Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball, written by Vicki Churchill and illustrated by Charles Fuge, focuses on an adorable little Wombat exploring his favourite things to do during the day before bedtime approaches. The reader sees him jump up high, pigeon step, scream loudly and poke out his tongue until he finally returns to his ball like shape, seen on the front cover of the first page, when it is finally time to join his mum to go to sleep.
The two areas of the curriculum where I believe this book could be useful as a wonderful resource are; Literacy and Social and Emotional Learning. In Literacy pupils can explore rhyming words and stories, develop their knowledge of how to construct sentences using commas and also discuss the use of adjectives to describe physical movements. The story is perfect for exploring the theme of "there's no one quite like me", which is featured in the curriculum for the Reception Class. Pupils can use this book as an inspiration to begin to talk about themselves and the things they like doing. This could be achieved through storytelling, story writing, Art and Design and Drama. Pupils can begin to learn about themselves and explore their dislikes and preferences as well as begin to learn about their peers through their engagement with this book.
This book is appropriate for Classes up to Year 2 and would be great to use during a story time session!