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Top 10 Christmas Picture Books
Christmas is one of those wonderful seasons that has it’s own set of books – beautiful stories that capture the spirit of Christmastime with familiar faces and snowy settings. Many families create a Christmas book basket, adding to it with each returning year as they find new favourites. This is such a lovely idea and very simple to implement. It ticks a number of boxes – keeping things in one handy location to bring out each year (good for feeling organised!), making it part of your traditions in the run up to Christmas (why not pop the basket under the tree), creating the excitement of new bedtime stories and the…
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Stepping Into the Young Adult Section
“One must always be careful of books and what is inside of them, for words have the power to change us” – Cassandra Clare As a bookseller I often saw the nervousness that accompanied parents looking at the shelves in the ‘Young Adult’ section with their young tween. Many of these books are unfamiliar – there is less of the solidity of the classics that are a constant presence in the younger sections. Gone are the Pevensie children, talking spiders and chocolate factories. We are into a world of mazes and deadly games, first loves and heartbreak, murders and apocalypses, and find books that deal more explicitly with issues…
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Cupboard Top Fives: Shakespeare
Shakespeare is a fantastic study topic and can take you down many different paths. It is not just about studying the plays, you can explore the wider history of the period and spark some great project work. Just a few of the places your learning can take you – Theatre and the Stage Poetry and Rhythm Acting and Performing Costume Language Life in Elizabethan England Shakespeare’s Biography London To springboard your discoveries I have put together a Top Five list of my favourite books on the Bard! These give a great base for studying the plays and are perfect for children of all ages. Shakespeare Stories for Children – Andrew…
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The Song from Somewhere Else
A.F. Harrold already has a place in my heart as a special kind of writer – a writer who gets to the heart of matters in the most beautiful way. His book ‘The Imaginary’ is a gorgeous story and perfectly shows that illustration can still have a vital place in fiction for older readers. Illustration should not be confined to picture books and the delight of little ones alone! They can be evocative, powerful and provide a window to help connect the reader with the story on a much deeper level. In ‘The Imaginary’ we saw the pairing of Harrold with Emily Gravett and oh it was glorious, so I…
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The Importance of Non-Fiction
“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.” – Carl Sagan Reference books open the door to the world around us and there are some amazing choices out there for every possibility. They are information treasure chests that create discussion and debate, expand our knowledge and give us a deeper understanding of our past, present and future. What they are not, is dry, dusty tomes that can be found at the back of a classroom cupboard – reluctantly dragged out and worked through (systematically of course) with a test at the…