Junior Reader is now the proud owner of a rucksack. Not a little, stick your toy cars in, rucksack. Nor even a larger, fit in a few plastic dinosaurs, type. A proper rucksack – just a bit smaller than ones for adults. 30 litres, if you want to know, all with a good back support …
Category archives: Writing
Friday phrases: and it was still hot
Beginnings. Always tricky. Want to make a big entrance, grab your attention. But what of endings? Also important. The time to make the big ‘boom’ at the end of the story, bow, and retreat, performance over. Even though I seem to say more about In the Night Kitchen, I still love Where the Wild Things …
Lit Kid: boldly going
If I’ve written about books I associate with my mother, it’s only fair to look at my father’s influence too. And I have, already, quite a bit. The Hobbit. My Friend Mr Leakey. Riki Tiki Tavi. These are just a few. My dad wasn’t always around at story reading time. There were several years where …
Lit Kid: learning from the greats
One of my great joys in lit kid life is giving Junior Reader access to books I read as a child. Whether as picture books, or chapter books, we are conveying something of the joy of story, character, illustration – and magic. So what did my parents read? And what did they pass on to …
Lit Kid: serial delights
Having skipped with you through some of the delights of picture book series last time, it’s now the point to change pace. Taking a series into chapter book land is a different kind of endeavour. There may be pictures still, but the pictures alone will not add the same unifying elements to the stories. You …