We get a sense of how Chapman feels about his adventures through the use of larger fonts and descriptions of emotions. Let’s face it. Who would ever forget a cheetah licking the salt off their legs?
Every school library should have a few books from this series in their library – if not all of them – mostly to be read by KS2 children. This book and series would also make a good book for teaching writing particularly to Upper KS2 children. I say Upper KS2 because of the different voices used in the writing that provide a clear model for children. It links well with ‘Understanding physical and human geography’ and would therefore provide a useful English/literacy unit of work running alongside a place of study.
Grammar that could be taught through this book:
Write more formally but including a lot of information using
- longer, multi-clause sentences
- embedding extra information in sentences with commas
- a range of clauses, some starting with -ing (present participle) and -ed (past participle), e.g. rising up 383m from it’s base
- present passive, e.g. is found, is littered, is washed
Write more informally using
- first person
- range of fonts for emphasis
- punctuation for emphasis (!) and brackets to contain extra information
- longer noun phrases, e.g kudu with huge spiral horns, their skin coated with red ochre (symbolising earth and blood)
- time adverbials, e.g. right now, just, two and a half hours later
You can purchase a copy here by clicking on the image. (Affiliate link)
