There’s something about Michael Morpurgo that haunts me. I remember being blown away by Kensuke’s Kingdom. I’ve read and reread so many of his books. Running Wild, The White Horse of Zennor, Adolphus Tips, and of course War Horse. They come to mind immediately. This was not the first time I read War Horse.I was […]
5 Writers of Fiction Who Have Hugely Influenced Me
Today, in a class about the role of literature in society, I began to think. Of course I love reading. Naturally a lot of my favourite writers have influenced my writing. I know I consciously started using adverbs more after reading Georgette Heyer. But then, I also began to wonder, which writers made me who […]
A Doll’s House
I love how time changes the way I read a play. I read A Doll’s House. Again. I imagined how it would be on stage. I cringed, yes. I closed my eyes, yes. But I enjoyed it. I read it cover to cover without needing a break. I did not worry about how good or bad […]
Airs Above the Ground
I remember quite enjoying Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart. Maybe I didn’t like it as much as The Ivy Tree or Madam, Will You Talk? but I did enjoy it. This time, I enjoyed the beginning. The Spanish Riding School, the levade, Timothy in his awkward state between adolescence and adulthood… I smiled […]
Day One: Colour your Thoughts
At the British Library workshop for the 5-7 age-group today, I read out a story about a black dog. Mr Hope is afraid of the black dog because it’s as big as a tiger. Mrs Hope is afraid of the black dog because it is as big as an elephant. Adeline Hope is afraid of the […]
The White Horse of Zennor and Other Stories
I love short stories! I wrote in my diary not very long ago, I think short stories are far more exciting to write because they capture a spark of imagination that lasts right through the moment of the story. A full-length novel… It begins with the spark, but for me involves more laborious imagination and […]
All Because of Jackson
There’s a bubble of contentment within me whenever I read Dick King-Smith, and All Because of Jackson is no different. Filled with delightful pictures and dreams, All Because of Jackson is the story of a rabbit. Of course, with Dick King-Smith, it has to be about an animal. An animal that is perfectly ordinary, but […]
Moon Pie
Every page of Simon Mason’s Moon Pie rang true. On the book-cover, I remember reading that someone called it an ‘ultra-modern’ story. I was not sure what to expect. I certainly did not expect this kind of brutal honesty. It made me shake my head and cry. Eleven-year-old Martha is puzzled by her father’s strange […]
The Story-Catcher in 2013
A Mouse Called Wolf
Whenever I read Dick King-Smith, I think about C.S. Lewis’s oft-quoted “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” How true it is! Whoever heard of a singing mouse? From the single line on the book cover, reading the book is like a joyful […]
Simon the Coldheart
What is it about Georgette Heyer that she can turn imagination into language so brilliantly? I reread another Georgette Heyer, before reading Simon the Coldheart, and found myself skipping large sections of it. I think time has made me a little uncomfortable with the romance that she portrays. I squirm more than a little, and run […]
British Library Workshops
As part of the Reading Challenge organised by the British Library, I will be conducting four workshops! Age-group 5-7 Read Aloud and Colour your Thoughts! 12th January, 2014 Stories are always more fun when they have pictures. When they have more pictures, they are more interesting! So read a story, or listen to a story […]
Pegasus
What a mixed bag of emotions! Pegasus was wonderfully imagined. I loved the ideas of feather-tip fingers, strong human hands and flexible wrists, being bound to the pegasi of the sweet green land… Beautiful! There was a kind of raw beauty that reached out and touched me, page after page. The beauty of the Caves […]
Chalkline
I recently read Neil Gaiman’s views on escapism: I hear the term bandied about as if it’s a bad thing. As if “escapist” fiction is a cheap opiate used by the muddled and the foolish and the deluded, and the only fiction that is worthy, for adults or for children, is mimetic fiction, mirroring the […]
Running Wild
I don’t usually like thick hardbound books. They are daunting and, usually, boring. As soon as I make that statement, though, I realise how many exceptions there are. Running Wild is one of them. It has pages and pages of description, but not once was I bored. Morpurgo, at the end of the book, talks of […]
Day Five – Reading was Fun!
And that was the end of that. Photographs will come soon, I’m sure. But right now, my head is filled with all kinds of thoughts. Children are like magpies. They love shiny things. All of them loved the golden tape I took with me to bind their work together. I thought they’d like to use […]
Day Four – Reading is Fun!
“Tomorrow, our last session, is going to have the most exciting activity of all!” I announced, at the end of today’s session. “Ooh! What is it?” “What are we going to do?” “What is the activity for tomorrow?” “I’ll tell you tomorrow!” I said, smiling. “So, how do you feel?” I expected them to say […]
Day Three – Reading is Fun!
I always tremble when I talk about my book. But somehow, today was just perfect. For once, I felt that the children simply loved the story and were still eager for more! Today was a grand day. I bit my lip controlling my laughter as a child read a little excerpt he had written about […]
Working, Working, Workshop!
Reading is Fun! Day One Day Two And now, I’m excited about the next one, coming soon …
Day Two – Reading is Fun!
Yesterday was the second exciting session with eager young children, waiting to be entertained. I began with a presentation on the process of the making of the book – from the mind of the writer to the hands of the reader. It was a long (yet brief) detailed explanation of different aspects of the process. […]