Ayo Recommends

In P6A, my reading group has been enjoying, The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh.  We all wrote reviews of this book as one of our tasks.  I really loved this book and hope when you read my review, you will rush to your library for a copy and read it too!

The Crowfield Curse – A review

Set in 1347, the story follows monks’ apprentice, William, as he finds himself caught up in a battle between light and dark forces that seem to surround the abbey where he lives.  After discovering a creature called a hob tangled in a trap, Will’s eyes are opened to the magical creatures around him.  There are many ‘fay’ creatures, old pagan gods, ghosts and healers and a secret buried deep in the woods.

William is a peculiar character.  He is kind, fair and tender-hearted, able to move past conventional beliefs in order to see the bigger picture.  Although frightened a great deal of the time, he continually strives to do what he believes is best for others.  Which, in my opinion, all adds up to a tenacious hero.

The mystery that Will is drawn into is genuinely intriguing.  It’s so hard to tell how the story is going to turn out.  Even when you are 100% positive you think you know what’s going to happen it goes all twisted and the author (Pat Walsh) adds a new development.  I would love to see The Crowfield Curse as a movie so I could see how the characters are brought to life.

Another really great thing is that the author doesn’t skimp on historical detail.  Even if it is a book mostly targeted for children aged 9-13, this is a very detailed look at medieval life and it really shows how difficult life was then.  I was also interested to see how matter of fact the hardships were.  It’s difficult to imagine anyone today being so philosophical about hard work, hunger or cold.  You can always come up with theories for this book.

As mentioned in the paragraph before, I recommend this book to children aged 9-13 years, especially those interested in that time period or in magical creatures.  This does not have the charm of the ‘Harry Potter’ series, but it’s a wonderful book nonetheless.

Overall, The Crowfield Curse is a fantastic, spellbinding novel.  The greatest piece of literature I’ve ever read and I can’t wait to read the sequel, The Crowfield Demon.

Review by Ayoyinka P6A

Thanks for reading my work.

Book Week Scotland

Hello again!

Today we have been reading our favourite Bookbug books to pupils in Mrs Rusbridge's class P2/3.

We had a great time and they were very good listeners. After reading, we all drew a picture from our favourite book and then we cast our vote for the Scottish Children's Book Awards. We're not going to tell you which book got most votes as there is still one class to vote!

In our last blog we mentioned we had been writing book reviews with Miss Scott's class P2B. We have been busy typing up their reviews so here are a few samples of the fantastic work they produced.

Scarlett wrote about Robot Rumpus by Sean Taylor and Ross Collins:-

"I liked Robot Rumpus because it was funny, colourful and the dog was scared of the robots.  My favourite robot was Cook-Bot.  My funniest robot was Clean-Bot because he washed the dishes and he got a bit crazy with the squirting!

I think this book deserves to be a 10 out of 10.  My most exciting part of the book was when the robots were going all over the place!  The funniest part was when Mum and Dad come home and found the place a mess!

If I was the author I would change the bit at the start to the girl saying “I’m scared Mummy and Daddy.”  I thought Dress-Bot wasn’t that funny because he wasn’t really in the book that much.  If I recommended this book to other people I would say its ages are 6-7 years old. The words I would use to describe this book are funny and exciting."

By Scarlett Lenad P2B

We hope you enjoyed reading Scarlett’s review.  Look out for more reviews in our next blog.

Love from your friendly P6 readers

 

 

 

 

Readathon

Calling all readers!  Readathon has been launched! 

Calling all sponsors!  Support your child, grandchild, niece, nephew by sponsoring them to read throughout the month of December and raise money to modernise our school library.

Our favourite local author and poet, Diana Hendry, spoke to us at assembly on Monday this week and talked about the importance of her local library as she was growing up with a great hunger for books.  She showed us a special book she has had for a very long time and also shared a secret with us – sorry we can’t tell!

Our library is important to us – we have a fantastic and wide-ranging choice of new novels.  The only problem is that the library is not a particularly inspiring place to read.  We want to paint it brightly and fill it with lovely colourful shelving and comfy seats.  So why not help us raise some funds to change this environment and encourage even more readers.

Ps.  We really would love some new books for Christmas!

Shared reading with the P2

In  October, P6A pupils read three books  to the P2 pupils.  After we read to the children, we took a vote. The most popular book was Princess Penelope and the Runaway Kitten.  It was the book most enjoyed  out of the three.

The two other books were Lost for Words and Robot Rumpus. We had to calculate the scores. The P6A pupils still have to read to two other classes:-  P2/3 and P2A. We are looking forward to reading with the other two classes.

