The Dot by Peter H Reynolds

Chloe is only in Year 3 but she has done a lovely review of this book. You can see her original post on Twitter here.

Here is a transcript if you cannot access or view the video. 

Hi. My name is Chloe and I'm reviewing The Dot by Peter H Reynolds. 
It's about a girl who says she can't draw. At first Vashti has a blank piece of paper, so her teacher says, "Ahhhh, a polar bear in a snowstorm!" In the end she can draw and inspires a little boy. 
The moral is to believe in yourself and I'd recommend it to others who need encouragement and small readers.

Isn't this just lovely?
I read this aloud to the children at the very beginning of the school year and it really struck a chord with my class. It clearly meant a lot to Chloe, if, after 3 months, she wants to review it.

Well done Chloe.

Happy reading,

Ms Hazel x

Book Club News

We had our last meeting before we break up for Christmas (boo!) and had lots to talk about as usual. 

First up, I set them a challenge of coming up with a name for our book club. The winner will get a prize. There is lots of time to enter as the competition doesn't close until January, so get your thinking caps on! 

Also, I told the children about this blog. Hopefully now, they will be able to see everything that I put on Twitter through this blog, rather than have to go on social media, which I know some parents understandably don't like. So get following, telling your friends about it and posting comments too!

Also, I gave out a copy of our very first newsletter! 

I'm looking forward to changing the top to our new name!

As there were so many children in the club, I have had to reduce the numbers, so in the new term, Mrs Richardson will be running a writing club for those that would like to write books instead of read them.

Happy reading,

Ms Hazel x

WildSpark by Vashti Hardy

This was the first video review that we had done for our book club and Merima, who is in Year 6 did a fantastic job.

Unfortunately, I didn't save the video (lesson learnt for next time!) but I have the link to the video on Twitter here.

To start, here is a transcript of her video:

Hi, I'm Merima and I'm in year 6 and I'm here to review WildSpark by Vashti Hardy. 

First a note about the cover. There isn't any illustrations inside, but it's really this that just captures the eye and it perfectly matches the description of how the Personifate Guild is and this is the main character Prue (pointing to the book cover).

I found some really nice names in there like Agapantha which is quite cool.

It's basically about these ghost machines where people have way advanced technology; 18 years ago, they managed to find a way to bring souls back. Now. they're really developed and there's really cool animals and I gained a lot of really fantastic words from this book. It gave me my new favourite word, vermilion. It's some sort of orangey,red colour and I'd use it in a sky setting. 

Since it's so amazing, I don't have anything more to say, but thank you for listening to my book review. Bye.

To date this video has had 1.7 thousand views and I'm going to share the Twitter conversation between Vashti and Merima after Vashti saw the review.

Vashti: Oh wonderful! What a lovely review - I love vermilion too! Thank you Merima (sorry couldn't quite catch the name - do correct me!) You would make a brilliant Guild apprentice and Prue, Edwin and Agapantha would love you as a friend x

Willmartbookclub: Merima has asked me to tweet her reply to you as she can't do it herself. "Thank you so much!! I really wasn't expecting this. When I'm grown up I'd like the idea of being an author. Do you have any advice and what university degree should I get?"

Vashti: Tell Merima that's great to hear! My first advice is to get a writing journal where you have complete free space to jot ideas, write, draw maps, explore characters, stick in inspiring pics, etc - it's good to experiment and learn i a space where you know it's not being judged:)

Also, write about things that spark your interest and imagination - eg I love ghost stories and I love invention and technology so WildSpark grew from that and asking what if I put the two together some how in a ? + ? = way. I also love real life explorer stories = Brightstorm.

If you have a story idea, try drawing a map of your world before you start - it's the first thing I do after I've had the idea and is fun to do and a good way of plotting all the things that are going to go wrong :) Also I'm very visual in my imagination so Pinterest helps m.

