The Ugly Five

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I got the idea for this book when I was on a safari in South Africa. We had just spotted a herd of wildebeest. The Ugly Five are an odd-looking bunch with a bad reputation. Yet each of them has their own unique and fascinating story. Some are vital to their ecosystems, while others dazzle us with spectacular wild shows.

The book asks a variety of questions which also encourage children to join in and the book introduced me to animals I had not heard of before like the Marabou Stork. Think of some speech / thought bubbles to add to the illustrations. What are the animals saying / thinking? The hyena also has some peculiar proportions, with all the strength loaded in their forequarters (and jaw), and the weak-looking hindquarters seemingly added as something of an afterthought. The size of a hyena’s clan can dictate the size of a kill or scavenge. A hyena clan can range in size between 12 and 24 hyenas. Some clans are even larger than this. Just like the marabou stork, vultures tend to have bald, scabby looking heads. Often with unfortunate skin folds, and sometimes with unsightly, exposed ears. Warthogs are normally found in family groups, where they spend most of their time either looking for food or wallowing in the mud at waterholes. At night they shelter in burrows, entering tail first.

The Ugly Five’ (2017) is a short, lovely, simple but effective and affecting story – the latest from the accomplished team of writer Julia Donaldson and Axel Sheffler – who provides the usual and wonderful illustrations to accompany the compelling rhyming words of Donaldson. The reader would need to have experience of empathy and support so they could put themselves in that situation and see what it may be like to feel that you are not beautiful or wanted. The story teaches about friendships and the importance of family. It allows children to explore ‘beauty’ and how there is more than what meets the eye. However, when exploring the narrative of this story teachers may need to be wary of the past experiences that the children may have had before digging deeper into the teachings the story could hold. Marabous are scavengers eating anything from termites, flamingoes, and small birds and mammals to human refuse and dead elephants. They also feed on carcasses with other scavengers such as vultures and hyenas. They’re an unusual looking bird, bald-headed with wisps of hair, perhaps worthy of their addition to the ugly five. They have a wingspan of 2.6 meters and a height of 1.5 meters. Interesting maribou stork fact: they have hollow leg and feet bones, an adaptation to help them fly They’re perhaps the most infamous scavengers of all, and they’re very good at what they do. In fact, they clear up to 70% of the carrion in Africa, helping prevent the spread of disease in animals and humans. 3. Wildebeest

Funnily enough, I find it harder to write not in verse, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it! My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. I have just finished writing a novel for teenagers. 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.

Everyone enjoyed hearing about the Marabou stork, which poos on its legs - apparently to cool itself down - and there was fascination about exactly what the meat was that the hyena and the vulture were eating. One nature-documentary watching child thought that the answer would not please the wildebeest. As always, Julia Donaldson’s rhyming is fabulous. It is never forced or awkward and, with its rhythm and wit, is always a pleasure to read. The illustrations by Axel Scheffler are again lovely. His style is instantaneously recognisable and very child-friendly. The message of the book is charming - that beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder and that we are perfect just the way we are.

But still, they feel a bit low about their looks and start to proclaim it to the winds. But then another "ugly" animal joins in the singing and well, joins the club. Wildebeests may not be easy on the eyes, but they’re not terribly unattractive when compared to the other animals on this list. Besides, an ugly wildebeest wouldn’t know how ‘ugly’ it was, as their eyesight is extremely poor.Sure, they have a rather odd posture, an unflattering grin, and a slightly sinister face. Their portrayal in The Lion King didn’t do much for their reputation either. But hyenas are hardly hideous, and their cubs are even particularly cute. Edward listened carefully and wisely pronounced: “It’s good that they don’t care what they look like, but I prefer The Gruffalo.” I've included some templates again this week. I'm not expecting you to do them like this, but I know some of you like a worksheet. Hope this helps some of you. 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.