This is a picture book for children of ages 8 and upwards. Although it doesn’t contain a lot of text, the words are beautifully woven into the pictures using different fonts and text sizes. The pictures themselves are intricate and detailed images put together in a unique way using photographs and illustration which in themselves tell a story. I found myself asking questions about the images and even making up a little more of the story in my head.

This book tells the story of a father and son and a dream to fly. The father is possessed with an unrelenting desire to fly which he never achieves. When the father goes off to war and doesn’t return, the dream of flying passes on to his son. Asking children prior to display who inspires them and why and then collate information and add to display/around the classroomFArTHER is the story of a father who dreams of flying. However, when he goes to war and does not return, his son attempts to finish where he left off and makes his dream come true. Winner of the 2012 Greenaway award, this truly is an inspirational story showing how any dream can be fulfilled with love and motivation. This is the story of a boy whose father is so close to him, yet so far away in spirit. A man whose days and nights are spent dreaming of flying away from the little house on the cliff. The winning book, Farther by Grahame Baker-Smith, tells the story of how a son takes up his father’s unfulfilled dreams of flying, and finally takes to the air. Different types of wings hanging from the ceiling... alongside aspirations hanging from the ceiling as well

Publishing a Greenaway Medal Winner is a triumph for a small publisher like Templar Publishing. Managing Director Amanda Wood said she was delighted and paid tribute to Templar’s Art Director, Mike Jolley. She also said it was a huge privilege for the company to work with the author, Grahame Baker-Smith. One day this father is called away to war, leaving his wife and son alone. The years pass and the boy grows to become part of the dream to fly away and, after some adjustment to the wings, he makes it happen. Through the unit, the children focus on characterisation and make inferences about the author’s perspective on a particular character and finally write a new version or scene for the story in the style of the author. The essence of dreams is captured, the wonder, the danger, power and draw of dreaming big and being all consumed by the possibilities of the imagination. The sharing of dreams, yet the absolute loneliness of such a vision. Alternatively, this unit could be taught in the Spring term when the shortlist for 2012 is announced. Other book awards could be substituted, for example the UKLA awards, or awards run by local libraries.Children's thoughts about the book- picture of front of book and children to add post-it thoughts as book is explored Cross Curricular Opportunities: Use the curriculum jigsaw and copies of the NC to help you see relevant links to the text. History All he wants is to fly and he spends his time creating beautiful wings to carry him away from this place. Introduce gravity, resistance' ...'Understand location and interaction of Sun, Earth and Moon' ...Use understanding of Science as criteria for creating the wings in D&T Mathematics Have picture of each character displayed and as the book is explored things about that character are revealed and put around the character... mainly looking at strength in relationships