The Time of Your Life

Books with a strong message are always welcomed by teachers and Librarians, but sometimes that is at the expense of the enjoyment reader, luckily, I don’t think this is the case with ‘The time of your life’. I think young readers will relate to Ben’s struggle with everyone around him being ‘too busy’ with ‘No time to chat, no time for a story, no time to stop and catch leaves as they fell from the trees.’

The illustrations have a dreamy haze, showing busy movement and almost as if we are looking at memories.

There is a QR code in the front of the book that links to a free download of the Author Tanya Batt reading the book which is a fantastic feature. This could be used for younger readers to read along with the story or just for listening on a car trip!

Mindfulness, and appreciating the present are the themes of this book and what a timely reminder those messages are in this age of rushing and technology-filled lives. A fabulous choice for a read aloud that Teachers, Librarians and parents and readers will enjoy.

Title: The Time of Your Life

Author: Tanya Batt

Illustrators: Bruce Potter

Publisher: One Tree House

ISBN: 978-0-9951064-6-8

RRP: $30.00

Format: Hardback

Date of publication: April 2019

Ages: 5-12

Reviewer's name: Louana McCormack, Librarian, Opaheke School, Auckland

How highly are you recommending this book? Recomended

What’s the book’s opening sentence? Ben had only two wishes.