Tomorrow, we will be working with pupils from Miss Scott's class to write reviews of these books.

Look out for our next blog, when we will share some of the reviews with you.

By Fraser Dempster and Ciaran Barr P6A/Book Club.

New Books

We bought some new books for the library and I have not read all of them yet, but I have read Winter Bringers and it is amazing.  I would recomend it to anybody.

So why not try it. Visit the library and see what an amazing selection we have got.  

From Ruairidh

Ruairidh's Recommendations

I started reading Flora and Ulysses a couple of weeks ago and have written a book review on it …

                                                               Flora and Ulysses

                                                              by Kate Dicamillo

This book is amazing.   If I could give it a subtitle, it would be “The Amazing Adventures of Ulysses the Superhero Squirrel and his Human Sidekick Flora.”

This brilliant novel makes you feel like are Ulysses the squirrel and getting sucked up the vacuum cleaner with him.  Flora starts off as a cynic but by the end she has changed and that is all thanks to Ulysses.  I think that the inclusion of comic strips makes the book much better, I have never seen an author do this before.  Another good thing about this book is that we learn not to be somebody you don’t truly want to be.

Flora and Ulysses is a gripping novel which you can’t put down until it is finished.

I would recommend this book to 9-11 year olds so it can be enjoyed at its fullest.  But if you are not these ages you are more than welcome to read this book.

I am currently reading the Indian in the Cupboard series.  I would recommend this series to 9-11 year olds.

Tom's Recommendations

Hello!  My name is Tom and I am in P6A.  On Tuesdays at lunchtime, we have Book Club where we can relax and read some great books.  I would like to share with you today some of my favourites.

I started reading ‘The Lost Gods’ by Francesca Simon which is shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize.  I wrote a review of this book and it has been entered for a competition – I hope I win!

Here is my review:-

The Lost Gods by Francesca Simon

This hilarious, awesome and addictive novel is the best book in the universe. The Lost Gods will hold you in a magnificent world from the first page to the last!

The main character Freya takes you on an epic adventure about Woden, Frejya and Thor. It all starts when Woden, Frejya and Thor have had their youth restored but they have lost all their magical powers. The gods need worshipers/fans quick, before the frost giants come!

I would recommend this outstanding novel to 9-13 year olds. If you are not any of these ages you are more than welcome to read this novel. But for the book to be fully enjoyed these I think are the ages.

This book is always exciting there are no boring bits.  My favourite character is Thor because he is funny and awesome.  I highly recommend that you should read this extraordinary book because Francesca has moved up a step from her Horrid Henry series.

The Lost Gods is a perfect book for reading for fun.  Francesca is an outstanding author and she really made me understand what was happening.

I hope you enjoyed reading my review and that more of you will go and read the book.

Right now I am reading ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief’ by Rick Riordan. I am really enjoying this book and I would recommend this book to 10-12 year olds!

Welcome back!

Welcome back to Book Club Blog and welcome to our new users.  This year Book Club will meet on Tuesdays at 1pm in the school library.  Ruairidh and Tom from P6A will keep you updated with what is being read and the new additions to our library.

Last year, we were very lucky to have many visits from the poet and writer, Diana Hendry.  Diana first visited us in November for Book Week Scotland and delivered poetry workshops to P6 and P7.  After that, she worked with P5A and many other classes throughout the school inspiring us all to read and write wonderful poems.

As usual, Book Club requested an interview and Diana was kind enough to oblige, so what better way to start the new school term than to reacquaint you with Diana and her work.  Here is a copy of the interview conducted by last year’s P7 pupils.

1)      We first met you in November during our Book Week, when you delivered a Poetry workshop to P7.  Since then, you have visited our school on many occasions.  What is it you enjoy about school visits and visiting this school in particular?

A)     I am very keen on poetry so I like to encourage children to write poetry.

 

2)      Your recent novel “The Seeing” was nominated for the Scottish Children’s Book Award this year in the young adult section.  What impact does the nomination have on your writing?

A)     I was shortlisted for two awards, the Costa awards and the Scottish children’s award. It was very encouraging and it help’s sales.

It is also very painful as you keep on hoping you’ve won and when you don’t it’s very sad.

 

3)      Are you aware of this school’s success in the review writing competition?

·         2013 – 1^st prize Bookbug and 3^rd prize young readers

·         2012 – 1^st prize young readers

·         2011 – 3^rd prize young readers

·         2009 – 3^rd prize young readers

What advice would you give to our next cohort of readers for the 2015 Awards?

