Claremont - Creating Readers
Claremont High School AcademyIssue 3June 2015
Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.
–Vera Nazarian
Welcome to Claremont – Creating Readers!
We have a new editor! Feel free to give me a ‘prod’ via email if you are missing an issue
It has been an action packed few months with World Book day on Thursday 5th March.
During The Big Read,reading fortnight between 16th-27th March, there were many events including author visits,storytelling, bake a book and writing workshops.
Matt Whyman, author of ‘The Savages’, took time out of his busy schedule to speak to year 9. The very next day he was off to his publisher to sign a contract looking at the possibility of filming ‘The Savages’. Some pupils took the opportunity to get their copies of the novel signed by the author himself ahead of his imminent fame. Very exciting!
David Gatward, author of ‘Doom Rider’, also inspired year 10 with his life story inspired by a book he read on a rainy camping holiday in Wales; ‘The Weirdstone of Brsingamen’. He received a standing ovation!
The year 7s had a whole day with a theatre company teaching them ‘Macbeth’ and were entertained by a Celtic Storyteller during the Big Read.
Much of our reading time recently has focused on the Carnegie Awards. Details of how the award came into existence, the books read and the authors of those books are detailed at the end of this publication. The overall winner, ‘Buffalo Soldier’, was also the reading group’s top choice. Personally, I enjoyed ‘Cuckoo Song’. Most of the books are for 14+ age group due to swearing and some mature topics; check before your child starts reading or read it with them for maximum impact.
Keep reading!
Ms Savinkina
This month’s featured book nominated by Mr Peace in the PE Department:
Three Bags Full by Leonie Swan (2007)
On a hillside near the cosy Irish village of Glennkill, a flock of sheep gather around their beloved shepherd George, who lies murdered, his body pinned to the pasture with a spade.
Fortunately, George has left behind an unusually intelligent group of sheep. Every night since they were lambs, he has read aloud to them - fairy tales, factual books about ovine disease, even detective stories - in order to help them sleep.
Faced with a real-life investigation, the flock spring into action.
They are led with fortitude by Miss Maple, the cleverest sheep in Glennkill and possibly the world. She is aided by Cordelia, who loves long words; and Othello, a ram with a dark past. Together they uncover the truth behind the life and death of their shepherd. Why did George tie little packets under their bellies before they crossed the meadow? And whose blood does Ham the butcher have on his hands?
While some of the detectives insist on chewing the evidence, or even forgetting it, together they succeed in shedding the revelatory light on the inexplicable world of human beings, and even on themselves.
Mr Peace (I couldn’t resist after a blurb like that. I loved it! SKN)
The Carnegie Medal, awarded annually, was established in 1936 in memory of the Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919).
A self-made industrialist who made his fortune in steel in the USA, Carnegie's experience of using a library as a child led him to resolve that "If ever wealth came to me that it should be used to establish free libraries."
He set up more than 2,800 libraries across the English speaking world and by the time of his death over half the library authorities in Great Britain had Carnegie libraries.
CILIP is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers.
CILIP's vision is a fair and economically prosperous society underpinned by literacy, access to information and the transfer of knowledge. It is a registered charity.
The Youth Libraries Group (YLG) of CILIP works in a ‘pressure group' role to preserve and influence the provision of quality literature and library services for children and young people.
The CILIP Carnegie Medal is awarded annually for outstanding writing for children and young people, based on the published criteria.
‘When Mr Dog Bites’ by Brian Conaghan
Dylan Mint has Tourette's. His life is a constant battle to keep the bad stuff in – the swearing, the tics, the howling dog that seems to escape whenever he gets stressed. But a routine visit to the hospital changes everything. Overhearing a hushed conversation between the doctor and his mother, Dylan discovers that he's going to die next March.
About the Author
Brian Conaghan was raised in the Scottish town of Coatbridge. While at school he performed miserably in most areas, however the University of Glasgow took pity on him and dished out, among other things, a Master of Letters in Creative Writing. Throughout the years Conaghan has been a painter and decorator, a barman, a DJ, an actor and a teacher. He currently lives in Dublin with his wife and daughter.
‘Apple and Rain’ by Sarah Crossan
When Apple's mother returns after eleven years of absence, Apple feels whole again. She will have an answer to her burning question – why did you go? And she will have someone who understands what it means to be a teenager – unlike Nana. But just like the stormy Christmas Eve when she left, her mother's homecoming is bitter sweet, and Apple wonders who is really looking after whom. It's only when Apple meets someone more lost than she is, that she begins to see things as they really are.
