If, like me, this is the first time you have met Tara Binns, you are in for quite an adventure! This is satisfying adventure story, in 7 chapters.
If, like me, this is the first time you have met Tara Binns, you are in for quite an adventure! Tara opens her dressing-up box and is ‘tingled’ into the cockpit of a jet plane! She applies her quickly-learned flying and problem-solving skills to an extreme weather situation, and successfully lands the plane on a deserted island, with the help of the co-pilots. Geographical features of the landing zone trigger Tara’s prior knowledge of pirates, and with the help of the crew and passengers, a fantastic discovery is made. Tara is shown to be altruistic by sharing with those in great need.
When Tara returns from her adventure she reflects on the things she did well: keeping calm under pressure, thinking fast & being part of a great team. The experience inspires Tara to think about flying as a future career.
The ‘ideas for reading’ section at the back of the book provides comprehensive guidance for alternative activities both prior to, and after, reading the story. Most helpfully, a list of the sophisticated, aviation-related vocabulary, which readers may not already be familiar with.
There are lots of grammar features in this story, starting with the hyphenated title. More confident readers could be encouraged to point out these features, and discuss the author’s intent as an extension-activity.
The graphical representation of ‘Tara’s emotion journey’ is a great visual summary, and provides stimulation for a re-telling of the story, from memory, by the reader.
This is satisfying adventure story, in 7 chapters.
With the help of a magical dressing-up box, Tara Binns experiences another gripping adventure, this time as a pilot navigating through dangerous weather.
Exciting and fast-moving story in which Tara finds herself magically transformed to become the pilot of a passenger plane. With the help of her two co-pilots she navigates the plane to their destination only to find a storm raging over their proposed landing area. Using the skills she has learned, Tara takes the decision to divert around the storm, avoiding the disaster area which the storm has created and makes a successful emergency landing on a desert island. When they start to explore the island they find a haul of buried treasure which they decide to use to help the people whose homes were destroyed by the storm.
Help in the form of a re-fuelling tanker arrives just as Tara is once more transformed and finds herself at home again.
This series promotes positive models for girls in roles in science, technology and engineering while still keeping a gripping storyline with plenty of entertainment value.
Additional material charts Tara's "emotion journey" through this adventure and offers a number of ideas for maximising reading value from the text.
An excellent series based around STEM careers. High-flying Pilot covers multiple themes and is exciting and adventurous.
This series is based on a clever girl called Tara who saves the day with her quick thinking. These books have a different theme based around STEM careers. The copies I received to review were Big Idea Engineer, Double Quick Doctor and High-Flying Pilot. They are fast paced and exciting and the topics are extremely interesting. Each story begins with a bit of magic where Tara opens up her dressing up box to be whisked away into different situations where, with the help from her two friends has to solve different problems. My favourite was Big Idea Engineer where you learn about how cars are made and the safety checks in place for them, although High-flying Pilot was equally as good covering multiple themes with an exciting and adventurous story line. At the end of each book there are a couple of pages to recap on the story and information for teachers and parents on how to build and develop reading using the text.
Colourful illustrations and recurring themes add to the enjoyment young readers will experience learning about the world of work as they learn to read with these delightful chapter books.
Tara Binns keeps an old dressing up box in the attic; the costumes, rather like those Mr Benn wore in the 1970s, transport her to new and challenging work situations. Through the special clothes for each role, Tara learns what it feels like to be a pilot, or a doctor, or an engineer.
The format for each book is the same – Tara finds the dressing up box, she experiences a tingling as she tries a new costume and is transported. In each new location, she finds two familiar friends, Ayesha and Ortez, who have been trained to help her. Tara learns to adapt to each new challenge and discovers the problem-solving strategies needed for different jobs. Each book ends with a summary of these stages.
These delightful books are a good introduction to the world of work for young children. The colourful illustrations and recurring themes will draw in the new readers; the chapter format will give them a sense of achievement. At the end of each book, there are suggestions for parents or teachers to use to help those learning to read. The stories are clearly graded; as they become more difficult, chapters lengthen and more vocabulary is introduced.
I think these books will be enjoyed by young readers, especially if they are shared with an adult guiding them.
Calling all adventurers! From touching a costume box in her attic, Tara is transported into the roles of different jobs. Come and find out where she goes, and what it is like to be a pilot/engineer/doctor/...
As every child knows, the attic is a wonderous and exciting place. For Tara Binns (the lead character in this series of books) it is no exception: every story starts with her visiting the old costume box in the attic of her house, and as she opens its lid, something special happens! The tingling in her arms, means it's about to happen! Each story focuses on Tara taking on the role of a particular job e.g. engineer, pilot or doctor. Some characters, such as her friend Ortiz, reappear in each story, helping children to familiarise themselves with key characters. In this particular story, Tara is thrust into the hot seat, literally, as she has to land a huge plane on a desert island! "And do they find treasure?" I hear you ask. Of course! Each part of the story has fantastic illustrations to help the reader work out what is happening in the text. The chapters, complexity of the story and language used are adapted depending on the level of the reader. In each of the stories, there is a problem for Tara to solve, and through this, children get to know her strength of character, fierce determination and high levels of resilience. Each story is inspiring in its own rights, and leaves children wondering if that might be their job in the future. There are activities at the end of each book focusing on recall, summarising, sequencing, and a wide and super selection of 'Ideas for reading'.