Yoto Kate Greenaway Shortlist

2022 Shadowing Resources

#CKG22
 Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal 2022
Activities Pack

Title: Shu Lin's Grandpa

Illustrator: Yu Rong

Written by: Matt Goodfellow

Publisher: Otter-Barry Books

Age: 5+

Note to Group Leaders

Shortlisted books may contain material that may not be suitable for some students. We recommend
that group leaders read the books carefully before sharing or recommending them to students
and/or seek parental guidance. We trust that Shadowers and other young readers will be guided by
their group leader, librarian, teacher or parent to help them select suitable, enjoyable and age
appropriate material from the lists.

General Activities

1. Create a HAIKU POEM of three lines using a syllabic structure [WORDS CUT UP INTO SOUNDS]
of 5-7-5 to describe your experience reading each book.

○ Example:
Fantastical shapes (Line 1- 5 syllables)
create patterns for the eye (Line 2- 7 syllables)
to become amazed (Line 3- 5 syllables)

Share your HAIKUS on Social Media using the hashtag #CKG22.

2. Search for book trailers for each of the shortlisted titles online. Use these as inspiration to
create your own trailer to celebrate the book you are currently exploring through shadowing.

3. Create your own playlist to accompany a shortlisted book - you might want to highlight a
particular theme, tap into the geography or time period of the book or choose a character and
create a playlist that reflects them.

4. Create a moodboard for the shortlisted titles. Think about materials and colour palette,
texture, shape and perspective. What do you want your moodboard to suggest or represent?
Why?
5. Create a cake that reflects one of the shortlisted titles. Perhaps you will make one large cake,
dozens of smaller cakes or a combination of both. Don’t forget to share your bookish bakes on
social media, using the hashtag #CKG22.

6. Have a go at building book spine poetry using the shortlisted books. Arrange the books in
different ways, with the spines visible so that the titles can be read in a certain order. Share
your poems on social media using the hashtag #CKG22.

7. Play charades, using non-verbal communication to act out the title of each book.

8. Use a shoebox to create a diorama inspired by a shortlisted title. Your diorama should include
key items which reflect the themes, plot, characters and mood of the book.

9. Think of some questions you would like to ask the shortlisted authors and illustrators and
share them on social media using the hashtag #CKG22 and tag the illustrator.

10. Rank the books based only on their covers - you could use this exercise to determine the
reading order and repeat the exercise at the halfway and end points to see how your rankings
have changed.

11. Choose a double page spread from one of the shortlisted titles and use this as inspiration for
your own piece of artwork.

12. Design a set of endpapers for one of the shortlisted titles - what would you do differently?
Why?

Book Activities

1. Imagine what it feels like to be Shu Lin at the start of the story. What kind of emotions would
you be feeling? What would you be thinking? How could you help someone overcome these
feelings and thoughts? Create a mind map and discuss your answers with the group. Pretend
to be a reporter and interview people about their experiences on their first day of school. You
could do this as videos, voice notes or by taking notes.

2. Eat or research Chinese food. You could make some yourself, get it from a takeaway or
restaurant or look up what you’d like to try. Maybe you could have a go trying to use
chopsticks too!

3. The most common language in China, and the world, is Mandarin Chinese. Why not try to learn
some common words or phrases and practise them with others.

4. Draw your own Chinese dragon in Manga or Anime style. Watch Little Nezha Fights Great
Dragon Kings (1979) for inspiration.

5. Make your own fortune cookies with special messages inside. You could bake these or make
these using craft materials. Share your finished cookie with someone special to you.
6. Clear a space, find some big sheets of paper and put them on the floor. Use inks or paints to
create your own artwork on a large scale like Shu Lin’s class do. Share your creations on social
media using the hashtag #CKG22.

Wellbeing Activity

Have a go at tai chi. This ancient Chinese form of exercise is a great way to get moving and relax
your mind, body and spirit.
 Teaching Ideas for the Kate Greenaway Shortlist 2022
Title: Shu Lin’s Grandpa
Author: Matt Goodfellow
Illustrator: Yu Rong
Publisher: Otter-Barry Books
These notes have been written by the teachers at the CLPE to provide schools and settings with ideas to
develop comprehension and extended provision around Greenaway-shortlisted picturebooks and
illustrated texts for children of all ages. They build on our work supporting teachers to use high quality
texts to enhance critical thinking and develop creative approaches in art and writing. We hope you find
them useful.
This book is particularly suitable for children aged 5-11.

