Torla and Smorla and the Lower than Average Cloud
Torla and Smorla are giraffes. Torla is taller than average whilst Smorla is smaller. One day, while out for a longer-than-average walk together, Torla encounters a lower-than-average cloud and finds she can’t see anything! But with the help of her best friend, she manages to navigate this tricky situation.
I’m not sure what I love most about this one! Let’s start with the names…I’m ashamed to say that it took me until my second read to ‘get’ the joke there. In my defence, I wasn’t reading the story out loud and there is so much else to enjoy because how else could I miss it!
The story is bursting with humour as Smorla leads Torla through a series of hazards which introduces the reader to the wonderful sight of crocodiles doing yoga and lazing lions amongst other things. Torla trusts Smorla and her faithful companion leads her safely past everything, showing the strength of their friendship and the importance of kindness and supporting others.
Some of the pages fold out - or up - allowing readers to fully enjoy the adventures of Torla and Smorla as they head off on their walk. The book would be wonderful to use to support early maths work as they can compare the two giraffes and begin to use mathematical language to describe this. To extend this as needed, pictures of more giraffes of different sizes could be added and children encouraged to order these from tallest to smallest and vice versa. Pictures of other animals from the story could be added to help children compare other (clearly specified) attributes as developing both informal and formal mathematical language in the classroom allows children to take an active part in learning and helps them to develop a better and deeper understanding of mathematical concepts. The story is also perfect for exploring positional language as with Smorla’s guidance, Torla walks above some hippos, over an elephant and across a bridge. With older children, this would make a great introduction to prepositions in English as well!
Children might also have great fun creating and navigating obstacle courses and perhaps plotting their route around these on a basic map just as the giraffes’ footprints indicate the path they have taken in the illustrations. This could be done as part of a book group session with children creating large giraffe pictures of different sizes, a simple slider mechanism behind a picture which would allow them to raise the umbrella over Torla’s head or perform a simple trust exercise based on the friend’s journey! There are so many ways to develop a book hook with this one in addition to just enjoying it as a brilliant story! Loved it!
Torla and Smorla and the Lower than Average Cloud
Kes Gray, illustrated by Chris Jevons
Happy Yak ISBN: 978-0711288072