Phoebe and Noah are really into ‘That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown.’ Phoebe has called her toy rabbit ‘Bunnywunny’ like the toy rabbit in the story. How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury is the 12th instalment of this series. How do you think Hiccup has matured over the years? How to Train your Dragon has spanned more than a decade, so each time you wrote a new book did you evolve your style to suit newer generations of readers?

I spent a great deal of time as a child on a tiny, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland...By the time I was eight, my family had built a small stone house on the island, and with the boat, we could nearly fish for enough food to feed the family for the whole summer.

Cressida Cowell

From then on, every year we spent four weeks of the summer and two weeks of the spring on the island. The house was lit by candle-light, and there was no telephone or television, so I spent a lot of time drawing and writing stories." [7]

Look at the fonts used in the book title and throughout the story. Could you design a new title using interesting and exciting fonts?Phoebe ‘read’ the story to her own toy rabbit and made a special picture to send to the Queen telling her she can’t have bunnywunny.

Emily Brown and Stanley are trying to sleep when the Thing keeps interrupting them. Why do we need sleep? When do animals sleep? Can you find out about noctural animals? Nestlé Children’s Book Prize, Gold Award, 0–5 years category: That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell & Neal Layton (Orchard Books) [15] Hutton, Caroline (25 April 2021). "Author Cressida Cowell on how she proved her teachers wrong". The Sunday Times magazine . Retrieved 25 April 2021. (subscription required) Emily sends her visitors away politely. What does it mean to be polite? Could you make a poster to teach others how to be polite at home / school?

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Write a new story about a child and their favourite toy. Could you write about an adventure that you might have with your favourite toy? Read the story aloud to your child allowing time to talk about what is happening in the story or pictures Join in Would you be interested in writing a spin-off from the point of view of one of the villains in the series?

In addition to her other publications, Cowell works with illustrator Neal Layton [4] in the ongoing series of Emily Brown stories. The first in the series, That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown, won a Nestlé Children’s Book Award. Can we move away from HTTYD to talk about your Emily Brown books. In my view Emily Brown is a series that teaches parents how to understand their children as well as teaching children good behaviour. You have children so how long did it take you to understand them well enough to write those books? Look at the use of speech marks in the story. Can you write your own sentences / paragraphs that use speech marks accurately? Imagine that the Queen sent a letter to Emily instead of sending her Chief Footman / Admiral etc. What would the letter say? Could you write it? What would Emily say in reply?

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

There are a number of books featuring Emily Brown. Could you read one of the others or write a new adventure about her? Rat-a-tat-tat’ is an example of onomatopoeia. Can you find out what this means and find more examples?