Sally King

Passionate about language, I have been disappointed, in forty years of teaching, to see that many words in our rich and varied English language are disappearing from our children’s vocabulary. Writing little rhymes to teach vocabulary associated with the natural world evolved into a series of three books.

The first was to teach children the gender names in families of animals. Farming children knew that a female sheep was a ewe and a male pig was a boar but the children I mixed with in cities had no idea what a colt or a filly was, or even a doe and a stag. The result was “Animal Families”, the first book in the series “Reading in Rhyme”.

This was followed by “A Flamboyance of Flamingos”, a book to introduce children to the beautiful collective nouns for groups of birds.

Finally I discovered that many had never known of badgers living in a sett, or squirrels making a drey, or even the little mole living in his fortress. So I wrote “Animal Homes”. Fun, lively books with fabulous illustrations, but with an educational element to increase a child’s general knowledge and vocabulary and to also satisfy my desire to preserve these beautiful words as part of our heritage.

In addition, I have now added a fourth book into the series. “Fun with Similes” is a little paperback book with more lively illustrations by Corrina Holyoake which has been designed to assist children in Years 5/6 when they are asked to write stories at school. Perhaps one or two similes taken from this little book would liven up their writing and offer some fun at the same time.