Oxford Reading Tree TreeTops inFact: Level 8: Story of our Lives

This book links the family history of the Hancock family from Liverpool to historical events over the past 100 or so years. This is a very attractive book, cleverly combining family pictures and artefacts with photos of world events. The use of 'tape' to label the photos is effective, combined with a printed font to demonstrate the need to use different writing styles for different purposes. This text would be particularly useful for guided reading as it offers plenty of opportunities for discussion, exploring the features and style of a non-fiction text and independent tasks. It could also be used as a way into exploring history with a class using a similar model - perhaps local study. Touching on events in this way, the book is a great starting point for further research. Story of our Lives would work well with older children whose reading is less secure and younger children reading at age expected because the subject matter and presentation are appropriate to either. The book contains a contents page, a glossary and an index. Although these features are clear and easy to use, the glossary was perhaps missing some key words, e.g. Sherpa. The use of the time line at the foot of each double spread is a nice touch, clearly showing the chronology of events. 24 pages / ORT Book Band 8 / Ages 7+ / Reviewed by Sue Wilsher, teacher.

Suggested Reading Age 3+