Sequin and Stitch by Laura Dockrill and Sara Ogilvie (illustrator)
| Sequin and Stitch by Laura Dockrill and Sara Ogilvie (illustrator) | |
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| Category: Dyslexia Friendly | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A billiant, touching story for interest age eight plus and reading age eight. It's dyslexia friendly too. Highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 104 | Date: April 2020 |
| Publisher: Barrington Stoke | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1781129319 | |
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Sequin loved her mum to bits, but sometimes she got very cross with her. It wasn't that mum wouldn't go outside their flat - Sequin coped with that - it was because she never pushed to get credit for what she did. Mum is a seamstress and she makes the sort of clothes that you see on red carpets or at important weddings. She's not the designer - they're the people who make a lot of money from the clothes. Mum is the person who actually makes the garments and she's really talented, but when people talk about the dress or the suit, they talk about the designer. The seamstress is never mentioned.
Sequin did a presentation at school to tell her class exactly what her mother does, but not all her classmates were impressed. In fact, some of them called Sequin a liar: if her mother really made those clothes then they'd have lots of money and wouldn't be living in a tower block. Sequin does her best to help her mother when she gets home from school and she always looks after her baby brother, Stitch, but tonight mum has exciting news for her: mum has been chosen to make the princess's wedding dress. The difficult bit is that Sequin mustn't tell anyone - ANYONE - at all.
Oh, but this is a brilliant story. It's for reading age eight and interest age eight plus. You can put a lot of plus in there too - I'm nearly ten times the target age group and I was absolutely riveted to the book. There was no way that I was going to put it down until I found out what happened! You sense that something is going to go badly wrong and I had all sorts of scenarios in my mind, but I didn't guess what really happened. It was devastating for both Sequin and her mum, but help comes from the most surprising places and Sequin learns to let go of something she's needed for comfort. No - I'm not going to explain. You'll have to read the book to find out. There's also a gentle look at the effects of agoraphobia on a family.
There's a bonus too: the book is dyslexia friendly and even for people who don't have dyslexia it does make reading easier. The book is published on cream paper which is easy on the eye and thick enough that you don't get bleed-through from the back. The font used encourages you to read on and the spacing (and lack of text justification) means that it's easy to keep your place on the page. When you combine this with a top-class story which everyone is going to enjoy reading no one is going to worry about reading a book which is dyslexia friendly.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
For another dyslexia-friendly book which looks at mental health problems, have a look at Special Delivery by Jonathan Meres. We also enjoyed Darcy Burdock by Laura Dockrill but that one isn't sold as being dyslexia friendly. Sorry!
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You can read more book reviews or buy Sequin and Stitch by Laura Dockrill and Sara Ogilvie (illustrator) at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Sequin and Stitch by Laura Dockrill and Sara Ogilvie (illustrator) at Amazon.com.
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