A few months ago, one of my publishers, Mango Books, began a series of posts on social media about books authors read when they were young. The book I chose was The Sheep-Pig, a delightful chapter book by a favourite writer, Dick King-Smith.Dick King-Smith's stories are a treat. I loved The Sheep-Pig, the sequel Ace and so many more - Saddlebottom, A Mouse Called Wolf, The Hodgeheg ... Every time I went to the library, I would look out for his books, hoping to discover at least one more book I hadn't read.Why is this book part of my reading programme?Obviously, the first reason is that I love it. Here's what I said to Mango Books about it."The Sheep-Pig is a delightful story, and I'm so glad I read it as a child! The book left me with the feeling that anything is possible. More than that, I loved the idea that kindness and courtesy can help you achieve … [Read more...]
Online Reading Programme
I've been working with the British Library's reading challenge for a long time. I've worked with a range of themes - Circus Stars, Mythical Maze, Record Breakers, The Big Friendly Read, Animal Agents ... And I've enjoyed each one. I love the range of books the British Library has, and the reading challenge collection is always special. Being a British Council trainer was always a huge advantage during the reading challenge season because I got secret access to all these books that weren't yet available to regular library customers!However, as I associated with schools and children at the library, there were two questions that continually stood out to me:Don't we get to keep even one book? Why are there no Indian books?And these are questions I've been mulling over for a while, which leads me to announce this online reading programme.What will we do during the online … [Read more...]