Book reviews by P4 at Craiglockhart Primary, Edinburgh

The Clans by Gordon Jarvie
The front cover is very bright with good patterns. I did not know much about
the clans before reading this book and I learned a lot in about 5 mins.

The Jacobites by Antony Kamm
The contents are very descriptive. The extras and layout of the book makes
it more fun to read. You get quite a lot of information about the Jacobites
and who they were.

Mary Queen of Scots by Elizabeth Douglas

This book is very child friendly.
The front cover is very bright and detailed. It is an excellent book, the
extras are fun for children with good pictures.

Scottish Rocks and Fossils by Alan and Moira McKirdy

Pictures are bright and colourful. The book is packed with good information and facts. Ther are lots of fossils in Scotland that I never knew about. I think this book is very child friendly.

Flight in Scotland by Frances and Gordon Jarvie

The front cover gives you a feeling that it's going to give you a lot of information. The contents are very detailed. It describes the sea planes and I found it fascinating.

Greyfriar's Bobby by Frances and Gordon Jarvie.
It has a good front cover. It has brilliant pictures and a lot of
information. There are a few quizzes and they look fun.

Supernatural by Eileen Dunlop.
This book is very good and child friendly. The book cover is very
recognisable and the contents very organised. There is a good mix of
sketches and photographs throughout the pages.

Scottish kings and queens by Elizabeth Douglas.
The front cover is really good because it is very interesting and
distinctive. It has very clear contents with lots to look at. It tells you
about kings and queens from long ago. There is a sketch of Mary Queen of
Scots that is a work of art. It gives information about old chess pieces.

Robert Burns in Time and Place by Frances and Gordon Jarvie.
This book is entertaining because there's super quizzes in the book to keep
you busy. The layout is good because it makes it very clear to us what
things are. The pictures inside are very good because if you are an early
reader it tells you what is going on. The information in the book is very
child friendly

Scotland's Viking by Frances and Gordon Jarvie
The front cover is very colourful and bright. It has a very good contents
page and it might need an index. There is a lot of good quizzes at the back
of the book. The layout os good but we think the font could be bigger. It is
child friendly. It has quite a lot of information.

A Review of National Museums Scotland’s – ‘new look’ Scottie Books

By Derek Law – Headmaster at Craiglockhart Primary School

In the past, as a class teacher, history projects were always amongst my favourites and those of my pupils. Children are fascinated by the past, particularly of their own country. The best way to engage my pupils was always through real artefacts or excursions to real places but history projects were also a great way to explore and develop the important skills involved in reading for information. Sadly, I often found the information books to hand ineffective – either they did not engage the pupils or they were just too ‘busy’ and the children could not make sense of them independently. The ‘Horrible Histories’ series were a great hit for getting the pupils enthusiastic about the topic but not very practical for independent research and developing reading for information skills (though having read Terry Deary’s views about education recently, I am sure he would not be impressed by that!) The National Museums of Scotland’s ‘new look’ Scottie Books address many of the issues I and my pupils have previously faced. They are handy little books, just the right amount of information, each double page dealing with a different part of the topic with good-sized print. Information is displayed in a variety of ways without being too busy, encouraging pupils to learn how to skim and scan, and to use tables, maps, timelines, diagrams and genealogy charts. Each book has fun activities at the back to quiz the children about what they have learned. The books I particularly enjoyed were the ‘Scottish Rocks and Fossils’ – full of fascinating facts and enlightening children about Scotland’s important place in the early days of geology; and ‘Greyfriars Bobby’ – using the familiar and perennially popular story to encourage children to find out more about Victorian Scotland.

My Primary 4B class reviewed the books and you can see some of their comments on the website but they overwhelmingly found the books interesting, useful, enjoyable and child-friendly