Coming to England: An Inspiring True Story Celebrating the Windrush Generation

Product Information

We spoke to her about how she did it and why it's so important to get stories for children right... I was very much involved in finding Diane. My publishers Macmillan Children's Books showed me work from at least a dozen illustrators. We wanted a very specific look for the book, something that is really warm and engaging and captured my story exactly right. This book is great fun to read. There are so many lovely colours in the pictures. Everyone will enjoy it! urn:lcp:comingtoengland0000benj:epub:aea6e85e-0fb4-461e-a052-ed5217efbb3f Foldoutcount 0 Identifier comingtoengland0000benj Identifier-ark ark:/13960/s2v3kkn3vbs Invoice 1652 Isbn 9781406315967

Coming to England: An Inspiring True Story Celebrating the Coming to England: An Inspiring True Story Celebrating the

You look at it holistically. I had to think very carefully about what I wanted very young children to know and grasp. Some of them know about moving to a new place, so they can understand the concept of moving. Some of them know about parents leaving, even if it's for a couple of weeks, so they know the emotional feeling that gives you. I learnt that the time zones changed as people sailed to England to find work. Floella took every opportunity, tried her best, worked hard and, as she became a politician in the House of Lords, she met the Queen! Was the plot exciting, thought-provoking, serious or light-hearted (or any mixture of these)?Exciting. Not only did Floella learnt about England, I did too!! In 1960, at the age of 10, Floella moved here to the United Kingdom. She says she did not feel welcome in the UK and that she found it really hard to fit in. It's got to be inspirational, beautiful and perfect. If you tell a story, it's got to be the best. Because remember, whatever they get first will stay with them forever.

Who is the main character in the story? How would you describe them? Why do you like that character? The author has many problems. She moves from colourful Trinidad to a dull England to join her Marmie and Dardie who went to London for work. She feels unwelcome, she doesn’t know what an escalator or a telephone is for. She experiences discrimination. Her ambition is to meet the Queen. She works hard to settle in her new home. One day, she achieves her dream! Now she works to help other people at the House of Lords. Floella was a hard working person who was brave enough to travel across time zones, spending fifteen days on a boat, whilst doing a handful of chores. As her boat arrived at Southampton from Trinidad, she wanted to be a welcomed visitor but London wasn’t very welcoming. She was confused by the fast underground trains and moving staircases but worse than that, people weren’t very kind. She persevered though. Eventually she settled in, and made good friends at school.

Coming to England by Floella Benjamin is a biographical story Coming to England by Floella Benjamin is a biographical story

In a way, it was the same when I was writing my novel Coming to England for older children, which doesn't have even one racist word in the book. But if I was writing it for adults, then I'd use stronger words to give the real feeling of what it was like. You can't even tell 10 or 11 year olds what it was truly like. I wouldn't want to burden them with it. Floella Benjamin was a little girl who lived in Trinidad. Floella worked with an illustrator, Diane Ewen, to tell the astonishing story of Floella’s life, travelling from Trinidad to arriving in England. I learnt that England didn’t welcome Floella and her family but she didn’t give up.

The Story of the Windrush

Don't forget, childhood lasts a lifetime. Each child is born with one hundred billion brain cells and they are starting to be connected when the child is 18 months. Picture books formulate their ideas and those connections with what they are seeing and hearing - and that affects the make-up of who they will be as adults.

KS1 Black British History: Floella Benjamin - BBC Teach

Baroness Floella Benjamin is an actress, author, businesswoman, politician, writer of children’s books, TV presenter and singer. She was born in Trinidad but moved to the United Kingdom when she was 10 years old. She has talked about the racism that she experienced while growing up in the UK and how she found it hard to fit in. She is well-known as a presenter of children's TV programmes, such as Play School , Play Away and Fast Forward . Is there anything you did not like about this book? Jacob said “I didn’t like it when the people at school were mean.” England wasn’t a giant iceberg as Floella’s brother said. It was cold but not that cold! Much colder and less colourful than Trinidad and getting around London was very different to getting around Trinidad. The escalators and underground trains were new to Floella and her family. I was sad that people were not very kind to them at first but they got through it. Discussion. Floella has written about how she did not feel welcome when she arrived in the UK and how she did not feel like she fitted in. Discuss with the children how they think Floella must have felt. Discuss how your school community seeks to welcome a new child. (You might refer to the school's stated values or ethos.) What do you think may have changed in Floella's life to make her feel welcome? It was a great collaboration and I'd love to write another book with Diane! When I look at illustrations I've got to get a warm feeling, and that's what Diane's do.Coming to England is such a popular book that it seemed a great idea to make a picture book version so younger children can enjoy it too. People might think it's easy writing a picture book, but it's not, especially when you've got quite a complicated real life story such as Coming to England. Is this picture book version the kind of book you dreamt about reading when you were on Play School? Coming to England is a picture book about the life of Floella Benjamin. Reading it will tell you about how she achieved her dream. Floella wrote a book called Coming to England . What was the book about? (Floella's journey to England and her experiences after she arrived) Wrigglers, wanderers, stampers and shy children... reading different stories to different listeners