Review: Coming to England by Floella Benjamin, illustrated by Diane Ewen

The recent urgency for children in the UK to learn about modern Black British history has led to a flurry of historical texts (fiction and non-fiction), charting the experiences of the Windrush generation. 

So far the target for these titles has been children in KS2 or older, but this inspiring new picture book, published by Macmillan, allows younger children to access this historical period for, possibly, the very first time.

Adapted from her seminal mid-grade autobiography of the same title, Floella Benjamin sensitively recounts her personal story of moving from Trinidad to England with her family, as a child of the Windrush generation. 

On opening the book, you're instantly transported to Floella's homeland. Diane Ewen's rich endpapers burst with bold colours, evoking a real sense of the warm Caribbean climate and luscious plant life. Children in the EYFS will love spotting and counting the butterflies and lizards tucked among the tropical foliage. The lizard motif cleverly appears in most of the Trinidadian scenes, providing opportunities to practise prepositional language, e.g., the lizard is on the chair, jumping into the river, and dancing in the air. 

Indeed all the illustrations are exquisite, authentically drawn with outstanding care and meticulous attention to detail. From the variation in brown skin tones and hairstyles to the '60s period features, every page spread is an absolute joy to behold! 

Through the text and illustrations, we learn about Floella's wholesome upbringing in Trinidad: the family's substantial home, delicious fresh food, schooling, and outdoor play during the hot and wet seasons. Life in Trinidad was happy and contented, not riven by desperation and hardship as is often the blanket Anglocentric perception. 

Floella's desire to meet Queen Elizabeth II is perhaps a fictional addition used to successfully drive the story forward to a satisfying payoff. But this structural device also reminds us of the deep-seated loyalty many people in the British colonies felt towards the imperial motherland. Importantly, Benjamin provides specific reasons for her family's move to England: a newspaper advert and Dardie's ambition to work as a talented jazz musician. England was by no means the family's saviour: it presented an exciting change which they embraced optimistically.

Linking to geography, children in KS1 could study a contrasting locality in Trinidad, comparing the human and physical features with a location in the UK. Prompted by the suitcase references in the story, they could imagine packing for a holiday to Trinidad, deciding what clothes/items to include. They might also consider why Floella and Sandra did not have warm clothes for their journey to England (geography). 

As well as being a great example of a recount text type, the high-quality illustrations provide opportunities to discuss the characters' emotions and actions, and how these change throughout the story. For example, you could discuss how Floella felt when each of her parents left for England while she stayed home with her ‘wicked aunt’. Children could look for clues in the image of Floella's bedroom to support their opinions, ie, tally marks on the calendar, Marmie's letter, the map of Britain, the packing of suitcases, and the girls' smiling faces in contrast to the previous page. 

The carefully selected memories - moving house and making new friends - are themes that resonate well with children as they are likely to have had similar experiences. Benjamin's lighthearted gentle writing style exudes her trademark positivity even while recalling awful moments of her early life in Britain. She masterfully retells harsh truths, including racial prejudice, but delivers them simply through a child's innocent eyes. Her recollection of racial discrimination at school could be discussed in the context of bullying and how to tackle it. The playground scenes in the text demonstrate Floella's unflinching determination to break through with her white peers, despite their initial negativity (PSHE). 

A joyful, honest depiction of one family's journey, this perfectly pitched account will help young children grasp elements of the Black British post-war experience, both good and bad. 

Guide for teachers and parents

Genre	Non-fiction: personal recount
Child-led interests (EYFS)	N/A
Age group (EYFS, KS1, KS2)	KS1 (suitable for all years at different levels)
Curriculum links/topics (EYFS/NC)	Reading Comprehension (Y2) - listening to, discussing and expressing views about a wide range of contemporary and classic poetry, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently discussing the sequence of events in books and how items of information are related recognising simple recurring literary language in stories and poetry discussing and clarifying the meanings of words, linking new meanings to known vocabulary discussing their favourite words and phrases drawing on what they already know or on background information and vocabulary provided by the teacher making inferences on the basis of what is being said and done answering and asking questions predicting what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far participate in discussion about books, poems and other works that are read to them and those that they can read for themselves, taking turns and listening to what others say explain and discuss their understanding of books, poems and other material, both those that they listen to and those that they read for themselves Geography: understand geographical similarities and differences through studying the human and physical geography of a small area of the United Kingdom, and of a small area in a contrasting non-European country History: events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally, for example, the arrival of the Empire Windrush 1948
Suitability	whole-class teaching, storytime, class/school library, home library
General features	recount of personal experience; use of pronouns I/we; past tense; opening and closing statements; chronological order; time connectives (e.g., one day, the months went passed, then, a year after, now, on the day, after a while); emotive language, e.g. beautiful island, we would dance under the huge, warm raindrops, we jumped for joy; key events structured with a beginning middle and end

All the Black children's books that I review are checked against my Jericho Benchmark.