What the Dickens?

Year 8 have begun reading 'Great Expectations' in English this term - for the vast majority, it's their first encounter with Charles Dickens's writing. 

So what do our Year 8 BOOKClub members think about it? 

Well, one of them loves it so much, she's getting her own copy to read ahead - with VERY strict instructions to keep spoilers firmly to herself of course! 

The students are loving the characterisation of Pip, Mr Pumblechook, Mrs Joe and, of course, Miss Havisham:  "She must smell!" - Yes, indeed she must!  Yuck.  But why does she want Pip to befriend Estella?  Where's the story going? 

Sorry - you'll have to wait to find out in class. 

Miss Corbishley. 

North Herts Book Awards: "And the winner is......."

Mrs Hunt (our super Librarian) once again took students from Fearnhill School along to the North Herts Book Awards - an annual event organised and judged by school librarians in North Hertfordshire. 

This year, the speaker was Miriam Moss, author of 'Girl On a Plane' and our students were not only treated to listening to her speak, but got to meet her in a Q&A session as well.  

The awards were held at Knights Templar School and were attended by six other schools including us.  

Students and librarians chose the winner from this year's shortlist - Lucy Adlington for 'The Red Ribbon'.  

And, most excitingly of all, Fearnhill School will be hosting the awards next year!  So - BOOKClubbers, we'd better get reading that shortlist!  

You can read a write-up in The Comet paper here:  

http://www.thecomet.net/news/students-celebrate-love-of-reading-at-north-herts-book-awards-1-5474399

A Whole Day Devoted to Books???? Yes!

This month saw World Book Day, and at Fearnhill we celebrated in the library during our English lessons. 

But just which books do we recommend? 

Based on the surprise success of 'The Fault In Our Stars', we decided that 'An Abundance of Katharines' was bound to be a winner. 

Miss Corbishley recommends 'Gangsta Rap' by Benjamin Zephaniah:  "It's not as try-hard as it sounds!". 

And 'Summoner' piqued the interest of at least two of our members. 

Frances Hardinge and Penny Joelson will have to wait for now - perhaps we'll return to them later in the year. 

For now, get down the library and grab one of these beauties! 

The Edge - a Year 8 class novel

Sick of Harry Potter and all that fantasy nonsense?  Want a dose of gritty reality in your reading?  Well you've come to the right place.  

'The Edge' by Alan Gibbons certainly packs a punch with its protagonist, Danny, fighting to keep him and his mum safe.  

This novel has provoked a lot of discussion in class about the various issues it raises, and students have found the straight-forward character voices really engaging.  

But, as this isn't a BOOKClub book, we need to ask YOU what you thought of it.  

Did you enjoy the book?  

What was it that you liked or didn't like?  

Did you find the multiple narrative difficult to follow, or did it make it more exciting?  

And last, but not least, should we teach it to Year 8 again next year?  

Let us know in the comments below.  

Cheers!  

Are you a man or a mouse? A tale of friendship and hardship

OK, so this isn't strictly a BOOKClub post, but I've had such a fab time with this novel, I felt the need to share.  Indulge me!  

Year 9 have been enjoying this short novel by John Steinbeck and wow - what a reaction we've had! 

(Our Year 7 and Year 8 BOOKClub members haven't read it as part of BOOKClub, but there's always a copy in the classroom and we've talked about the story.)

Year 9 have absolutely loved the characters in this book, with lots of empathy being shared in the classroom. 

What's been particularly surprising, is how the students have reacted to the way the characters deal with their own particular situations: 

"Curly's Wife is really unlikeable at first.  But when you understand how rubbish her life is, you can understand why she behaves like that.  She's just lonely." 

"I thought Lennie was weird - I didn't know why he was relying on George so much.  The ending is harsh." 

Too many spoilers to share much more.  Suffice to say, this is a book to read in Year 9 before the pressure of GCSE texts hits! 

It's CHRIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAAS!

Well now, Christmas simply wouldn't be Christmas without a festive story or two now would it? 

