April - June: I, Coriander by Sally Gardner

We've just read Sally Gardner's I, Coriander, winner of the Nestle Children's Book Prize gold award.

Set in London in the mid 1600's, it tells the story of Coriander, daughter of a wealthy merchant and a woman with a great secret.
When Coriander is given a pair of silver shoes, a new world opens up to her, and life will never be the same again.

This is a dark fairy tale, with some truly nasty characters and a memorable, feisty heroine.

Everyone enjoyed the book; here are their comments...

"A little bit scary" - Lilah

"I couldn't put it down" - Tabitha

"I didn't want it to end" - Poppy

"You could read it again and again" - Lottie

"I thought it was great!" - Ana
"I absolutely loved it" - Freya

"I'd recommend it to anyone who likes reading" - Lilah

Page Turners' rating for I, Coriander: 4.5/5

Fantastic Festival!

For those of you who have never been, Hay-on-Wye is a small town just over the Welsh border which boasts 30 bookshops, and once a year is home to a world-famous literary festival.

For ten days every May-June, Hay becomes a hive of activity, bursting with author talks, signings, comedy shows, music, art, workshops, and celebrities.

This year there was an amazing line-up of children's authors, including Michael Morpurgo, David Almond, Jacqueline Wilson, Robert Muchamore, Lauren St. John, Julia Donaldson, Hilary McKay, Geraldine McCaughrean, Caroline Lawrence, Judith Kerr, Alex Scarrow, Andy Stanton and Eoin Colfer to name but a few!

David Almond reading from My Name is Mina

My family and I went along to the festival and enjoyed a fun-packed 9 days. Highlights were the Gruesome and Gory Movie FX workshop where passers-by were horrified to see the children coming out with black eyes, hideous wounds and even severed fingers; the wonderful David Almond talking about the book group's Oct/Nov 2010 read, My Name is Mina; soaking up the sunshine and atmosphere while eating a delicious sheep's milk ice-cream, and for me, meeting my all-time favourite author of Young Adult fiction, Patrick Ness.

Movie FX workshop - realistic isn't it?!

The festival is so great it even attracts royalty - Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall arrived in her helicopter to read a story to some children!


Camilla's helicopter!

Michael Morpurgo and Camilla at Hay

Hay Festival has something for every book-lover; check it out next year. See you there, I can't wait!  











Children's Laureate 2011 - 2013

Congratulations to Julia Donaldson who has just been announced as the new Children's Laureate.

Best known for The Gruffalo, Julia has written many well-loved books, especially those for younger readers.

This quote comes from the Children's Laureate website:

"During her two years as Laureate, Julia plans to bring her passion for spoken word, rhyme, song and drama to the fore, by making children's literature in peformance a key focus for her laureateship. ‘With my background in plays and song-writing, I am particularly keen to develop projects which link books with drama and music, and to explore the ways performance can help children enjoy reading and grow in confidence' she says."

http://www.childrenslaureate.org.uk/

Hay Festival

Whew! Just back from a fantastic week of author talks, workshops and events at the Hay Literary Festival in Wales.

Several Book Group members went along to the festival, so I'm hoping for a few reports of their experiences and highlights, I will certainly be posting mine shortly!

March/April - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

"On the banks of the Mississippi, Tom Sawyer and his friends seek out adventure at every turn. Then one fateful night they witness a murder. The boys swear never to reveal the secret and run away to be pirates and search for hidden treasure. But when Tom gets trapped in a cave with the murderer, can he escape unharmed?"

We had yet another really mixed reaction to this month's read; some loved it, some hated it, a few didn't manage to finish it!

Overall thoughts were that the language was very tricky with the dialects and old fashioned phrases, but that it was very exciting in parts once you got into the story. People seemed to like the funny or exciting scenes, but felt that some of the boring parts could have been left out.

Quite a few book group members listened to the audiobook, which they found helpful to get over the barrier of the language and to hear the authentic Southern US accents.

Here are some comments from the group:

"The language was a bit complicated" - Lilah

"It was exciting all the way through" - Tabitha

"The first 30 pages are a bit boring, except the whitewashing." - Sam

"I really enjoyed the pirate island!" - Lottie

"Really good, exciting scenes." - Ana

Alison's picture of Tom and Becky

Page Turners rating for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: 3.5/5

February/March - The Museum's Secret by Henry Chancellor



"Welcome to the Scatterhorn Museum! But don't get too excited - it's a cold and dingy place, crammed full of tatty stuffed animals and junk. Nobody much wants to visit any more, and its days are surely numbered.
 But when Tom is sent to live there, he soon finds there is more to this museum than meets the eye. The animals may be shabby and moth-eaten - but they possess an incredible secret. And when Tom discovers he can go back to the time of their making, a hundred years earlier, he embarks on a journey full of unimaginable terrors...
 Join Tom in his breathtaking adventure in and out of time, from an Edwardian ice fair to the wastes of Mongolia, the jungles of India and beyond..."

So reads the book's back cover; unfortunately the book group was not sure it quite lived up to the blurb!

The Museum's Secret is the first book of a trilogy and racks up a whopping 445 pages. The story starts with a rather gruesome prologue, but takes quite a while to really get going. Despite some good ideas and exciting action, the plot was over-complicated and hard to follow.

"It's a good story but it had confusing parts. I think Henry Chancellor got a bit carried away with his ideas. Parts could've been left out because it was really complicated." - Lilah

"Quite a lot of exciting things, but lots of bits you couldn't understand." - Tabitha

"It's a good story but a bit too complicated. The middle is the best bit!" - Ana
"It's complicated and jolts round to different places, but otherwise it was a really good book." - Sam

"The beetles really freaked me out!" - Beck

Sam and Lottie intend to read the next books in the trilogy, but everyone else decided they probably wouldn't bother.

Page Turners rating for The Museum's Secret: 3.5/5

January/February - The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

Last month we read JRR Tolkien's classic work of fantasy, The Hobbit.

"Whisked from his comfortable hobbit-hole by Gandalf the wizard and a band of dwarves, Bilbo Baggins finds himself caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon..."

The book group welcomed three new members this month, swelling our ranks to ten!

Everyone enjoyed The Hobbit, but some struggled to get into it at first. The group found the language a bit tricky and old-fashioned, but the story exciting. Several book group members are planning to go on and read The Lord of the Rings now.

"It's kind of boring at the beginning, but when you get into it it's really good." - Beck

"Loads of really exciting scenes." - Ana

"I like the name Bilbo Baggins!" - Sam

"It's very good and it's got mystical creatures in it" - Olivia

"It's really exciting and you're not expecting what happens." - Tabitha

"It's amazing, I love it." - Poppy

Freya, Lottie and Lilah liked the riddles. Poppy enjoyed translating the runes from the map.



Here's Poppy's picture of the thrush:

Overall, The Hobbit got a big thumbs-up!

Page Turners rating for The Hobbit: 4.5/5