Room on the Broom

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Anyone with small children (and older ones too, I'm sure) will be familiar with Julia Donaldson, in particular The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child, which - along with Room on the Broom - have been made into animated films that regularly show on the ABC. My son, at three, enjoys the books but finds the movies too scary - he's still young like that. Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my BEDTIME STORIES list. Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta. Questions for Philosophical Discussion » Summary Room on the Broom considers questions about friendship, helping others, and teamwork. And you can never get them started on fantasy too young - good witches and bad dragons - perfect! We'll get him reading Tolkien before he's ten...

I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs.

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Look at the expressions of each of the characters in the illustrations. Can you describe how they are feeling? Could you draw your own pictures which show different people’s emotions?

If the animals knew that the witch could not make room on her broom for them, do you think they still would have helped her? Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler raises questions about what it means to be a friend, helping others, and teamwork. Throughout the story, many different animals help the witch collect items that she has lost. In return, she makes room for them on her broom. At the end of the book, the animals must unite and work together to save the witch from the mean dragon. Room on the Broom has a delightful rhyme that almost sounds like song, or music - any picture book that rhymes like this is a pleasure to read out loud. The story just flows so well, it's fun to read, and pleasurable to the ear. Doesn't stop a kid from interrupting, though! Look at the different types of landscapes the witch flies over.Can you find similar landscapes near your local area using a map or an atlas? All of the animals in the story help the witch. Students can have discussions about why we help others. Why did the animals return the witch’s belongings? It could be that the animals care for the well-being of the witch. Or could it be that the animals have a self-interest to go on the broom? Could it be both? Is one reason better or worse as motivation to help others?

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The kids love this story. They have watched the show over and over and love the book. They both gave the book 5 stars, which might not be fair, but they love it. They can practically recite the lines of the book. Still, it's the first time to read it for all of us. I have a little boy and love reading to him, so this reading list will cover the classic (and new) children’s stories we’re enjoying together.

My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes. Noisy books aside, this is the best. He likes to point at the witch and the cat and the dog and the bird and the frog. He likes to mimic the dramatic, booming, Brian Blessed-esque voice I used for the ' down came the broom' line, around which each verse hinges. I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married. A really good read-aloud story, with great rhythm, rhyme and repetitive elements. My son is 16 months old, and Room on the Broom is currently his second favourite book - he goes and gets it himself from his book shelf most days, which is really cute. The broom broke when the frog “jumped for joy.” Was it the frog’s fault that the broom broke? Who’s fault was it?

Room on the Broom and Other Songs

Look at the use of punctuation within the story. Can you explain why each type of punctuation has been used?