Larra had a lot of empathy for Funni the little girl in the story and said that everyone should have friends and not feel lonely. He was excited recognising Funni’s little radio which looks a lot like our kitchen radio and the fairy lights in the garden, looking so much like the ones hanging around his bed frame. And he was so very happy when Zoo finally joined Funni in the secret sky garden. He did not like seeing Funni sad. He repeats “I must be dreaming” after Zoo with his little sweet face all lit up :). Funni is a lonely girl who spends a lot of her spare time in an abandoned rooftop car park next to the airport. Feeling something is missing, she works hard to clean the place, plant and care for a garden, transforming the place into a beautiful and cozy playground for herself. The rooftop garden finds her the perfect friend. Zoo notices the garden from a plane and has to go there. He is also lonely and shares Funni’s passion for music and kite flying. A heartwarming story about friendship, with a lovely message about kids’ autonomy, creativity and enormous work capacity and a touching environmental note. Before you start reading together talk about the cover and end papers and any clues to what the story will be about. Read the story aloud pausing to talk about what is happening in the story or illustrations if your child wants to. Join in

She immediately wanted to plant seeds in the garden and asked her Papa if they could plant on top of the log cabin so it could be closer to the sky. She wanted her own sky garden with sunflowers, roses, marigolds, lavender, lilies and even wanted a herb garden within it with lots of mint, coriander, rosemary and parsley! She said that if she managed to make it, she would invite her friends for a tea party under it so they could guess the wonderful smells whenever the wind blew.

Read/watch the story again with your child. Ask literal, inference and deduction questions about the story. Use picture cues to deduce some answers. A startlingly original picture book about a little girl who creates a garden on a disused car park rooftop From here you’ll be able to gaze out at The Shard, The Gherkin, St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge and, of course, the River Thames. In fact you can pretty much see everything, as these Sky Garden photos show. Explore our activities On Sudden Hill with Benji Davies Read another story illustrated by Fiona Lumbers Lulu Loves Library Daywritten by Joseph Coelho Make a mini garden After weeks of careful nurture, the space goes from concrete to compost: she now has her garden in the sky!

Through our work, children and young people feel connected to those around them, develop a sense of belonging to their local, national and global communities and take action to create welcoming, kind and connected communities. One of our very favourites, “The secret sky garden”, with text by Linda Sarah and wonderful illustrations by Fiona Lumbers, combines some of the things little gosling enjoys more: flowers, music, fairy lights, planes, water cans, kids playing… This is one of the books I tend to take with me for those moments when he suddenly stops, irrespective of where we are, sits down and asks mommy to read a book. We both can’t seem to get tired of it. Found at the artificial and famous island The Pearl-Qatar, The Secret Garden is a prime spot to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy elevated nights above it all.

Secret Sky Garden (Simon & Schuster), byLinda Sarah and Fiona Lumbers, is about a little girl called Funni, who creates a garden on a disused car park rooftop. He likes to repeat “something was missing” and “definitely”, in some form; it’s a pretty long statement and he’s saying it very sweetly. The most surprising thing to me is little gosling now recognising letter “S” as “secret sky garden”. I can definitely see the link there :). When a little boy spots the startling splash of colour (against the grey) on a flight, he decides to try to find it. And soon a very special friendship is blossoming, too...

Can she/he describe the following steps? Discuss the sequencing pictures from the video (worksheet How to make a kite steps 1-10)There are parts of the story that could be fun for children to join in with eg the repeated ‘definitely’ or Zoo’s comments eg ‘I must be dreaming’. Reading through with sound effects would be fun, for the whine of the plane or the bells of city square. Talk about the story Encourage your child to make his own imaginative flower from playdough and then write instructions as to how he made the flower. Larra really enjoyed reading The Secret Sky Garden. Before we began to read she tried guessing what the book would be about; and suggested flowers being planted on clouds, a plane that was actually a garden and even a rooftop garden! She wasn’t wrong with her last guess which thrilled her more so. Enter the beautiful, inspiring world of Secret Sky Garden: where no one can stop one child turning an unloved bit of the city into a little piece of green paradise.