Reading List

As promised here is the reading list I have compiled for my twelve year old daughter:-

Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce
The Family from One End Street by Eve Garnett
I Capture the Castle by Dodi Smith
Goodnight Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian
A little History of the World by E H Grombrich
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Witch Child by Celia Rees
The Sterkarm Handshake by Susan Price
The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean

The longlist for this year's Guardian children's fiction prize is as follows:-

My Name is Mina by David Almond
Mr. Gum and the Secret Hideout by Andy Stanton
Small Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans
Twilight Robbery by Francis Hardinge
Return to Ribble trop by Andy Mulligan
Moon Pie by Simon Mason
My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher
Momentum by Saci Lloyd


Of course she is not going to be able to read all of these books during the school holidays but I'm aiming for one a week, I've ordered several from the library so we'll see which she reads and I'll be reporting back with her opinion. 

Personally, I love reading and must have at least one book on the go at all times!  Strangely, both of my daughters are not so keen on reading - this may be because they watch too much television or because they have access to so many films (which I did not as a child) that a book is too much effort.  But what they do not realise is that you can learn so much more from books than just a story - grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and lots of bits of information that you retain without realising it - there are so many things I know that I do not know how I know and it must only come from reading so many books!!!!!  Anyway, here's hoping that this year I will finally turn them onto books!

For my seventeen year old daughter I have ordered three books, and these only because we happened to be talking about them in the car this morning on the way to school!  As she is currently reading books that relate to her A level literature course I am not expecting too much from her!  But the list is:-

Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I remember reading these books  myself (for school) and not liking them at all, but I think there is a valuable lesson to be learned from them about the kind of future we want - and we don't want a future like those in these books!

Last Day of School - Yippee!!

School finishes at lunchtime today - at last.   This last term seems like it has gone on forever.  I finally get my girls back to myself again and we can enjoy being out and about together. 

I'm going to make a book list for them to read their way through this summer and we're going to create a list of places we want to see and go to - if I were to leave it all to them, it would consist of shopping trips to London and Bicester!!  Watch this space for a book list.

New Harry Potter Film

Went to see the new Harry Potter film this evening with my two girls.  It's as good as expected and possibly the best.  We have decided to have a Harry Potter Fest during the summer holidays - watching all of the films back to back - on a rainy day of course (and we're bound to get some). 

Just have to decide what goodies to make for snacks.   I'll be back to share as soon as possible.

As this is my first blog I am rather unprepared and have no photographs to post!  Sorry.

This will get better - I promise.