Martin Slidel Picture Book: Leaf

Leaf is my proposal for a picture book and song, featuring a set of eight highly stylised illustrations alongside simple rhyming couplets. Inspired by the life cycle of a leaf, the project has been successfully workshopped with Early Years and Key Stage One children.

The narrative offers scope for imaginative interpretation, shared discussion and circle games. Children can also create their own versions of the sequential narrative, both visually and in writing. The project has further potential as a cross-curricular resource, linking Life Cycle curriculum modules with Art, Literacy and Music.

The picture-book proposal PDF is available on request.


MEDIA



FEEDBACK

“Martin’s beautiful picture book is accompanied by an easy-to-learn song for younger primary school children. This would really add to a class project and further the learning experience.”

— Singing teacher Elizabeth Peirson, MA, BMus, PGCE, Adv Dip (TCM), MISM

“‘Leaf’ visual story is a beautiful metaphor for life. Simple, delicate, organic, and recognisable, Martin’s paintings represent the ups and downs of life – yet chance is always about somewhere with new and enlightening possibilities, along one’s growing path to possibly renew.”

— Performance poet Cathy Flower

“Martin Slidel’s lovely combination of words, images and music provides an excellent resource for Early Years language development. Martin’s work would be extremely useful in a cross-curricular context as it involves language, music and art. It is a highly effective means of introducing young pupils to a variety of skills and concepts in an engaging manner.”

— Duncan S Ferguson, BA, MA, PGCE, FRAS

“Duncan Ferguson’s remarks resonate with me. Martin Slidel’s combination of words, images and music gets beyond the didactic – which I suffered as a child. I marvel at the freedom present in the pictures created by Slidel’s pupils today. This is such a refreshing approach and shows itself capable of appealing to children’s imaginations. His is an example of thinking that brings to mind Picasso’s words: All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.”

— Actor and maker Denis Quilligan

“Martin’s beautifully clear illustrations provide a lovely starting point for discussions around the life cycle. The accompanying song lends itself to interpretation of the text into drama and dance, providing a wonderful opportunity to explore a scientific topic through the arts. I love any resource that lends itself in this way.”

— Music teacher Nikki Martin


MUSIC SCORE

The sheet music features a simple pop arrangement with melody and chord symbols. Accessible to performers of all abilities, it invites students and teachers to interpret the song using classroom instruments. The project also includes an instrumental recording presented as an English-language lyric video.


#ChildrensSong #EarlyYears #Education #EnglishComposer #KeyStageOne #MartinSlidel #MartinSlidelMusic #PictureBook


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