Collections of short stories appear to be much in demand, but they are not always easily found, especially for the older KS2 children.  This is a very personal collection of stories and some random observations by the author.  If you start off by understanding his quirky sense of humour, then you won’t go far wrong.

What is really fascinating is the comparative length of the stories.  Many of them are only one page in length and I think the longest is about five pages.  This is a story called John Erskine IV and is a delightful story of why you really should listen when homework is given out.  The narrator’s older sister has to write about the character called John Erskine, but because the internet is down and her phone has been confiscated, she is a bit stuck.  In the end they write a totally fictitious account of this person’s life and low and behold the teacher thinks it is great, because they have thought ‘outside the box’.

The author is writing as the narrator of these stories and this really adds to the sense of connection that we have.  We also have the fact that the same area of Winterton appears in many of the stories.  This somehow adds to the feeling that this is all real and we are part of the community.  With some of the very short stories I felt as if they were just introductions and wanted to know a little bit more; this would seem to be a great opportunity to get children involved in creating extensions to these tales.  The author has put a section at the end of the book, about ‘write your own stories’, so this would work really well.

Rob Walton is a Writer, Poet and Performer and this exuberance shows in this new work.  Children are going to love dipping into this  Potpourri of stories and reading them to their friends.