A)     You need a good opening sentence, say what’s good about the book:

·         The plot

·         The dialogue

·         The pace

·         Language

Tell the story briefly, don’t give away the ending

 

4)      You write for adults and children.  Do you have a preference?  How easy is it to switch from one to the other?

A)     I prefer poetry most.  I’m known more for adults than children and it’s very tricky to change what you are known for.

5)       Do you think you are better known as a poet or a writer of books?

A)     I think I am better known as a children’s author as my children’s books are known the most.

 

6)      Is there going to be a follow up to “The Seeing” and do you have any other books in the pipeline?

A)     I don’t think there is going to be a follow up to “The Seeing”.  In the pipeline I have a children’s book called “The Bunkles” and another picture book.

 

7)      You have delivered poetry workshops to many of the classes in our school.  Would you be interested in collecting poems and helping us to make our own poetry book?

A)     That’s an interesting thought… it’s very nice idea.

Thank you, Diana.  We look forward to welcoming you back to school for more poetry workshops.

Finally, we would like to remind you that our Scholastic Book Club is now open until 3^rd October 2014.  You can access this online at the following website:-

http://schools.scholastic.co.uk/flora-stevenson

Look out for our latest book recommendations in our next blog.  Until then, happy reading!

 

P1 love Chae Strathie!

Who loves Jumblebum?  We love Jumblebum!  Chae Strathie, award-winning author, visited P1 on Monday to tell them all about how he writes his lovely books.  Before the visit, Chae sent the children a letter telling them he would be arriving in his jellycopter and wearing his fantastic invisible boots!  He also asked if they could practise some songs so they could sing with him on the day.

Well, Chae turned up with his suitcase, guitar and magic story hat and entertained P1 for over an hour.  He was funny, informative and all the children were totally engaged and just loved singing the songs!  Chae had a great visual presentation that helped P1 understand things like illustrators, publishers and distribution.   Everyone had the best of times and we would LOVE Chae to come back again.

As you would expect from Book Club, we managed to sneak an interview with him – thanks, Chae, we hope the record of your interview does justice to the amazing work you do in schools.

Q)  The reason you came here today was because Emmeline in P1B won the Bookbug prize in the Scottish Book Awards review competition.  What impact do you think this type of competition has on young readers and writers?

A)  I think that it is fantastic because it is voted on by children instead of older people.  It’s good because we can see what our target audience, children, think of my books.  It’s good for the children because they have more of a connection with the books and it brings the books to life.  Writing the reviews is very good because children get to think more about the books.

Q)  Your background is in journalism.  Do you think this has been a support in your book writing or do you have to work harder at writing because journalism demands a different style?

A)  Both sides of that is true.  In journalism you are taught to only write the words that count and get straight to the point.  You have to be economical with the words.  There’s a tendency in children’s books to have to keep it short and journalism helped me.  I wrote children’s pages in the newspapers so that helped me a lot. The bad side of it though is that I spend all day on the computer at work working with words then I go home and spend my time on the computer working with words.  It would be a bit easier if I had a job where I didn’t work with words.  Writing books is good though because you can write anywhere and all you need is a laptop or notebook and pen.

Q)  You won the Bookbug prize this year in the Scottish Book Awards with Jumblebum.  What impact did winning this award have on your writing career?

A)  It was a big boost to me because it meant that my book was in more shops and more people were reading it.  It also meant that it was in more schools and the schools wanted me to come and do author visits.  It definitely had a big impact on my writing.

Q)  This is your third visit to Flora Stevenson Primary School.  What is it you enjoy about this school and visits in general?

A)  I love how enthusiastic all of the teachers are and especially Miss Broadley.  The children really pick up on how enthusiastic the teachers are.  The whole school seems very switched onto books and I feel welcome in Flora’s.  I have visited different classes in the school and all age groups are great.

Q)  You write mainly picture books for younger children.   Do you think you might write novels for our age group and young adults?

A)  I’m currently working on some new projects.  I’ve written some new books that are one step up from picture books, around P2-P3.  I’m also working on some books for around 8-12 year olds.  I’m also working on some plots for young adults.  There is a book called “Scaredy Cat” that is about a girl who is scared of everything.  Then there is a big disaster and a terrifying thing happens and she has to be a hero and confront her fears.  I’m also writing a new book called “The only girl in Curio City”. There is a girl called Lily Venus and she is the only human in Curio city and everyone else are monsters and ghosts.

