We anyway always discuss book covers but in this case it’s a must do. Firstly, ask your students “What is happening in this picture?” I tend to ask questions that make children talk and invent, imagine and bring others into the discussion. “What can you see? Can you see a girl? What does she look like?” are not the best questions because children then will be only listing nouns. Those questions also have very obvious answers and it makes it difficult to debate about them. No one will disagree if one of their peers says that it’s spring but they might want to comment on something like “I think she is hiding”. When I only start working with a new group of students I always ask what makes them give certain answers. One day, I realise I don’t have to ask this question because they don’t need any prompting and they just start with explaining their ideas instead of waiting for my questions and they rarely say just what they see. They know that the book cover holds a deeper meaning.

Sometimes, I ask questions, listen to their answers and comment on them straight away. I would say that I love their ideas and it’s so interesting, I would give them an extra point as a reward. Sometimes, I summarise their ideas in the end. It always depends on their input and how long they have been learning with me.

I want them to talk about a mask as a symbol in literature and art. Why would someone wear a mask? After my students make suggestions I make a short summary or explain something in detail. For example, people might wear masks because they are going to have a costume party (that’s an easy answer), or they pretend they are kittens while paying with a friend. Sometimes, people wear masks because they want to hide behind them. If my class are old enough to understand it and are able to talk about shyness and feeling miserable, hiding and feeling small, then I might go even further and talk about people wearing masks literally and emotionally to conceal their true feelings. Usually, I sort of escalate my questions and looking at their response I either go deeper or stop there and move on to the next page.

I talk about wearing a mask to hide your feelings even if the book we are reading has nothing to do with it and it is fairly obvious that the author didn’t mean it. I do that because there is always another book. I know that one day we will be reading something and the children will remember our lesson about Sadie. For example, the I Go Quiet book. She is wearing a mouse mask because she is a tiny grey mouse with a tiny voice. This is the ground for future intertextual suggestions.

Back to the book cover. This is Sadie is playful not only inside but also outside. The dust jacket has a print inside and can be used as a poster. Also, If you slide it off you will see that Sadie is not wearing her mask. So you can literally take it off. It’s so exciting! Children love books you can play with. And it’s not just smart but also so kind of Julie Morstad to let her readers see behind the mask, play with the book. You can ask your students why Julie did that. They might say it’s because Sadie takes her mask off and we can do it with her. When did she put it on? Why? What happens next?