Our favourites: 

'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'












'The Night Before Christmas'

'The Polar Express'

'The Snowman'










Have a lovely Christmas.  Hope Santa brings you (and me!) lots of books. 

Miss Corbishley. 

Skellig - a ghost story? A horror story? You decide...

This term, Year 7 have been enjoying 'Skellig' by David Almond. 

Their reviews have been almost overwhelmingly enthusiastic: 

"It's good the way it doesn't tell you what the man is doing in the garage.  He might be a ghost..."

"I think the man is the ghost of the man who used to live in the house.  It is a bit scary, but it's more of a mystery than a horror story.  I really like it." 

"The bits with the baby make me sad.  I like it when books make you have an emotional response.  It's like the author is trying to make you feel a certain way and I think that's good." 







And I must say, I agree!  Many of our Year 7s have decided that they will read the prequel, 'My Name Is Mina'.  So check yours out of the library quickly and let us know what you think. 

It's decision time...

It's that time of year when we look through a selection of books (provided by our wonderful Librarian here at Fearnhill, Mrs Hunt - thank you!) and try to decide what we're going to read. 

(And if last year's anything to go by, there is likely to be a lot of indecision and strongly held opinions which, hopefully, will give way to some of us finding joy in books we may have otherwise passed by...) 




So, what's on the table?  Well, we have Lemony Snicket's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' which is a favourite of at least one of our regular members (mentioning no names - you know who you are!).  Don't let the films fool you - it was unanimously agreed that they are "rubbish" but the books are certainly not! 


Next up, quite a surprise for me as Eleanor is usually not one for soppy fairytales, but she soon set me straight! 

These are re-tellings of traditional fairytales but with a twist.  This one, 'As Old As Time' is Beauty and the Beast with a twist:  What if Belle's mother was the one who cursed the beast? 

Published by Disney, we think there are four of these out at the moment, but I'm sure there'll be more in the pipeline. 

Lastly, a favourite amongst almost all the students in Key Stage 3 (and some in Key Stage 4 - a sign of a real winner!), James Dashner's 'The Maze Runner'. 

A bit like 'The Hunger Games', it's a real page-turner.  It's the first of a series too, so lots more to read if we decide we like it! 

So, decision time it is. 

Which would YOU choose? 

New Term - New Challenges - New BOOKS!!!!!

OK, so perhaps we're a bit over-excited at the prospect of a whole new year ahead of us - with an almost endless tower of new books stretching into the distance... 

But we don't care!  Fearnhill BOOKClub is back for another academic year and we need YOU to join us. 

Every Friday lunchtime (from 1.30pm) in E5 - that's Miss Corbishley's classroom.  She often brings cake*

This year we'll be looking at the novels that Key Stage 3 classes are reading as well as choosing and reviewing some of our own. 

Looking forward to welcoming you soon. 

Miss Corbishley. 


*She actually very rarely brings cake - but you are more than welcome to bring some! 

Happy Summer!

Well now, it's that time of year when we begin to say goodbye to school for another six weeks (I know, I know - you're all as upset as I am.  No really!). 

But you know what's the BEST thing about having all that time off school?

Yes!  Having all that time to read. 

Here's a selection of recommended summer reading:

Ruby Redfort is a girl on a mission.  A top secret mission.  If you're a fan of spy fiction, but yearn for some strong female characters, then this one's for you! 

Or how about something more challenging?  

Agreed, this was a bit beyond our Year 8s, but Year 9s (and above) won't be able to put it down!  

I first read it about three years ago, and bits of it still come back to me.  A really fabulously told tale of friendship and heartbreak.  One for the parents too!  

And if you're still in need of inspiration, check out this brilliant website:  http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/genre/sr/Summer-Reading.html

Enjoy your summer and we'll see you in September!  

Yours, Miss Corbishley.  

Into That Forest

NB - It's not that musical with James Corden...


(Not this weird musical.  Seriously, have you seen it?  It's really weird!).

It's this magnificent novel by Louis Nowra:

A really unusual book, kind of like a modern day Jungle Book, with girls, not a boy!



