Miss Mae's Saturday by Justine Flynn and J. Yi

cover image

Random House Australia, 2016. ISBN 9780857988584
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Grandmothers. Imagination. Oh no - it's raining and Miss Mae is dismayed to find that she won't be taking one of her trips out with her grandmother. Instead they will have to stay inside. Then Grandma comes along with a big, empty cardboard box and things start to improve.
Grandma is smart and knows that a cardboard box can take you anywhere if only you use your imagination. She swoops them off to Africa where they see a lion and a rhino. They soar into the air in an aeroplane and fly to Korea in springtime, partaking in a beautiful tea ceremony, and then they zoom off in a space rocket to make a rocky landing on the moon.
The illustrations show an exuberant Grandma and Miss Mae having the time of their lives as well as depicting the majesty of Africa and the beauty of spring in Korea.
Both the story and the illustrations would be a great springboard at home and in the classroom to get children to use their imaginations and plan where they would like to go on a rainy day. They could even write about their adventures.
Pat Pledger

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