Books about books are always a joy to read at my book club! We're reading In the Woof of Time at my reading programme for ages nine and ten and Mini's Books at the one for ages seven and eight.Anyone who grew up on Enid Blyton wanted to eat scones, crumpets and treacle. I was one of them, and so, this book is all the more believable. Mini wants to eat the food the Big Little Monsters in the books she reads eat. And through her summer holidays, she slowly learns more and more about these monsters--and discovers all the surprising consequences of reading books! Thanks to her stories, she makes a friend, becomes a detective, learns to entertain herself and even starts to cook! Monster Stories I love monster stories! The wonderful thing about monsters is that they can take any form whatsoever. They can be tiny or huge, friendly or ferocious. … [Read more...]
In the Woof of Time
A book club mystery - of course I had to explore the possibility of introducing it to my book club!Samar and his friends find themselves in the middle of a spate of thefts - a dog, milk bottles, and even jewellery. They love reading mystery stories, so this they must investigate the mystery that surrounds them! Will they do it in the woof of time? Clues and Puzzles As we read In the Woof of Time, we'll engage in a little code-making and code-breaking of our own. Detective stories and cryptograms go together! Alibis and Red Herrings A lot of words and phrases are associated with detective stories alone. As we read In the Woof of Time, we'll do a vocabulary quiz, testing how many of these words are familiar to us. Creating a Detective Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, the Five Find-Outers and Dog ... So … [Read more...]
The Perfect Present
We've read two books from the Ready, Freddy series at my book club, and I'm happy to read another! While I cannot say I love the books, I see how well they suit a book club. They are easy to read, full of illustrations, and great conversation starters. The Perfect Present is a Christmas story. Freddy is making a list of everything he wants for Christmas. His list is endless, but predictably, the story leads us towards an understanding of the spirit of Christmas. Book Activities The Ready, Freddy series is full of readymade activities - finding the hidden fin in each picture, a word puzzle, and a craft activity too! Festivals I remember a book club session some time ago when a child told us all about Onam! A book about Christmas will be the prompt for the children to talk about their favourite festivals--which ones they celebrate, … [Read more...]
The Worst Witch to the Rescue
I used to read The Worst Witch as a child! I had no idea whether I would still enjoy reading about the hapless Mildred Hubble, though. I picked up The Worst Witch to the Rescue without having decided whether to introduce it to my book club--and I loved it all over again! It's funny, sweet and full of action; I'm sure my book clubbers will enjoy the book too. Quizzes and Vocabulary Games Most children love fantasy. I look forward to doing a few magical games with them - a word search puzzle on words related to magic, a quiz about famous magical places, and perhaps an activity on creating a witch together too! The Rule of Three It's never too early to get children to start looking at how books are structured. The rule of three, for instance, is a fascinating one. How many characters come together at the centre of the story? What … [Read more...]
Sita’s Chitwan
Last year, I invited Vaishali Shroff to conduct a workshop for my writing programme on nonfiction. It was aptly called 'Non-Boring Nonfiction'. I rarely read nonfiction, and I don't think I've ever read nonfiction with my book club. I find it easier to introduce nonfiction elements through books like A Cello on the Wall and A Giant Leap.Once more, that is what I will be doing with Sita's Chitwan. Half the book is a story, the story of eight-year-old Sita, who lives on the outskirts of Chitwan National Park. The other half of the book lets us explore Chitwan National Park, introducing us to its vegetation, people, animals and birds. I'm waiting to read this book with my book clubbers next month! Paw Prints Often, when we visit the jungle, guides tell us that the job of a guide is much like the job of a detective. Following tracks, looking for … [Read more...]
Flyaway Boy
We're going to read Flyaway Boy again at my book club! We've read and enjoyed When the World Went Dark by Jane de Suza twice, and I look forward to reading this one with another batch too. It's perfect to discuss so many things - form, narrative voice, imagination, possibility ... The list of ideas below just about scratches the surface of everything we can do with the book! Boxes Flyaway Boy opens with a bit about boxes. What neat little boxes do we fit into? Are there any labels we give ourselves, or any labels people give us? Especially as many of the children join my book club batch after batch, I'd love to know if there are any labels they give one another. What labels do they associate with the others at the book club?It's an interesting introspective activity to undertake even without the context of the book because sometimes, we create … [Read more...]
Peanut Has a Plan
We read Peanut Vs the Piano over two years ago at my book club, and it was such fun! I wrote a blog post about one of the activities we did as we read the book, and I look forward to repeating the activity with a fresh batch of book clubbers as we read Peanut Has a Plan. This hOle book is a lovely little chapter book about determination and kindness. With an enterprising character at the centre of the story, what starts off as a desire to earn money becomes much more than that. Peanut, together with her twin brothers Papad and Pickle, comes up with one plan after another to show that she's responsible and can do something worth talking about at Show and Tell in school! Names Peanut, Papad and Pickle - I sure hope their parents named them after things they like! What if your parents named you after their favourite food? What would your name … [Read more...]
Ottoline at Sea
As far as possible, I try to source books from independent bookstores for my book clubs. And so, when Eureka Books informed me that Ottoline Goes to School was out of stock with the publisher, I decided to read Ottoline at Sea with the June edition of my book club instead! It feels like a win-win for me because I'm reading one Ottoline book with my May batch and another with my June batch!Ottoline at Sea is another delightful book featuring the intrepid Ottoline and her friend Mr Munroe. Just like the others in the series, it is a perfect mixture of serious and hilarious because of the seriousness with which it addresses impossibility. I know that humour of this kind is not every child's cup of tea, but the illustrations are sure to delight them all, even those who aren't drawn into the story! Collections Just like when we read Ottoline and the … [Read more...]
Reading and Writing Activities
I find so many resources on the internet that every so often, I try to return the favour by sharing a little in terms of resources and activities that have worked for me in class. Often, prepping for a lesson can be quite overwhelming, especially if you're like me and like to have something planned for every minute of your lesson, plus a few extra activities just in case! In no particular order, here are a few things that have worked for me at my book clubs and writing workshops in the last few months. Free Verse I love teaching free verse! I've used all kinds of mentor texts in the past, including "Hope is the thing with feathers" by Emily Dickinson, which isn't in free verse at all, but still works, as you can see below. Both these poems are in issue 1 of WORDS, the e-magazine we create at my writing … [Read more...]
Lucky, It’s Summer!
A story told from the point of view of a Cocker Spaniel--what's not to love about it? As a book club read, Lucky, It's Summer! is perfect in so many ways. The lightheartedness of the story, the repetition, the in-built activities--everything about this book by Nalini Sorensen and Shamika Chaves promises to be fun! Besides, for many children who are part of my book club, it will be the summer holidays as we read the book, so what better time to enjoy it together? Speech Bubbles I often work with role-play at my book clubs and while some children instinctively understand how punctuation works for dialogue, others don't. An activity where children have to write what characters say in little speech bubbles is perfect for this. What exactly does each character say? Can we put the words into the appropriate speech bubbles? Point of … [Read more...]