Sometimes a whole story can grow from an interesting picture. You could ask your teacher to show you Pinterest - my Brightstorm board is open for all to see. if you'd like to look at an example :)

Another thing that helps me is listening to film soundtracks. They're great as they help you connect with the right emotions - eg if you're writing a sad scene - find a sad piece of music from a film and I guarantee it'll help you write the scene much better!

And for Uni courses, there are lots that focus on creative writing and literature that are great - and lots of other courses too - My first course was a diploma and I built from there and did an MA in writing :)

But I find the very best way to learn is ...reading lots - but it looks like you have that covered. When you read, sometimes pause, maybe at a bit you love and think about what the writer is doing and why you like it. Then you can squirrel all the fab techniques into your own writer's toolkit!

I think it's amazing that an author has taken the time to do this, when I'm sure they must get many, many requests. 

Such valuable advice too for all budding readers! I don't know about you, but I now want to read WildSpark AND Brightstorm!

Happy reading, 

Ms Hazel x

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Brain Freeze by Tom Fletcher

We have another book review. This time it is from Harriet who is reviewing Brain Freeze by Tom Fletcher.

You can see the original video on Twitter here and just scroll down to find it.

Here is a transcript for those of you that don't have Twitter or can’t play the video. 

I'm doing a book review today on the book Brain Freeze by Tom Fletcher. I really enjoyed this book because it was really exciting and it started with a really emotional beginning. 
It has nice chapters and I enjoyed the pictures above the chapters of the ice cream gradually melting.
It was a very enjoyable book and I really liked it. I hope I can get this book for myself as I borrowed it from Ms Hazel .
I liked all the chapters, especially the one where the girl goes to ancient Egypt. I really enjoyed that; it was my favourite. I also really liked the first chapter because it had an interesting

Thank you Harriet!

I hope this has inspired someone else to now go and read it.

Happy reading,

Ms Hazel x

Book club news

This week in book club we looked at the recommended reading books for each year group from the Books for Topics website. You can see the lists here. 

Some children have read a few of the book already. I've now challenged them to get reading the books from their year group. For each book read from the list from now on (accompanied by either a written or video review), there will be a

prize!

We received some post this week:

We had some promotional postcards and a signed postcard with a lovely message from Nizrana Farook for her book which comes out in January 2020.

We also had 2 signed postcards, again one with a lovely message to the children from Emma Read, for her book Milton the Mighty

Thank you so much to you both.

As I started this blog after the Twitter account I will be posting posts already seen on Twitter until I catch up. Sorry for any repeats.

I am also working on a brand new newsletter which I'm hoping will be ready to go home with the children at next week's book club.

Happy reading,

Ms Hazel x

Author Visit

Yesterday, we were very lucky to welcome a visiting author.
Gareth P Jones has written many books that appeal to younger children right up to year 6.

One of his books, Death or Ice Cream was particularly popular!

Gareth told stories, sang songs, answered questions and signed every book that the children asked him too.

The children had a wonderful time and Gareth really inspired them to get reading and writing.

It was a brilliant experience for all and I would highly recommend that he visits you too.

Thanks Gareth


Happy reading,

Ms Hazel x

Take Back The Skies by Lucy Saxon

Today, Emma in Year 6 is reviewing Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon. She has never done a video review before but you can’t tell. 
I will put a transcript underneath, just in case anyone can't watch or hear the video.

Enjoy

I'm Emma and I'm reviewing Take Back The Skies by Lucy Saxon. I thought it was an incredible read and a total emotional roller coaster because one minute I was laughing because Cat, the main character in this book, had slapped a main character in the face because he was being a bit rude. Next, at the very end actually, I was crying because one of the main characters had died, so yeah, it's pretty intense. I would recommend it to people who are  about to go into year 6 and above because there are a couple of rude bits and a couple of graphic bits but it's incredible and the characters were really well described. It's one of the best books I've ever read to be honest, so yeah it was a really enjoyable read.


Thank you and well done Emma!


I hope this inspires you to read the book too.

Happy reading,

Ms Hazel x