Engaging reads for children, from Books go Walkabout

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Dragonkeeper author Carole Wilkinson in conversation with Kellett School, Year 5

Image 1Books Go Walkabout held a conversation with Australian author, Carole Wilkinson and students at Kellett International School, Hong Kong.

The Dragonkeeper Series, published by Walker Books, Australia is a great read for students for ages, 9 – 13yrs.

It is set in Ancient China, during the Han Dynasty and begins with a slave girl and her master,two dragons and a rat. One of the dragons dies and is made into pickle, the other dragon and the slave girl escape and their journey to the ocean begins.

The students had read the first 5 chapters and asked some insightful and searching questions such as;

‘ Why didn’t you give the slave girl a name at the beginning?’ student.

‘I didn’t want her to have anything, she had a hard life I wanted the reader to feel for her.’ Carole.

The questions kept coming for an hour and the students at Kellett School also shared their own dragon that they had made. Carole explained that dragons in China were good and didn’t always have wings. Maybe the Year 5 dragon will try and fly once his wings have been attached?kellett master cmyk aw

More reviews will follow this blog and photos and student comments will be added to Books Go Walkabout.

A great start to the Dragonkeeper series.

Sue Martin Books Go Walkabout at Kellett School

Fly on the Wall books – See history as it happened, by Mick Manning and Brita Granstorm

Image 8The pages of these books are packed full of up to date information about the world of Romans, Vikings, Ancient Greeks and the Pharaohs. Brilliantly put together by Mick Manning and Brita Granstorm and published by Frances Lincoln.

They are a great resource for history in KS 1 and 2 to come alive and to keep young readers attention from beginning to end. Boys especially will love them.The layout and illustrations provide chunks of information that is appealing and easy to remember in a scrapbook style of layout.

Image 3Greek Hero– the page I loved was on Sparta and shows girls enjoying wrestling matches. Only boys were given an education and they learned philosophy, history and mathematics.

Image 1Roman Fort – children had toys like marbles and hoops and played games with balls and bats. Soldiers usually joined the army for 20 years but about half of all recruits didn’t survive long enough to retire.

Image 4Pharaoh’s Egypt – scribes were used to write and to read, as reading was only accessible by the rich, in fact, ordinary people who could read were thought to have the power of the gods!

Image 2Viking Longship- From invasion by a longship called the Sea Dragon to a deal with King Edmund, the book has amazing detail including a recipe for Birka Bread.

 

These are great books! Strongly recommended to schools we work with and also to parents.

Sue Martin – Dolphin Booksellers, the best in children’s books always on line

Tell Me a Picture by Quentin Blake

Image 2 Adventures in looking at Art is a brilliant book by Quentin Blake and published by Frances Lincoln in association with the National Gallery Company, London.

Quentin describes the vision for this book as a way for children to talk about the pictures, and the story that is within them. On each page there are characters alongside the picture with captions from the characters.

 

Image 1Great to watch on Quentin Blake’s web page.

The book was originally published in 2001 and this new edition is in hard back and makes a truly beautiful book to have for home and for school.

 

On choosing the pictures, Quentin says,

‘All the pictures in this book are the ones I like, and if you like them too you may eventually want to know more about them and the artists who created them, so there are many notes about the artists…at the end of the book.

Tell Me a Picture is a book with real adventures in looking at art, and if you buy this book it will lead into further adventurers I’m sure.

Sue Martin – Children’s Books in Dolphin Booksellers and BooksGoWalkabout

World Book Day 2015

March 5th 2015

Image 2The Biggest Book show on Earth…. is how World Book Day is described. With children all over the world dressing up and just getting down to reading, there are all sorts of things to do. Share a story competition, Dress Up and Donate, The Biggest Bookshop in Earth Online and a World Book Day, Lucky Dip… plus of course the £1 offer on loads of books.

BooksGoWalkabout is offering a free conversation with one of our authors from across the world. It can be to any school with internet connection that can skype out.

BGW logoJSCheck out the offer at World Book Day events

Have fun on World Book Day.

Sue Martin Books Go Walkabout-

Daisy’s Big Dig

Image 5‘You are invited to a Digging Party and there will be free cakes and even some hidden treasure.’

Daisy’s Big Dig is one of the new books from Francis Lincoln this Spring, through Janetta Otter-Barry Books. It is written and illustrated by Angie Morgan, and the pastels and watercolour mixes make for some brilliant illustrations throughout the book.

‘The people who live in Daisy’s street, never, ever talk to each other. But Daisy has a big plan to bring everyone together- a Digging Party!’

This must make a welcome change to all parents who try and find the latest in childrens themed parties.

A great book written and illustrated beautifully and published by such a successful childrens book publisher.

Sue Martin Dolphin Booksellers – Children’s Books on line

Kellett School, Hong Kong Students in Beijing

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Year 5 Kellett School students have just returned from a week in Beijing.

