The Highway Rat

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I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs. We have also managed to link it to art - we created Wanted posters for the Highway Rat. The children had to use their literacy skills to describe the rat and his terrible crimes, and then got the opportunity to be artistically creative as well. In 1977/6 Donaldson studied at Brighton College of Education for a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and worked for two years as an English teacher at St Mary's Hall in Brighton until the arrival of their first child Hamish in 1978, after which she never returned to full-time employment. The couple moved to Lyon in France for a year (1979–80) with Hamish, returning to Brighton where their second son Alastair was born in 1981. [5] 1980s [ edit ] This seemingly teaches him a lesson, and, thinner, greyer and meeker, the Rat lands a job in a shop ... what kind of shop is for you to guess, but believe me it is probably an easy guess! One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading.

Imagine that one of the animals in the story is being interviewed by the police. What would they tell the police about their encounter with the Highway Rat? Written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Shaffer (The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom), The Highway Rat is a delightful story. It’s largely written in verse which lends it a tremendous pace and sense of excitement that will engage younger children, particularly in years one and two. The moral issue of theft which forms the central conceit of the book lends itself to further extraction and questioning. Using talk partners, you can ask children to come up with responses to particular questions – is The Highway Rat right to steal their food etc? What would you do if The Highway Rat stole your food? My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes.

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Last Christmas the company produced a two-part animated special based on Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes. Premiering on BBC One on the 26 and 27 of December the films featured the voices of Dominic West, David Walliams, Rose Lesley and Jemma Chan. With over 10 million viewers for their first broadcast slots, the films have just been nominated for a BAFTA and an International Emmy, and have already won multiple awards including the Cristal for best TV Production, Annecy. It could also be used for PSHE lessons, to explore why stealing is wrong and how it can affect the victim’s life. In science they can look at food chains and animal habitats and use the story to explore these topics further. The Highway Rat gets fat from eating everyone else’s dinner. Can you think of a healthy diet to help him keep fit? The couple continued to busk in Europe during holidays, including in France and Italy, with Julia Donaldson writing "The French Busking Song" in French, and "The Spaghetti Song" in Italian. By 1971, Donaldson was working in London at Michael Joseph publishers as a secretary to Anthea Joseph but was also given considerable leeway as a junior editor. At weekends she and Malcolm took part in the Bristol Street Theatre, a group of mainly postgraduate students inspired by the late playwright David Illingworth. The group devised simple, unscripted plays which could be performed in the playgrounds of poor council estates and which recruited children from the audience to take over some of the roles. This was to have a lasting effect on Donaldson's interaction with children in her own shows as an established children's writer. The Highway Rat is our new book for our Literacy lessons in Year 1. They have all really engaged with the story and the characters. It has provided us with many different discussion points - one child pointed out to me today that the Highway Rat is naughty not only because he steals people's food, but also because he talks to strangers! This gave us the opportunity to have a little PSHE talk about 'stranger danger', and why the Highway Rat has not been making good choices!

The Art of Giving: An Interview with award-winning illustrator Axel Scheffler". ArtLink Central. 12 April 2017 . Retrieved 18 December 2017.

Find out about the highwaymen of the past. What did they do? Do you know the names of any famous highwaymen?