Ten-Word Tiny Tales of Love

Combining beautiful illustrations with exciting ten-word stories, ‘Ten-Word Tiny Tales of Love’ is an absolute joy from cover to cover! Perfect for inspiring creativity and sparking imagination, each picture and the combining tiny tale offers endless possibilities for developing story telling.

Love in many different forms is captured here- that of nature, of siblings, of parents of pets. Some of the tales might be interpreted quite literally whilst others are more ambiguous or enigmatic, really open to interpretation and flights of imagination. For teachers, this book, like ‘Ten-Word Tiny Tales’, is an absolute gift for encouraging children to create their own tiny tales or develop these in to longer stories, perhaps using the advice offered at the end of the book. However, this is also an invaluable resource for home as well as families- or any combination of adults and children, children and children, or even adults- might thoroughly enjoy developing stories together.

There is such variety in style of both illustration and tale that there really is something for everyone here. Jim Field’s is wonderfully atmospheric, evocative of fairy tales whilst Sydney Smith’s captures a gentle moment of sibling affection; Rikin Parekh’s is wonderfully vibrant whilst Heather Kilgour’s is dreamlike. Like I said, an absolute joy from cover to cover!

Ten-Word Tiny Tales of Love

Joseph Coelho and Friends

Walker ISBN: 978-1529517323

You can read my review of ‘Ten-Word Tiny Tales’ here.

Ten-Word Tiny Tales

There are some books which are an absolute gift to teachers- and this is one of them! Captured in these pages in endless inspiration and story-telling joy, showing how creative ideas can bloom from any tiny seed. Each spread shows a ten-word story, brilliantly illustrated by one of the ‘friends’ who helped Joseph create this book. Those ten words are enough to open a world of possibilities, expanded by the picture as the reader seeks to explain, develop and satisfy their curiosity about what is happening. Some are sinister, some surreal, all are sure to ignite the imagination, develop conversation and inspire the next generation of storytellers!

One of my favourites is Mariachiara Di Giorgio’s illustrations for the tale: We buried her on Wednesday, again on Thursday, and Friday. So many details to enjoy and explore- and what a tale to tell! Shuan Tan’s contribution shows a family decorating their son’s skull whilst Dena Seiferling’s is full of beautifully mysterious butterfly-like creatures. It is a complete joy to explore each spread, both for the tale and for the illustration.

Advice from Joseph is included at the end of the book to inspire readers to create their own ten-word tales, to have a go at illustrating and to develop the tales included in the book into longer stories. As a teacher, I have used Chris Van Allsburg’s very wonderful ‘The Mysteries of Harris Burdick’ with classes many times, which always results in fabulous writing, full of imagination and energy and I can see this collection being every bit as exciting and inspiring. The variety of illustrators used here means a wider range of styles, perhaps appealing to a wider range of readers- something for everyone!

Just wonderful!

Ten-Word Tiny Tales

Joseph Coelho and Friends

Walker Books ISBN: 978-1529502688