However, Poppy disagrees with Miss Corbishley.  "It's not like The Jungle Book!  Because in The Jungle Book, they're teaching him how to be a human.  But in this book, they're teaching the girls how to be tigers.  The girls start copying the tigers:  hunting and walking on four legs and stuff."

Eleanor actually stopped reading this book after the first two pages!  Disgraceful!  "I fell asleep.  It was so boring. There's no action.  It's very slow paced (like Dreaming The Bear)."

Poppy agreed that the beginning was boring, but that once it gets going, it's really good.

Miss Corbishley liked the narrative style.  It's narrated by one of the girls when she's an old lady - so it's all told in a flashback.

Opinion is completely and utterly divided.  Miss Corbishley asked "Shall we recommend this?" and was met with a simultaneous "YES" and "NO".

So the jury's out on this one.  On balance, as Poppy said, "Don't just read the first page, you know.  Read the first 20 or 30 before you make your decision!"

And I agree.

Decisions, decisions...

Which book will be our next choice?  Miss Corbishley has been given the difficult task of choosing from four very different (and very well-argued) novels.

Megan put forward the case for The Fault In Our Stars

"I've not read it, but I've heard from other people that it's a gripping storyline, but that it's also very sad.  Apparently, it's one of those books that you can't put down.
I really want to see the film, but I always like to read the book before I see the film, so I think this would be a good one to read."

• Miss Corbishley says - it would be excellent to read a book that no-one in BookClub has read before.  Also, it has a reputation as being a soppy romance which is really outside of some members' comforts zones - always a good thing! 

Poppy went for The Hunger Games trilogy

"We've all read the first one in year 7 and I've nearly finished reading the third one.  It's told in a realistic way - you can imagine yourself being there.  Once you get into it, you can't put it down.  It's one of those books that I could just read for hours and hours.

The characters are well-written - you like them and they are believable.  Also, there are bits in the story that seem irrelevant when you first read them, but then later on you remember them and you understand that everything has a reason for being included in the story."  

• Miss Corbishley says - everyone is familiar with the first book so it would provide a nice sense of closure to read the third and final one together as a group.  

Holly had lots of recommendations but decided on Grandpa's Great Escape

"Like all of David Walliams' books, this is really funny but it's also quite touching at the same time.  The grandpa in the story has an illness where he keeps forgetting where he is and what he's supposed to be doing - he thinks he's back in the 1940's fighting in World War II.  Grandpa goes missing...

The next thing, the boy's class go on a school trip to a War Museum and he thinks his Grandpa is somewhere in the museum - asleep on one of the planes.  

It's also really interesting because there are lots of old people who lose their memory and it's interesting to see how it might affect people around them."  

• Miss Corbishley says - David Walliams is a big favourite at home!  It's good to have something that doesn't just give you laughs and adventures, but also makes you think about how other people might view the world.  

Eleanor couldn't contain her enthusiasm for Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief 

"First of all, don't believe the films.  They are nothing like the books.  The books are a million times better!  Percy is 12 years old when he finds out that he's a half-blood:  half-mortal (like a normal human being) and half-God.  There are monsters which are based on mythical creatures and they can smell half-bloods so Percy has lots of battles with them.  

The setting is brilliant - they're on a special camp - it's amazing; really exciting.  As you read the books in the series, the characters grow up and get older, as you get older, so it's like you grow up with them and really get to know them."  

• Miss Corbishley says - Fantasy adventures are always exciting.  Despite Megan saying she thought the blurb was really boring, this could definitely be a book that the club could whizz through - it's good to have divided opinion before we even start reading.  Discussion is what it's all about!  

So now we need to decide...  Which one should we choose?  

Gorilla Dawn by Gill Lewis

The latest book ahead of our trip next week is Gorilla Dawn by Gill Lewis.

Miss Corbishley found this quite a tough read, emotionally speaking.  "It's because there are elements of non-fiction here - some of these atrocities really do happen and it makes it quite difficult to read as fiction."

