Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot

This week I looked at Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot written by Anna Branford. The story bases around a young girl named Violet. Every Saturday morning Violet, Mum and older siblings Nicola and Dylan are up at the crack of dawn to set up their market stall and sell the woolly things that Mum makes. Violet has her heart set on a bird 'made of pale blue china, the colour of a robin's egg', which is on one of the other market stalls run by a man who never speaks. But the bird is $10 and Violet doesn't have $10. But what she needs is a plot, and a brilliant plot at that. Introducing readers to a new warm and loveable character, violet mackerel’s brilliant plot is a story not to be missed.

Branford’s affection to her creation is apparent in this third person narrative and the lovely pencil illustrations on each page complement the text, making it an enjoyable reading experience for children. The text provides the reader with key themes such as family, creative thinking, determination and imagination. These themes have great relevance to the readers and it is something they can connect to and reflect upon whilst reading the book.

The storyline of Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot is suitable for the primary years as it is geared towards them with connection to themes and the imagery it creates. I believe that this book could potentially be looked at in the early years however I feel that the themes may exceed beyond these ages. This book could be used in the classroom as part of the reading program for independent readers as it requires students to have existing knowledge and skills to read well.