Goodreads: Exploring Children's Literature

Goodreads: Exploring Children's Literature

Monday, 3 July 2017

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If you follow my twitter, you’ll be well aware that I’ve recently got a job as a primary school class teacher. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll also be well aware that I read a LOT. It’s probably no surprise to you at all to read that I’ve been reading books for years and years and I was just as much of a book geek when I was a child as I am now. To prepare myself for my new job, I’ve taken it upon myself to stock up on both classic and contemporary Children’s Literature and get some read over the summer break.

When I was in primary school myself, I remember reading a whole range of different texts. One of my earliest memories is using The Suitcase Kid by Jacqueline Wilson as a guided read text. Jacqueline Wilson was a staple in my childhood bookcase and even now I find myself drawn towards books that she’s written. Her books were also a firm favourite in my most recent class, so I’ll definitely be getting hold of a few of her newer books over the next few weeks. David Walliams is another firm favourite amongst children, although I must admit I was a little bit sceptical at first. However, an early finish one Tuesday afternoon required a class reading session, and the book chosen was The World’s Worst Children 2. I am not at all embarrassed to admit that I probably enjoyed reading the story out more than the children enjoyed listening to it. Walliams’ writing is funny and SO relatable to children. He uses humorous language and JUST the right amount of rude words to make kids chuckle with glee.

One of the best books that I read as a child was one that I picked up in my most recent children’s book haul. Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian is one of the books that I still go back to now, so picking up a beautiful new paperback copy of it was a bit of a no-brainer really. It’s beautifully written and SO SO sad to read. I’ll definitely be using this within my own teaching. I also picked up a copy of Tom’s Midnight Garden, a book that I remember being read by a teacher when I was in year 5, as a class read. Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce is an absolute classic. It’s full of intrigue and mystery and brings back wonderful memories of my childhood.

One of my English tutors from my PGCE year recommended the book Time Travelling With a Hamster by Ross Welford during a lecture so I picked that up, as well as another one of his books, What Not To Do If You Turn Invisible. These are books I haven’t really heard of before but she sold the former to be with such enthusiasm that I felt obliged to trust her judgement on the author as a whole. Discovering new contemporary texts is something that, as a Primary School teacher, I really love doing so I’m hoping that these two books are exciting and will have a place within my classroom too.

Are there any other Children’s authors that I need to be checking out? Let me know in the comments!

Blog Tour: The Things We Thought We Knew by Mahsuda Snaith

Blog Tour: The Things We Thought We Knew by Mahsuda Snaith

Wednesday, 21 June 2017

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When I was contacted a few weeks ago by Thomas Hill, the Press Officer for Transworld Books, an imprint of Penguin Books, about a new book, naturally I jumped at the chance to get stuck into it. I didn’t know much about The Things We Thought We Knew by Mahsuda Smith, prior to reading so I was able to go in with a completely open mind and thoroughly enjoy everything that the book had to offer. The story follows Ravine, a young girl, after her diagnosis with chronic pain syndrome and is set in Leicester and her and her mother’s council estate block. I loved how detailed the description of the setting is; I really could imagine the cramped but cosy flat, and the surrounding neighbours who really add to the multicultural nature of Leicester as a city and the UK as a whole. The neighbourhood is incredibly close knit, which I think definitely affects Ravine’s state of mind- being confined to her bed, in constant paint, and having everyone know your business really doesn’t seem the ideal situation to me.

I found Ravine’s character incredibly interesting, particularly because I don’t really know anything about chronic pain syndrome. I found her struggle with her feelings, particularly surrounding her best friend’s disappearance particularly poignant and she was definitely a character that I felt a lot of sympathy for, in spite of her tendency to appear selfish. Ravine’s mother, Amma, is a very fascinating character and I resonated with her more than I did with Ravine; her personality was full of spice and sass and her commitment to her daughter and her daughter’s health was admirable. She attempts to get on with her life, hiding her romantic relationship as far as she can, but also puts her daughter first, sacrificing her own basic needs to ensure that those of Ravine are fully met. She really is an admirable character and reminds me of my own mum, in many different ways.

I honestly cannot believe that this novel is a debut, much less that the initial write was done when the author was 16 years old. I think back to the own pieces that I penned at that age and find myself overwhelmed with the sheer sophistication of the writing. The whole mystery surrounding Marianne, Ravine’s best friend’s, disappearance is one that pulls you in from the offset and makes you want to continue reading. I’m not one to use the word “unputdownable” willy-nilly but this book honestly was. It’s hard to talk too thoroughly about the story without spoiling the best bits, so I’ll leave it to you to explore it further.

Thank you so much to the team at Penguin Random House for my copy of the book, in exchange for this review. I really look forward to reading more by Mahsuda and exploring her prose more over the coming years.

The Things We Thought We Knew was published by Penguin Random House on 15^th June 2017.

5/5.

Life: Making my House a Home: Prints

Life: Making my House a Home: Prints

Tuesday, 30 May 2017

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My plan for the summer was to find myself a brand, spanking new house to move into ready for the new school year to commence. However, I’ve taken a complete and utter u-turn here and decided actually, I’m going to stay in my teeny tiny cosy flat for another six months minimum, and instead do the place up and make it the home that it’s been crying out to be. The place is a blank canvas and needs a little bit of TLC – what perfect way to do that than to kit it out in brand spanking new furniture and gorgeous new prints for the walls?

Etsy and I are close friends, particularly at the moment. I’m always in favour of supporting small businesses and a few of my favourite blogging folk (CC: Dorkface) use and rely on Etsy as a source of income. I have a few of Jemma’s pieces adorned on my lounge wall already so I decided to have a scout around Etsy, particularly focusing on the prints and choose a few more that will add that certain Je ne sais quoi to my flat, encompassing my personality, without breaking the bank.

Part of my identity is definitely French and France as a whole, and having lived in the beautiful region of Alsace for a period of time, I think it’s really important to have a piece of the region in my home. I’ve been looking around for quite a long time for prints that depict Strasbourg, the city where I lived, and whilst I have a beautiful watercolour print of the cathedral already up in the flat, I was finding it difficult to add to my collection. I came across a beautiful French postcard Etsy page and knew immediately that I HAD to have some of the cards. They had cards of Strasbourg, Séléstat (the town where my school was located), Colmar (arguably the most beautiful place in France) and Kaysersberg, famous for the German Christmas markets. I’ll be framing them in a large frame, together, to show them off amazingly.  

I also have a beautiful French print in my kitchen, purchased for me by my mother as a graduation present, but I wanted to add another one to brighten the place up. As a newly discovered coffee fiend, I found this beautiful print the perfect addition to my cooking space. I’m on the lookout for even more (small) prints to compliment the ones I already have in my kitchen.

As if by chance, when I was writing up this post, I came across ANOTHER print that is absolutely perfect for one of the walls in my bedroom. It was one of those pieces of art that I just had to have, and I saw myself and my personality in the colours and the design, as silly as that sounds. I’ve followed Kelly on twitter for quite a while, but never bought anything from her store before but I know that that’s definitely going to change. I’m resisting buying for now, but I’ve spied quite a few other images that I’ll probably be buying to accompany it as some point. I love the combination of pink and gold, my two favourite colours. I think I’ll be framing it in a gold frame to truly accentuate the colour combinations.  

I’m really liking mountain prints at the moment, so these two prints will look perfect side by side on my lounge wall. I’m a very black and white kind of girl, so the monochrome print is probably my favourite of the two but the dash of colour in the other appeals to me as well. You can purchase the two prints here and here.

I’m really looking forward to seeing everything come together and finally making my little flat a proper home!