Q)  We’ve had a lot of fun this year reading to our P1 buddies and scribing for them in writing their reviews.  What advice could you give us in making the sharing of books exciting and challenging for our buddies and for ourselves?

A)  I’d say that you need to read the book to yourself before reading to someone else so that you know what is coming up next and can think about the book.  Think of voices to make the characters funny and seem more alive. I know it can be embarrassing to start with and I felt like that at first but it can be quite good fun.  Also think about the pace of the book and at dramatic parts speed up and get louder then slow down and get quieter for the calmer parts.  You just need to vary things to keep them interested.  Don’t be afraid to move around and use your hands to bring the story to life. 

We had great fun interviewing Chae and we hope that he had as much fun as we did. Now here is Emmeline’s award winning book review that brought us this amazing experience.  And a huge congratulations to Emmeline.

The Paper Dolls is my favourite book because I liked the part when the little girl grows up to be a mummy.  The book made me feel happy.  I liked the part when they went to a magical land.  I liked the house in it.  It made me feel excited.  When the boy came and cut up the paper dolls it made me feel sad but I was happy again when they came back together.  I thought the names of the dolls were quite funny.  I also liked the bit when the girl helps her own child to make paper dolls.  I give the book five stars.   

We hope you have enjoyed that fantastic review. Please continue to read our blog and look out for more outstanding reviews and interviews.

 

 

 

 

Lari Don visits P4

On Wednesday, 21^st May the author and storyteller, Lari Don, came to visit our P4 classes.  She had a wonderful time telling stories and answering some very challenging questions.  Lari has visited our school on many occasions and we are always delighted when she has time in her busy schedule to come to Flora’s.

Lari had a little time to spare at the end of her storytelling sessions so Book Group managed to grab an interview.  Thank you, Lari.  You’ve really given us a lot to think about.  Here are the questions we discussed:-

1)      We first came across your writing with First Aid for Fairies, which won the Royal Mail Award (now Scottish Book Awards).  What impact did this award have on your writing career?

A)     It was very important because it meant that my publisher wanted more books in the series and it also made other publishers interested because they heard about the award. I have now written over 20 books and getting that award really helped me. Getting the award never changed what I wrote and I will never write a book to get an award or write a book similar to that to win again.

2)       You have usually written for younger readers but we notice you are now moving into the market for young adults.  What prompted this change and will be seeing more of this type of novel?

A)     It was not a decision but it was a change that I made because I had an idea in my head. The idea that I had was too dark and dangerous for younger children so it had to be for teenagers.  I really enjoyed writing this type of story and I got a good reaction from it. I will write more young adult books but I won’t stop writing for younger children.

3)      You have been working with our P4 classes today.  Is this something new you have been trialling and can you tell us a little bit about it?

A)      Yes, I have been trialling a new collection of books about shape changers and I wanted to practise those stories to see the reaction.  The P4s were brilliant and had great ideas.

4)      You are passionate about public libraries.  What advice would you give us to help maintain our school library and encourage pupils to use their local library?

A)     Your library is very bright and colourful and I love how you have lots of posters up because it makes books look exciting.   I would suggest to keep getting new and interesting books and to display them excitingly.   Also to categorise books and have themed displays but change them on a regular basis.   Keep the covers of books facing forwards because covers look a lot more exciting than spines.   I love public libraries and you can order books in from around the world.   I recently had a book ordered from London come to my library because none of the libraries in Edinburgh had it!  I would say just go into a library to see exactly what it’s like.  Nobody ever says shh in a library and they want you to have fun. 

5)      You are Patron of Reading at your local primary school.  What benefits does this role bring to both yourself and the school?

A)     The primary school is in an area where not very many people read or have lots of books in their house so we are trying to create a community where people can read for fun at school but at home as well.   If children read for fun then it raises educational standards and makes your brain better.   We want to get the whole family to read and parents to read to their children because if the family reads then the child will read as well.   It benefits me too because I can form relationships with the school and it’s better than just going once and getting everyone reading then it all stops.   I like to look at books with the children and can follow it through with projects.   I love talking to children about books and I can test out new ideas on them. I get to go back a lot so I can get to know a child from nursery all the way to P7.

6)      You are a regular visitor to Flora Stevenson Primary School.  What do you enjoy most about your visits?

A)     I love your hall, it is beautiful and Miss Broadley is a great teacher who loves talking about books but what I enjoy most is the children.   I enjoy their questions and love talking with them.

7)      You have recently written a new book called Mind Blind but what gave you the idea for a book about a mind reader?