About the Author
Sarah Crossan is originally from Dublin. She graduated with a degree in philosophy and literature before training as an English and drama teacher at Cambridge University and has been working to promote creative writing in schools since. She completed her Masters in creative writing at the University of Warwick in 2003 and in 2010 received an Edward Albee Fellowship for writing.
Tinder by Sally Gardner (author)
Wounded in battle, Otto Hundebiss defies Death and finds himself on a journey to a realm of dark magic and mystery. He meets Safire, brave of heart and pure of spirit, and learns the powers of the tinderbox and the secret of the wolves.
About the Author
Sally Gardner is an award-winning novelist from London. Her books have been translated into 22 languages and have sold more than one million copies in the UK alone. Fuelled by her own experiences as a child, Gardner continues to be an avid spokesperson for dyslexia awareness, working to change the way it is perceived by society. Her Young Adult novel Maggot Moon won the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2013.
Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
When Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows that something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry; her sister seems scared of her and her parents whisper behind closed doors. She looks through her diary to try to remember, but the pages have been ripped out. Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange and terrible than she could ever have imagined, and that she is quite literally not herself. In a quest to find the truth she must travel into the terrifying Underbelly of the city to meet a twisted architect who has dark designs on her family - before it's too late.
About the Author
Frances Hardinge spent her childhood in a huge old house that inspired her to write strange stories from an early age. She read English at Oxford University, before joining a software company. However, by this time a persistent friend had finally managed to bully Frances into sending a few chapters of Fly By Night, her first children's novel, to a publisher. Macmillan made her an immediate offer. The book went on to publish to huge critical acclaim and win the Branford Boase First Novel Award. Cuckoo Song is her fifth novel.
The Fastest Boy in the World by Elizabeth Laird
Eleven-year-old Solomon loves to run! The great athletes of the Ethiopian national team are his heroes and he dreams that one day he will be a gold-medal-winning athlete like them, in spite of his ragged shorts and bare feet.
About the Author
Elizabeth Laird is the multi-award-winning author of several much-loved children's books. She has been shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal five times previously. Laird was born in Wellington, New Zealand, but is of Scottish descent and was educated at Croydon High School. She has spent much of her life living and working abroad, including long spells in Lebanon, Ethiopia and India. Laird has published many books for all ages and has won many awards.
Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman
Charley, a young African-American slave from the Deep South, is freed at the end of the American Civil War. However her freedom is met with tragedy after her adopted mother is raped and lynched at the hands of a mob, and Charley finds herself alone with no protection. In a terrifyingly lawless land, where the colour of a person's skin can bring violent death, Charley disguises herself as a man and joins the army. Trapped in a world of injustice and inequality, it's only when Charley is posted to Apache territory to fight "savage Indians" that she begins to learn about who she is and what it is to be truly free.
About the Author
Tanya Landman has written numerous books for children and young people including the ‘Sam Swann' series, The Goldsmith's Daughter, Mondays Are Murder and the beautiful picture book Mary's Penny. She writes with great authority on US history. Her novel Apache was nominated for the 2008 Carnegie Medal. She lives in Bideford, Devon.
The Middle of Nowhere by Geraldine McCaughrean
When her mother dies from a snake bite, Comity's life in the Australian Outback changes for ever. With her father lost in his grief, Comity makes friends with Fred, the Aboriginal yard boy. But then the evil Quartz Hogg arrives, who delights in playing cruel games. And when he sets his murderous sights on Fred, it's up to Comity to stop him.
About the Author
Geraldine McCaughrean is one of today's most successful and highly regarded children's authors. She has won the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Children's Book Award (three times), the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Smarties Bronze Award (four times) and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award. In 2005 she was chosen from over 100 other authors to write the official sequel to J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Peter Pan in Scarlet was published in 2006 to wide critical acclaim. She lives in Berkshire with her husband, daughter and golden retriever, Daisy.
More Than This by Patrick Ness
A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies. Then he wakes, naked, bruised and thirsty, but alive. How can this be? And what is this strange, deserted place? As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife?
About the Author
Patrick Ness is the internationally prize-winning author of seven books including the bestselling Chaos Walking trilogy, and is published in over twenty languages. Collectively the three titles – The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men have won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Costa Children's Book Award, and the Booktrust Teenage Prize. In 2011 Monsters of Men won the prestigious CILIP Carnegie Medal after all three books in the trilogy were shortlisted, the first time that has ever happened.
Ness' sixth book, A Monster Calls, received high critical acclaim and was the winner of the Children's Book of the Year Award at the Galaxy National Book Awards, the Red House Children's Book Award and the UKLA Children's Book Prize.
In June 2012, A Monster Calls became the first book ever to win both CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals.