Nen and the Lonely Fisherman

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The conventions of courtesy and manners -The importance of self respect and how this links to their own happiness. I have even talked the head into a little revamp of the library so that we can display them properly! Some children used an acrostic style for their poems, using the letters of Ernest and Nen’s names to spell out their poem, others wrote a poem for Ernest above the waves and a poem for Nen beneath the waves. The beautiful illustrations and fabulous imagery present educators and children with lots of ideas and it can be used as a springboard to learning for any age group. Some children have said that Nen and Ernest are best friends, others have said that they are in love.

Beautiful words from Ian Eagleton and stunning illustrations by James Mayhew to tell this story of love and happiness. They are all individual and different and the children really enjoyed taking ownership of their own art resources. Mental health and wellbeing have been expanded on, as one pupil put it ‘they were lonely and needed someone to listen to them. They will infer characters’ thoughts and feelings through freeze-framing, thought bubbles and diary entries. Sam ‘got’ the book and what I was trying to achieve instantly and had lots of ideas about how to develop it.Mommy it’s like we’re diving into the sea and we’re swimming deeper and deeper into the ocean where it gets darker and more mysterious.

For us, we were very aware that we wanted to show Nen and Ernest’s relationship in a tender, loving way but were nervous about depicting things like them holding hands. On our tracing paper we drew a line for below the water and above the water and we wrote Ernest’s poem above the water line and Nen’s below it.We are so proud of the book but we were also nervous about what kind of reception a gay fairy tale might receive; the responses have completely shocked and overwhelmed us. Books like this normalise and validate all kinds of relationships and help all children see the many options available to them in their lives. They are able to curate sets of books for you relating to the themes you are exploring with your class and are very reasonable.

The illustrations beautiful and the inclusion of the environmental issues with the sea adds another layer to the tale. What the meaning of a name is – do different names have similar meanings, where might that meaning have come from? Bookwagon recommends Nen and the Lonely Fisherman as a bedtime story, a tale for sharing in schools, a gift and a picture book to treasure.With the help of her loving Nan, and her Uncle Tony and his husband Sebastian, Violet learns to face her fears and turn her whisper into a roar! Our bookshelves and the books our children are surrounded by should be representational of the wonderfully diverse world we live in.