Mini Grey
Walker Books
Age 3-7
Traction Man has an important job to do and an action outfit for every mission. He’s an action man with a difference: his quest is to save endangered spoons, fend off the vacuum monster and evil pillows, dive for wrecks in the sink and rescue damsels in distress in the garden. All with the help of his loyal pet, the brave little scrubbing brush. This playful, quirky story is a fantastic feat of the imagination that is bound to excite young readers.
Mini Grey writes
‘The idea for Traction Man is Here came from a real thing that happened when I worked as a teacher. I was on playground duty and a little boy called Midge zoomed up to me. He had brought his Action Man into school, and his Action Man was wearing a new, home-made outfit (knitted by Midge’s granny I think.) The outfit was a suit, knitted out of emerald green wool with big buttons. And because it was knitted it looked just like a green romper suit that a baby might wear. The Action Man was clearly trying to rise above the suit and stay brave and heroic nonetheless. And I felt sorry for the Action Man and hoped it would get to home-time without anyone laughing at him. Years and years later I remembered Midge and his Action Man in the playground, and that is where the story started. Traction Man’s adventures mostly come from the perspective of being action-figure-sized, and the magic thing you can do when you’re playing with things (and making picture books too!) which is to make anything come to life.’
Share the story
Read aloud
Before reading the story, encourage children to look at the cover and talk about what they notice. Then read through the book, pausing to talk about the pictures.
Join in
As you read and reread the book, encourage children to join in where they can, especially the speech bubbles. Their confidence and enjoyment will build as you revisit the book together and children become more familiar with the story and story language.
Talk about the story
There’s a lot to talk about, here, and you can find out which part of the story children like best and talk about the reasons why.
Tell the story
Using the pictures in the book, children can tell the story in their own words and making their own sound effects.
Watch the story
Traction Man read here by children:
From Charlotte Jones
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