By: Renea Giles
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Everyone has a home that is perfect for them and so did Francis before he outgrew it. Now he must find a new home before bedtime! His friends have their perfect homes and try to help, but is what they are suggesting perfect for Francis? The sun is setting and time is running out! Will he be homeless like a slug? What are your ideas?
Born in Brisbane, Australia, Renea Giles, her husband and two young children spend their time between there and Newcastle, New South Wales. Before having her own children, Renea tutored primary-school-aged refugee children and worked closely with their schools to provide additional support. She enjoys being active within her community and loves exploring the outdoors with her family, especially Australia’s glorious bush and coastlines. She strongly believes we need to fiercely protect the wonderful tradition of spending quality family time and reading books to our children as their benefits are immeasurable.
I am loving the unique yet relatable story of Francis and his search for a new home. As a teacher of struggling readers, this text has many uses for me and my students, and has helped create some fantastic discussions in our groups. Everyone, at some point, can relate to the idea of growing out of something they love or having to make a decision to a deadline - just like Francis. My students have loved the vivid, generous illustrations and the inclusion of some text-free pages within the book is great for encouraging discussion and imagination. I can see Francis becoming a firm favourite within our classes :)
This is a darling little book! I highly recommend it.
The story is cute and clever, and the illustrations are bold and colorful. Your children will delight in the story.
As a psychologist, I appreciate the learning structure of the book. Giles has clearly applied cutting-edge research on cognitive development to create an educational opportunity with multiple levels.
Children will be engaged in the story while parents can help guide conversations that can be increasingly complex and develop strong reasoning skills.
In the crowded children's book marketplace, this book seems fresh and novel!
My daughter and I loved reading the book "Where Should Francis Live?" such a lovely story, with lots for my daughter to think about as we read it, she loved the illustrations too. I would highly recommend this book. It's been read quite a few times in our house!
What a truly magical story to share with young children. The illustrations and authors craft work together beautifully to tell the story of Francis needing to find a home and find one quickly. The urgency and hope that Francis will in fact find a home is depicted through a variety of sentence types, careful word choices and repetition. Where Should Francis Live? exposes children to opportunities to interact with the story as the reader repeatedly asks "is that a good idea?" providing opportunities to build oral language as the story is being read. As an early years classroom teacher, this is one picture book I would definitely have in my repertoire of books suitable for young readers.
This story was brilliant for my children who are 1, 6, 7. The older children loved providing their ideas about where and why aspects. This allowed for creativity and humor. My younger child absolutely loved the illustrations and the fact that all his favourite animals were in one story! Highly recommended!
Cute, Clever, And Well-Designed
This is a darling little book! I highly recommend it.
The story is cute and clever, and the illustrations are bold and colorful. Your children will enjoy the story.
As a psychologist, I appreciate the learning structure of the book. Giles has clearly applied cutting-edge research on cognitive development to create an educational opportunity with multiple levels. Children will be engaged in the story while parents can help guide conversations that can be increasingly complex and develop strong reasoning skills.
In the crowded children's book marketplace, this book seems fresh and novel!
This is a delightful book! The story is lovely, and each and every character is charming - especially Francis himself. The illustrations are beautiful, and bring everything to life. My children love it, and we find lovely little details that we hadn't initially noticed every time we read it. A beautiful gift to give, and a great book to have in your own collection.
What a beautiful book! The wonderful illustrations and fantastic text structure make this text the perfect teaching tool. As a Kindergarten teacher, this book will be used within my classroom to introduce and address a wide variety of content areas. The key words written in italics allow for many rich conversations around different grammatical and text features, with the repetition of keywords making it easy for younger students to predict and follow along. The living things introduced throughout the story link perfectly to various areas of Science, as students identify why the different homes do not suit the main character. The engaging illustrations and vibrant colours give students the opportunity to reflect on why the author selected the specific colour scheme on each page and the mood they create.
A beautiful story line which will be read in my classroom for both educational purpose and enjoyment!