Despite this, it is one of the most popular books yet.

Poppy wasn't keen on the look of it, commenting, after having read the blurb, that it "looked like it was going to be a romance or something".  But having now finished it (in super speedy time!) she has this to say:

"I loved it.  If I was the girl, the spirit girl, I would have gone with the lady" and this prompted discussion about whether the spirit girl really did have magical, supernatural powers.  "I think she did" said Eleanor. "The demon inside her was real.  And people knew she had power because she survived the attack by the Black Mamba and that's what gives her the powers".

We also all agreed that the description of the setting was really well done.  It's not a landscape any of us were familiar with (never having been to the jungles and mountains of Congo) so this was no mean feat on the part of the author.  Eleanor said that if she closed her eyes, "I could imagine being there, breathing that air, feeling the leaves of the jungle. I could even feel the rain dripping down my arms and off my elbows".

Recommended reading age was agreed on 12 years and over - certainly not for the faint-hearted this one!

A big thumbs up from Fearnhill BOOKClub.

Jessica's Ghost

By far, the most popular book to date.  This hit the mark for lots of reasons.

"This was my favourite because it's not really about describing, it's more about an actual story.  Every time the teacher told me to stop reading, I didn't want to."

"It's quite slow-paced until the end, but it's nice because I know what's happening - with Dreaming The Bear I got quite confused."

"There's a really good swapping of gender roles.  The boy is into sewing and stuff and the girl is called a 'thuglet' by her mum."

"All the characters are outsiders at the start.  But they start to look out for each other and stand up for each other."

"By the end of the book, they've all got loads more self-confidence.  Like, the bullies' comments wouldn't bother them anymore.  They've grown up and seem much happier."

Help Wanted at Fearnhill BOOKClub

A disappointing turnout today!  Maybe everyone's got the flu.  Or maybe the novelty has worn off.  Or maybe Miss Corbishley's lack of cake is to blame.

Do you like reading?

Do you like books?

Do you like giving reviews to your fellow clubmates?

Then BOOKClub is for YOU!

BOOKClub is on every Friday lunchtime in E5 (apart from the holiday - cos no-one would go to school in the holidays.  Not even for cake.  Did we say there was cake?) so get down here now!

If you come, and you like it, how about you post on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram - any social media?  Post it, link it, help get BOOKClub back out there!

Author - Eleanor Brewer

Dreaming the Bear

The first book to be read in preparation for our trip to the North Herts Book Awards ceremony is 'Dreaming the Bear' by Mimi Thebo.

This novel actually divided opinion amongst our members, with some rating it more highly than others.

But first, what does the blurb tell us?  Well it starts off with introducing us to our protagonist, a girl called Darcy.

"When I get up, there's nobody home. Even Mum has gone out. The note says, 'I have to check my emails. I'll snowmobile to the meltline and be back soon. XX Mummy'. 
And I think, 'Good. I can feed my bear...'" 

We learn that Darcy is recovering from a severe illness in her parents' cabin, spending most of her days alone, until she comes face to face with a grizzly bear; this encounter blossoms into a surprising friendship.

The setting is gorgeous; Yellowstone National Park in Montana, with so much description, you almost feel like you are there with Darcy and the bear.  However, it is this description which divided our BOOKClub members:  

"It's a bit slow."  "There's too much description; not enough action."  "I like books that make you want to turn the page; this one went on too long describing the setting."

"I like how it's described as if you're there."   "I don't know anything about places like that, so the description helped."  

The other element that split the group in two was the ending.  Without giving away any spoilers, this was a real discussion point.  Some of us thought it was a nice change to have an unexpected ending like this - particularly in a book for children.  Others would have preferred a more typical ending.  

Overall, this is a book we would recommend, but only if you're not a fan of fast-paced, non-stop action!

BOOKClub trip - Book Awards Ceremony

We have our first BOOKClub trip coming up after half term.  

Fearnhill are really excited to have been invited to a presentation, author talk and creative writing workshops, part of the North Herts Librarians Book Awards Ceremony, on 15th March.  