Reading the book and close reading of illustration:

 Before you begin to read, look together at the front cover illustration and invite children to share their
first impressions of the title and illustration. How do you think the title and illustration connect? Do you
think one of these people is Shu-Lin’s Grandpa? What makes you think this? What do you think you
might know about him? Who do you think the other characters might be? What ideas do you have
about the story from the title and illustration? Now look at the endpapers and the title pages. What can
you see here? What ideas do these give you about the story or characters? Who do you think the artist’s
roll might belong to? What kinds of art do you think the owner might make with these tools?
 Read and explore the first three spreads (up to “How can she eat that?” Barney said.) Whose eyes are
we experiencing the story through? What do you think about the attitudes of the boys from what they
say? Focus on phrases like ‘She didn’t speak English very well’, ‘“What’s up with her?” Barney said’
and ‘“How can she eat that?” Barney said.’ What do you think you know about Shu Lin from the
illustrations? How do you think she feels about coming to this school? How do you think she feels
about the way the boys look at her? You might explore concepts of racism unconscious bias and
stereotyping as part of this, considering the impact of Barney’s views, words and behaviour, why he
might think and say the things he does and how to counteract these opinions in a way that would
support Barney to better understand the impact of his words and how these might reflect on him.
 Now read the next spread. What insights does this spread give you about the character of Dylan? Why
do you think this memory might be returning to him now?
 Now read up to ‘We sat in silence…’, pausing at the ellipsis to emphasise the silence before turning the
page to look at the unravelling of the scroll. What do you think about when you see Shu Lin’s grandpa’s
artwork? How does it make you feel? Now, open the gatefold spread and allow time for the children to
react to and take in the illustration they see. What do you think is being shared in this image? Whose
words do you think these are? What words come into your mind as you look at the scene?
 Now, read on to the end of the book. By the end of the story what do you learn about each of the
characters: Shu Lin, Shu Lin’s grandpa, Dylan, Barney and Miss Rodgers? Support the children in turning
back through the book to reflect on what they have seen and heard to consolidate their thoughts and
opinions and look for extra information in the text and illustration. How do the behaviours of each

©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. 2022

You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than
educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE. CLPE is a charity. Support us to continue to provide our free resources that raise
children’s engagement and attainment in literacy to schools and parents: www.clpe.org.uk/clpe/about-us/donate-support-our-work
 character reflect on them as a person? What might the boys’ words and actions say about them? How
are these different from the other children in the spreads? How might their actions make Shu Lin feel?
What do you think Dylan has realised by the end of the story?
 Follow up on the work by considering more widely how our words and actions both reflect on us and
impact on others. Continue to explore how to constructively counteract unconscious bias and
‘othering’, looking at how to recognise the unique abilities of others instead of highlighting their
differences. Support this further by ensuring that children have a range of experiences that enable
them to explore and celebrate the art, language, food and culture of a wide range of places, particularly
those which reflect the backgrounds and heritage of families in your setting and those outside of
children’s direct experience.

Engaging in illustration:
 Look back at the artwork produced by illustrator Yu Rong to accompany the words in the text. Ask the
children to look carefully at the different spreads, inviting them to speculate about what materials she
used to produce the illustrations. Do you think she used the brushes and inks that Shu Lin’s grandpa
used or something else? Was it one medium or a mix of media?
 Look back particularly at the spreads that feature many children. What do Yu Rong’s illustrations tell us
about the children in Dylan’s class and school? How does she capture the unique individuality of each
child in a spread like this? Look carefully at how she uses a mix of pencil and colouring pencil to create
the faces, hair and body positions of each child. How is each character given their own identity? What
has she done specifically to share the identity of each character? What do the props placed with
children tell us? Explore the different lines she uses to create texture in hair, the different shapes she
uses to represent eyes, noses and mouths, how clothes and accessories add to our understanding of
each character’s unique identity.
 Engage in a life drawing activity where children capture an image of another child, using the same
pencil, coloured pencil and collage techniques as Yu Rong. Look at how Yu-Rong simplifies her shapes,
lines and marks to represent her characters without being photo-realistic. This will be a supportive
model for children to create an achievable outcome. Model this for the children by exploring and
experimenting how to draw another adult in the setting, talking through what you are doing and the
artistic decisions you are making as you work. Having access to a visualiser would be helpful so that
children can closely observe your technique as you work.
 Encourage the children to spend time closely observing their partner before drawing, paying careful
attention to their facial features, hair colour and texture and clothes and accessories. Give time and
space for them to use pencils, coloured pencils and collage to best capture their subject on the page,
exploring their unique individuality.

This sequence of activities was designed in partnership with CLPE. CLPE is a UK based children's literacy
charity working with primary schools to raise the achievement of children's reading and writing by
helping schools to teach literacy creatively and effectively, putting quality children’s books at the heart
of all learning. Find out more about their work, and access further resources and training
at: www.clpe.org.uk

©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. 2022

You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than
educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE. CLPE is a charity. Support us to continue to provide our free resources that raise
children’s engagement and attainment in literacy to schools and parents: www.clpe.org.uk/clpe/about-us/donate-support-our-work