A)     Writers are a bit like mind readers because we have to imagine what our characters are thinking but I was also interested in the idea that someone had a super power that we would think was really cool but was a hindrance for them, like in my book the character can read thoughts and emotions but it overwhelms him and he can’t function properly. 

 

Well, what next?  Award winning author, Chae Strathie, is visiting P1 on Monday.  This visit is a prize for Emmeline winning the Bookbug section of the Scottish Children’s Book Awards review competition.  More from Chae in our next post.  On Wednesday, the poet and author, Diana Hendry, will be giving poetry workshops to P2.  Diana is a regular visitor to our school and she reads us great poems!  We’re looking forward to interviewing Diana in couple of weeks when she is also giving a workshop to P4/5.

Mrs Burdon has been very busy and has catalogued most of our new library books.  We still have some money to spend so we will be perusing the catalogues for more exciting books to add to our library. 

Don’t forget our Scholastic Book Club.  You can order online and your books will be delivered free to the school.  For every £1 you spend, we earn 20p commission to spend on more books.

We hope you are enjoying reading our blog.  We would love to hear from you so send us a comment.

 

 

Alex Nye Interview

Last week, Alex Nye visited the P7 classes to talk about her novels ‘Chill’ and ‘Shiver’.  Before her presentation, we were lucky enough to interview her.  The complete interview is quite long, so here is a sample of the questions we put to her:-

‘Good afternoon and welcome to Flora Stevenson Book Group.  My name is Christopher and this is Iman.  We very much appreciate you taking the time to give us this interview.  We’ll take it in turns to ask you questions.

 

Q.       In your blog, you list some of your favourite children’s novels.  These seem a little dated and perhaps would be described as ‘classics’.  Are there any children’s novels you have enjoyed that have been published more recently – say within the past 5 years?

A.      Definitely, I love Marcus Sedgwick’s books.  

 

Q.      You won the Royal Mail Award (Scottish Children’s Book Award) with your first novel ‘Chill’ in 2007.  What impact did this award have on your writing?

A.     Quite a big impact, it was very encouraging, it meant that children picked my book.

 

Q.      Are you aware of this school’s success in the SCBA review writing competition?

 

·        2013 – 1^st prize Bookbug and 3^rd prize young readers

·        2012 – 1^st prize young readers

·        2011 – 3^rd prize young readers

·        2009 – 2^nd prize young readers

What advice would you give to our next cohort of readers for the 2015 Awards?

A.     Be creative and brave, don’t hold back.

 

Q.      As an adult reader, what is your preferred genre?

A.     I prefer reading literature - fiction novels.

 

Q.       What is it about coming to visit schools that you most enjoy?

A.     The pupils and their questions.

Q.      Is there going to be a third novel to follow Chill and Shiver and can you give us a sneaky preview of your current work?

A.     I have two more books planned but not in the Chill and Shiver series

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today.  We hope you will read our blog and feel free to pass on any advice.’

Alex gave us great advice on how to use language to create atmosphere and tension in a story.  We are all now making good use of the Thesaurus!

Mrs Burdon is in the process of cataloguing many new books for our school library and these should be available to borrow in the very near future.

On Tuesday the 6^th, P7A visited The Hub for their Soul Boxes workshop.  Lorna and Natalie from EIF came to our class the week before to explain what happens at the workshop and help us prepare so that we got the best from it.  Look out for our next blog when we tell you what happened and hopefully show you some pics!

What about some recommendations for a good read?  Well, Christopher is currently reading Roof toppers by Katherine Rundell, Sophie’s reading a book about Battersea Cat and Dog Home called Lost and Found and Iman’s reading Make Friends with Hannah and Poppy by Ann Bryant.   Miss Broadley has bought a set of novels just for Book Group to read and review.  Some great reading ahead and reviews to come.  Hope you are enjoying reading our blog.  Let us know if you have any questions about the library or just want a good book to read.

Welcome to our Blog

Welcome to the Flora Stevenson's Book Group blog.

On this blog we will post book reviews and keep you informed of events at our school.

We have an exciting line up of events starting with a visit from the author, Alex Nye.  Look out for the interview with Alex in our next blog.

The P7s will be going to a workshop run by the Edinburgh International Festival where they will be making soul boxes. A soul box is an autobiographical record of your life.

The author, Diana Hendry, visits on a regular basis and supports us in writing stories and poems.  We will be interviewing Diana in the near future, so follow the blog!

We visit our P1 buddies and read books to them and help them write book reviews.
We also are trying to make our school library better and put up recommendations of good books to encourage pupils to use it more often.

This blog is written by the Primary 7s at Flora Stevensons Primary School.