Yesterday, we came to the end of yet another batch of my reading programme for ages nine and ten. I wrote about our ‘raise hand‘ anecdote, and thinking about that made me realise – again – that the main reason I conduct reading programmes is that I enjoy them so much! Yes, I spread the love of reading and all that, but more, I love what goes into each programme. I love choosing my books, planning my activities, and then, seeing how, despite all the planning, children take the workshop in whatever direction they like!
This time, we read Karma Meets a Zombie, The Hodgeheg and When the World Went Dark. Each one was delightful in its own way.
Karma Meets a Zombie
I wrote about being a little nervous reading this one with my book club. Would it be too scary? Detachable hands, the undead – how much is too much?
Ultimately, though, it was good fun. We did a close reading of the text and then talked about what frightens us. How do we create suspense? What words do we use to make the reader feel a certain way?
The Hodgeheg
One of the joys of working with books that have been around for a long time is that author websites often have material that I can easily tweak and use for my book club! For The Hodgeheg, for instance, I found chapter-wise teaching notes, so I adapted those for my workshop. Additionally, we worked on spoonerisms based on Shel Silverstein‘s Runny Babbit, word games, and creating characters (heavily inspired by Sophie’s guest session at my writing programme last year!)
When the World Went Dark
When the World Went Dark was such an eye-opener! As we read, I realised that like Swara, the children were convinced that Pitter Paati was still alive. They had all kinds of hypotheses about what was happening in the building opposite, and each idea was fascinating. Maybe someone kidnapped Pitter Paati! Maybe there are doctors working secretly there on special people! Maybe Pitter Paati is a secret detective, so she couldn’t tell Swara what she’s doing!
So, of course, we worked on logical puzzles. I gave the children a question and a set of clues. Solving each puzzle was so rewarding!
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