The Promise

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Nicola Davies is the author of more than 50 books for children: fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her work has been published in more than 10 different languages and has won major awards in the UK, US, France, Italy and Germany. Welcome to Silver Street Farm (2011) with illustrations by Katharine McEwen, published by Walker Books The problems we face with the aftermath of COVID, social inequality and climate change, are so many, so varied and so huge. To solve them we are going to have to be more creative than we have ever been. Stories and the imaginative thinking they foster have an important role to play there. But perhaps the most important job that stories can do is to show us the simple difference between right and wrong. Stories can show the one change we need to make from which all others flow, so that mending our planet and changing the world can seem as simple as planting an acorn. Part C comprises 5 key-steps and pupils are invited to participate by responding to questions with their own personal interpretations and opinions.

Mother Cary's Butter Knife (2016) with illustrations by Anja Uhren, published by Graffeg - part of the Shadows and Light series Just the Right Size: Why Big Animals are Big and Little Animals are Little (2009) Illustrated by Neil Layton, awarded 2021 Mathical Honors [5] The Elephant Road (2013) with illustration by Annabel Wright, published by Walker Books (Heroes of the Wild series)We want our viewers to engage with this story, we want them to take its meanings into their hearts. So when they’ve watched the film, we want them to take time to read the book, to absorb it and reflect on it, because for Chi Laura and I it’s the message that matters. We’re trying to make copies available to the children who need them most, not just the existing audience of already eco minded schools and families. Walker Books, the publisher of The Promise, has offered us three thousand copies at a crazy discount. We want these to go to children in the most deprived urban areas. The story feels a bit contrived, but Ada will be a welcome addition to the small circle of science-loving girls in the chapter-book world. A little girl and her parents have lost their home and must live in a homeless shelter. Even worse, due to a common shelter policy, her dad must live in a men’s shelter, separated from her and her mom. Despite these circumstances, the family still finds time to be together. What do the colours suggest,? The palette is mainly muted greys, but the girls blue jeans soften the image. The red bird stands out as a splash of bright colour in an otherwise drab world. Why did Laura Carlin choose to do that? Is the bird significant? A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.

There is a piece of advice that I’ve heard imparted by many writers and critics, especially when it comes to writing for children. It is that you must not write with an agenda. I confess that every single one of more than sixty books that I have written for children, has a very definite agenda. Broadly speaking, my agenda is to inspire deeper connection with the natural world for all my readers, but especially those children who are not experiencing a happy childhood. The natural world has been my greatest comfort throughout my life. It has kept me turning outwards with curiosity and delight when sadness and trauma threatened to fold me inwards, away from the light. I feel passionately that the disconnect with nature that humankind has experienced over the last decades, is the root of our profoundest problems at a global level and at a personal one. So, with my writing I want to help to retune our value system, to respect the network of life that supports us: this is how we can heal our planet and our souls. The Promise (2013) Illustrated by Laura Carlin. Winner of the 2014 English Association Picture Book award for best fiction. Within the softly drawn, gentle pictures there's a harsh city environment portrayed by the predominance of greys, browns and shades of blue. The hard lines of buildings, streets and roads yield nothing but the tough life its inhabitants strive to live. You sense their harsh choices and existence. As a reader you are forced into the inhospitable and overwhelming city by the cleverly drawn perspective of windows, floors, chimneys, roads, cars and traffic lights. The lessons are structured around four parts which facilitate pupils’ agency and active participation. The activities offer opportunities for decision-making and respect pupils’ right to an opinion. In return, listening to pupils’ views, offers teachers the opportunity to discover pupils’ feelings and lived experiences.

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Teachers are encouraged to share the lesson objectives with their pupils to make learning explicit and purposeful. Part C: Lesson plan The Lion Who Stole My Arm (2013) Winner of The Portsmouth Book Award 2014 (Heroes of the Wild series) Survivors: The Toughest Creatures on Earth (2016) Illustrated by Neal Layton, published by Walker Books On a mean street in a mean city, a thief tries to snatch an old woman's bag. But she finds she can't have it without promising something in return - to "plant them all". When it turns out the bag is full of acorns, the young thief embarks on a journey that changes her own life and the lives of others for generations to come. Inspired by the belief that a relationship with nature is essential to every human being, and that now, more than ever, we need to renew that relationship, The Promise is the story of a magical discovery that will touch the heart and imagination of every reader, young and old. With poignant simplicity, honesty and lyricism, Nicola Davies evokes a powerful vision of a world where people and nature live in harmony. And Laura Carlin's delicate illustrations capture a young girl's journey from a harsh, urban reality to the beauty and vitality of a changed world. Text Rationale:

Following the start of her writing career, Nicola became a senior lecturer in creative writing, at Bath Spa University but has been writing full time for over a decade. She now regularly runs workshops for children and adults to help them find their voices as writers and advocates for nature. In 2017, she was the first recipient of the SLA’s award for Outstanding Contribution to Children’s Non-fiction and in 2018 had four picture books longlisted for the Greenaway Award. Teachers set up a safe space in a positive, inclusive classroom climate where all pupils are respected and learn with and from each other. Pupils may encounter social issues for the first time in the classroom which provides a window into the lives of people different to their own or may offer children who are experiencing difficult circumstances the opportunity to understand that they are not alone. It is especially important, therefore, to ensure a learning environment conducive to exploring such topics and to encourage empathy and understanding. Provision The Animation is also subtitled into the following languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Romanian, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Ukranian, Vietnamese and Welsh.This is a lovely picture book which highlights the joy that spreading kindness can bring to an individual. The story begins in a mean and cruel city with no plant life, miserable people and lots of unhappiness. However, after a chance encounter with a stranger the main protagonist, who had previously been described as mean and cruel just like the city she grew up in, begins to see a change within herself. She steals what she believes to be a bag of food from an old lady in an alley but it turns out to be a bag of acorns. Having made a promise to the lady, the girl begins planting seeds around the city. Soon, the streets become vibrant with trees and wildlife and the people themselves begin to change too. The girls travels around local areas planting seeds and spreading joy until one day the bag of acorns is stolen from her. She makes the thief make the same promise she did before handing over the bag, therefore continuing the cycle. Out of the blue there was another big green shoot. A film director called Chi Thai wanted to make an animated film version for a BBC environmental film slot. She was the perfect person to make the film, not just immensely skilled and creative, but she got what the book was trying to do, she got what Laura and I had created. All three of us were on the same wavelength from the moment we first met. On a mean street in a mean, broken city, a young girl tries to snatch an old woman’s bag. But the frail old woman says the thief can’t have it without giving something in return: the promise. It is the beginning of a journey that will change the girl’s life — and a chance to change the world, for good. I don’t know how I thought of the street child as my story’s protagonist. I don’t know why I gave her no name and implied that she was just one in a long line of planters, passing on their task of greening cities across generations and continents. All I know is that one day I sat down at my desk and two hours later I had the text of The Promise .

I was very small when I saw my first dolphin," says zoologist Nicola Davies, recalling a seminal visit with her father to a dolphin show at the zoo. Enchanted at the sight of what she called the "big fish" jumping so high and swimming so fast, she determined right then that she would meet the amazing creatures again "in the wild, where they belonged." And indeed she did--as part of a pair of scientific expeditions, one to Newfoundland at the age of eighteen and another to the Indian Ocean a year later. In WILD ABOUT DOLPHINS, Nicola Davies describes her voyages in a firsthand account filled with fascinating facts and captivating photographs of seven species of dolphins in action. But this is where I needed to remember my own words, written in the voice of the acorn planting heroine of The Promise: Nicola Davies gives unique insight into the making of children’s environmental book, The Promise , and its journey from print to a new BBC film set for release in October. This lesson is suitable for use with secondary learners with a pre-intermediate level of English and beyond. This is a three-week Writing Root for the book The Promise by Nicola Davies. Through the sequence of learning, children will discuss the concept of promises, making their own and exploring how a seed can hold a promise within. Children will investigate the impact of using a range of modal verbs and specific punctuation choices, as well as building their vocabulary to create figurative phrases to write poetry. The Writing Root will culminate in children writing their own sequel in the form of a narrative poem to continue the story cycle. Synopsis of Text:

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Pretty soon the city was filled with little trees that enchanted people, and they began to plant trees and flowers and vegetables everywhere: King of the Sky (2017) Illustrated by Laura Carlin, published by Walker, shortlisted for the Tir na n-Og Award Bee Boy and the Moonflowers (2018) with illustrations by Max Low, published by Graffeg - part of the Shadows and Light series