Meesha Makes Friends (Big Bright Feelings)

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Who is your favourite hero in a book?This might get a few eye rolls, because it’s from a series that I illustrate, but as far as Children’s book hero’s go, you can’t get much better than Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. He’s just everything that you would want a hero to be, immensely powerful, over confident, full of humour, and immaculately dressed. A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature. What book do you wish you had written?‘How I came up with the meaning of life – A true story’ by Tom Percival. Because then I’d have nothing to keep me up at night!

Oliver Jeffers. For very similar reasons to Jon Klassen, I really admire Oliver Jeffers’ ability to communicate a huge amount of emotion or mood with the bare minimum of marks. I always seem to end up going with the illustrative equivalent of the ‘Wall of Sound’ in music production!Furthermore, there is hands-on craftivity! Students will love how the craft connects the story to their lives. Application

Inside Body Templates: Writing Prompts for how to make friends with lines / Writing Prompts for how to make friend with picture spaces / How to Make FriendsFill-In-Your–Own Steps with Lines/ How to Make Friends Fill-In-Your-Own-Steps with picture space / Blank-Printout your choices. Perhaps an odd choice as a teenager, but I went through a stage of reading as many Mary Wesley books as I could get my hands on. She just seemed to be so skilled at portraying people of all ages and walks of life. As a teenager I marvelled at the fact that she could so clearly write about what it felt like to be that age, being as she had her first novel published aged 71. Of course now that I’m 35 and can still remember EXACTLY what it felt like to be 16 it doesn’t seem that unlikely anymore – ah, the follies of youth. Being genuine, not all her attempts in the story work. Many readers will understand why calling “Tag! You’re It!” to a crying boy with a scraped knee (being comforted by another friend) may not be understood. And the vignette above it, the children don’t look mean, just confused. Front Body Prompts (square for bear, curved for mouse): “_____ Makes Friends” or “How to Make Friends”

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This is an excellent title to suggest for with who may not feel comfortable putting themselves out there - the rewards of taking the risk. It would be easy to make this story preachy; I did not feel that was the case here. A wonderful tool for counselors and therapists to add to their toolkits. What's the best thing you've ever written?A poem I wrote about a badger when I was six. It included the phrase, ‘He dragged his lumbering frame across the leaves’ which I MUST have stolen from a book I’d read that day. Sadly it was never photocopied and is now lost FOREVER. I even drew a scratchy pen and ink picture of the said Badger – we learnt to write with italic metal nibbed pens at my frankly archaic primary school. Meesha learns it helps to have something in common when making friends. Can you make friends with someone who has nothing in common with you? Why or why not?

Use this fantastic IDL topic web to plan a unit of work based on the book Meesha Makes Friends. The topic web comes with a variety of ideas for activities across the curricular areas of Literacy and English, Numeracy and Mathematics, Health and Wellbeing, Technologies, Social Studies, Religious and Moral Education and Expressive Arts. Moreover, in this IDL topic web you can find relevant Experiences and Outcomes, which will help you plan effective lessons. This resource is suitable for Early Level learners working within the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence. How can I teach about friendships? This charming picture book is perfect to share with those who may find it difficult to form friendships and is ideal to promote discussions about emotional well-being. The beautiful illustrations use a limited colour palette of grey, red and blue, with the introduction of warm yellow towards the end to represent the joy of budding friendships. These visual clues help children to recognise Meesha’s emotions, enabling them to develop empathy and understanding. Share your craft with peers to share a little about yourself and learn a little about someone new, or learn something new about a friend you already haveMeesha loves to make things, such as pictures and models, but finds it really challenging to make friends. She never seems to get it right, often misreading situations or saying the wrong thing, so comes up with an ingenious solution. Using her creative skills, she fashions her own set of friends from paper, paint, fabric and found objects. Meesha is delighted as she doesn’t feel anxious or confused around her new pals and can take them with her wherever she goes. The Big Bright Feelings picture book series provides kid-friendly entry points into emotional intelligence topics–from being true to yourself to dealing with worries, managing anger, and making friends. These topics can be difficult to talk about. But these books act as sensitive and reassuring springboards for conversations about mental and emotional health, positive self-image, building self-confidence, and managing feelings. What inspired you to write your latest book?The book Herman’s Letter first popped into my head when my girlfriend gave me a limited edition screen print by an illustrator called Simon Tozer of a bear holding a letter. The picture is called ‘The Last Post’ and I just loved the bear’s melancholy expression and wondered what he was doing carrying the letter and who it was for. My brain set to work on it and eventually came up with Herman’s Letter. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without my brain sometimes - it really is remarkably useful. Including others: If you ever see someone who is one their own, try to include them and invite them to play. Ask what they like to do.