       Kim Slater wrote 'Smart' which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and nominated for the 2015 Carnegie Medal, so we're looking forward to hearing from her and having the opportunity to pick her brains. 

       But, before we even get there, we've been presented with a list of books to read in advance:  

For Younger readers

• 'Gorilla Dawn' by Gill Lewis
• 'Dreaming the Bear' by Mimi Thebo
• 'Jessica’s Ghost' by Andrew Norriss

 

For older readers

• 'Girl on a plane'  by Miriam Moss
• 'We Are All Made of Molecules' by Susin Nielsen
• 'Denton Little’s Deathnote' by Lance Rubin

Our Key Stage 3 BOOKClubbers have finished
'Dreaming the Bear' already.
Watch this space for reviews.  

Book review: The Nest

Initially overlooked in favour of 'The Graveyard Book', 'The Nest' by Kenneth Oppel was the second book to be read by all of us*. 

It seems that this one just pipped Gaiman's book and is currently the group's favourite.  Have a read of the blurb to give you a flavour of what it's all about:  

""The first time I saw them, I thought they were angels." The baby is sick. Mom and Dad are sad. And all Steve has to do is say, "Yes" to fix everything. But yes is a powerful word. It is also a dangerous one. And once it is uttered, can it be taken back? Treading the thin line between dreams and reality, Steve is stuck in a nightmare he can't wake up from and that nobody else understands. And all the while, the wasps' nest is growing, and the 'angel' keeps visiting Steve in the night. A haunting coming of age story that will hold you captive, The Nest is lyrical, surreal and one of the most moving stories you'll read this year."


Here's what Dan in year 7 says about it:  

"This is my favourite book that we've read in BOOKClub so far...  For once in a book, I actually got a little bit scared!  I loved the way the author linked 'dreamland' with the real world and had special links.  Definitely a 5 star review!"  

For more information about Kenneth Oppel, see his website here or his blog here. 



*Miss Corbishley was shamefully slow in finishing hers.  Poppy and Dan finished first.  Hats off to them!  

Book Review: The Graveyard Book

The first book to be reviewed by our members is Neil Gaiman's 'The Graveyard Book'.  


As the blurb tells us, "Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place - he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their timely ghostly teachings-like the ability to Fade. Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead? And then there are things like ghouls that aren't really one thing or the other. This chilling tale is Neil Gaiman's first full-length novel for middle-grade readers since the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Coraline. Like Coraline, this book is sure to enchant and surprise young readers as well as Neil Gaiman's legion of adult fans."  


But what did our members think of it?   Here's what Dan in year 7 had to say:  

"The Graveyard Book is home to one of my favourite things in books:  Cliff Hangers!  (It also gives me an excuse to read another chapter at night... and another... and another...).  The ending was a bit too rushed, but overall, I'd give this 4 out of 5 stars."  

So sounds like this one is well worth a read.  Fearnhill library has several copies so why not grab one and tell us what you think?  

For more Neil Gaiman books, check out his website here.  

Our first book has been chosen!

Today we had a shortlist of books to choose from:

'The Graveyard Book' by Neil Gaiman

'Mister Creecher' by Chris Priestley

'Wintersmith' by Terry Pratchett

'Pink Chameleons' by Fiona Dunbar

'The Nest' by Kenneth Oppel and Jon Klassen

And the one we've chosen?  
'The Graveyard Book'

Here's what our BOOKClub members said about it after reading the first few pages:

"It's like a mystery and you've got to find out what happens.  You want to know what's happening after the toddler has got away"

"I don't know why, but I really like books where the bad guy is really dangerous, clever, and has got skill"

"I didn't pick it, but, the reason why I didn't cry about it is because I like the suspense at the start of the book.  I want to know what's going to happen next"

"I like books with cliff-hangers and it seems to be like this book's going to have lots of them in because this first page ends right on a cliff-hanger"

"You want to know if the baby dies or not!"

Let's see if Neil Gaiman's writing lives up to expectations!