An experience of a lifetime with many cultural visits and contact with students in the capital of China. At Books Go Walkabout we just think this is an amazing experience and will produce life long memories and connections with China. What an experience!

In March, this year we were pleased to work with Year 5’s on books written by award winning author,Carole Wilkinson, The Dragonkeeper Trilogy. The books are about a slave girl and other dragon keepers in Ancient China. They are some amazing fiction stories with excellent research and information about life in Ancient China.

The books were sent from the UK, written by Carole in Australia and read by students in Hong Kong. We held a video conversation with Carole direct to the students at school, which was great and the students went away eager to read more of the stories.

Books Go Walkabout is on the journey….. Ancient China and beyond!!

Sue Martin – Books go Walkabout

Monstrous Morals

Image 1These are a great series for dealing head on with all those embarrassing things that children do (ok, adults too)!

The books which are available now at Amazon and in bookshops are Black Toothed Ruth Black and Fartin’ Martin Sidebottom and with titles like that nothing can go wrong!

They are excellently written by Peter Barron and illustrated in a light and attractive way by David Wright.

When Martin is set to appear before the Queen at a performance, only one thing was bound to happen.
Ruth had so many holes in her teeth that even the dentist was in great peril.

Good books to have in the classrooms and at home. Monstrous Morals have a great series here. You can buy through clicking the picture above..

Dolphin Booksellers

Tell Me a Dragon

Image 2‘My dragon is made from the sun and the stars.

Sparkled with stardust,

all night he follows the silver moon path

across the sky….’

An excerpt about the first dragon in the book, ‘Tell Me a Dragon’ by Jackie Morris, published by Frances Lincoln.

At Books Go Walkabout we held an author event in March with Jackie at William Tyndale Primary School, London, as part of their Bookweek adventures.

Jackie had the classes spellbound and intrigued as she talked about the places in West Wales where she writes and gets inspiration. The children all live in the city and a far cry from the wildness of the Welsh coast.

Image 1From a painting Jackie completed at the school, the Year 5’s began to use water colours and explore making a wash of colour.

 

 

 

Lots of fun and lots of learning.

Sue Martin

Books Go Walkabout Dolphin Booksellers

Twitter @booksgo

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Sue, Jackie…after lunch!

World Book Day 2014 Hong Kong and Australia

kellett master cmyk aw

Books Go Walkabout is in Kellett School,Hong Kong during March 2014, celebrating World Book Day with a world book conversation. Based in Cambridge, UK we bring live conversations between authors and children across the world.

We are part of The World Book Day events!

Year 5 students at Kellett School are working on a project about China and Books Go Walkabout is bringing Australian award winning author, Carol Wilkinson via a video link, direct to the classroom.

Carol has written the award wining Dragonkeeper series set in Ancient China during the Han Dynasty. A slave girl, Ping, saves the life of an ageing dragon and escapes her brutal master. Pursued by a ruthless dragon hunter, the girl and the dragon begin an epic journey across China. Dragonkeeper book cover

 

 

 

 

A great start to our events for World Book Day and for extending good books across the world.

Sharing stories, back in time, journeys into China…BGW logoJS

 

 

Dolphin Booksellers – the best in children’s books always on line

The Dragonkeeper Trilogy

Dragonkeeper book coverDragonkeeper by Carole Wilkinson is published by black dog books, an imprint of Walker Books Australia

Dragonkeeper is the first book in The Dragonkeeper Trilogy

The stories are set in Ancient China and as the three books develop over time, the dragonkeepers are set challenges to ensure that the dragons are safe and free from harm.

In a country which has dragons at the heart of its culture there are all sorts of dangers and perils in which the dragons find themselves. They need a dragon keeper, but dragon keepers are born and have special characteristics. To be a true dragonkeeper is a destiny for only a few.

The Dragonkeeper is set in Ancient China during the Han Dynasty.

A slave girl, Ping, saves the life of an ageing dragon and escapes her brutal master. Pursued by a ruthless dragon hunter, the girl and the dragon make an epic journey across China carrying a mysterious stone that must be protected.

It is the story of a young slave girl who believes she is not worthy of a name but finds within herself the strength and courage to make this perilous journey — and do what must be done.

As a story of adventure and courage, this book has it all!
For all those setting out on an adventure in life, from childhood to adulthood, this gives some real insights into challenges, friendships and journeys.

At Books Go Walkabout we are pleased to be bringing this book to the year 5 students at Kellett School in Hong Kong, as part of their studies and literacy programme. We are even more delighted to be bringing Carole Wilkinson direct into their school by live video links to have a conversation and to talk with the children.
We’ll keep you posted and this is just the start of our adventure in Hong Kong.

Sue Martin
Books Go Walkabout

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