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I am a nerd! It’s official. I’ve known for a while, but when my Face Book status read ‘My dwarven shaman just reached level 8 *ding*’ I could no longer deny it to the rest of the world. Up until now I’ve shyly admitted that I have nerd-like tendencies, including my taste in men (namely Mr Frog). Gone are the days of my youth when I mocked my nerdy friends for playing such ‘ridiculous’ games.

However, I justify this state of afffairs with the following facts*. Dungeons and Dragons (my game of choice):

1. is an amazing way of bringing people of all ages and backgrounds together
2. develops the imagination
3. is story-telling at its best (though sometimes at its worst)
4. encourages team work
5. develops mental maths skills

So there you have it. You see, D&D is the perfect pass time for people who love spinning a good yarn (and killing dire rats).

And for this reason, we will be hosting many a games evening/afternoon at Chicken and Frog.

*well, strongly held beliefs

Everyone seems to have an opinion on the levels of literacy in our children and young adults. Apparently our schools are failing their pupils left, right and centre. This accusation is nothing new. If you trawl back through the archives there has always been criticism thrown at our schools. All I can say as a teacher in an East London school, with over sixteen years of experience, is that schools are often the scapegoat to deeper rooted problems.

I will concede that there are some teachers out there who aren’t stepping up to their responsibilities in the classroom. And yes, tragically, there are children who ‘slip through the net’ for a number of reasons. Some arrive mid-phase with little or no English and/or schooling; some are unlucky with the teachers they have (an unacceptable situation, which I am hoping the new OFSTED guidelines will help to eradicate), some have learning difficulties which are not supported, some are disaffected and disengaged in their own learning. These are not excuses, they are the facts, plain and simple.

The government, in its infinite wisdom, has resolved to tackle this issue. How? Surely they will be allocating more funds to poorly resourced schools, or ensuring that all schools house a library run by a qualified librarian or committing to high quality library services. No, none of these seemingly logical options have been adopted. Instead they have introduced another test. A test for our year 1 (aged 5-6) pupils, which will gauge their understanding and application of their phonic knowledge.

As a teacher and a parent, I do not object to the premise of the test. It should go a long way to ensuring that our children are systematically taught phonics. I do object to the submission of results to Local Authorities. Not because the data shouldn’t be shared, but because it is flawed. Because, if taught in isolation, phonics will not make you a reader. It will make you a decoder of symbols; someone who can bark at a text. But what of their understanding? What connection is there?

A reader is created through the oral tradition of communities and through the immersion in good books. The more children read, the more they develop as readers. And the more we read to our children, the greater their love of books becomes. Books open their minds to new worlds, they expand vocabulary, making children more articulate and confident in this ever-competitive world we live in. This test of real and ‘pseudo’ words will be an indication of a school’s ability to play the game. If this remains the case, I’m not playing anymore.

I’m sitting here in our front room and looking lovingly at my Alice collection. I have near on 100 editions of Alice in Wonderland, pictures, playing cards, jewellery, a kaleidoscope, even a tattoo. My most prized edition is a Mebel Lucie Atwell c.1910, with coloured plates. What is wrong with me? Just last week at the London Book Fair, I found myself dribbling slightly over American Macgee’s Alice. Do I really need yet another version?

Yes I do. Alice in Wonderland was one of the first ‘big’ books that I owned as a child. The edition I was given was sparsely illustrated, with very small text. It has a dull plain red cover, the glossy crimson dust jacket has long since gone. I tell you I loved that book. I remember immersing myself completely within it’s strangely compelling plot. And I think I love it even more today. It has been read to all three of my children, before they born. Yes, I am one of those odd folk who read to her bump.

Long live my obsession, I highly recommend taking on a book-based passion, it’s what started my love affair with reading.

It’s a tough one isn’t it? We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with images. The programmes we watch, the games we play are built up around sophisticated graphics. And for the younger generation, this is the norm. Gone are the days of accepting poor quality blocky graphics on a computer screen. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s called progress. Even I, who am not a fan of computer games, can not help but be impressed with the latest offerings from the games designers. But, is it enough? If we just watch, if we simply accept the images that are chosen for us, what do we gain from the experience?

I’m not suggesting that entertainment is a bad thing, we all need some down time. What I do feel, most strongly though, is that the experience of passively watching a film is far surpassed by the experience of creating those images for yourself. Our two eldest have gone to watch ‘The Hunger Games’ this afternoon. I have no qualms about the violence; it’s part of the plot, rather than gratuitous for the sake of shock factor. That’s a whole other debate which I know has sparked some conflicting views over the past few weeks since the film’s release. What bothers me is that neither of the girls have read the whole book yet, which means that it will be the images of the film maker which will be imprinted on their brains. When they do go on to complete their reading of the trilogy, they won’t be able to help but see the faces of Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth as the story unfolds.

My question is, doesn’t that take away from the joy of a good read? I don’t want to be dictated to, I want to be able to unpick the author’s words and make my own choices about the landscape which unfolds before me. Read first, then go and see the film, once you have allowed your mind’s eye to fill in the purposeful gaps left by the author.  My version of a character is bound to differ greatly from someone else’s and that’s what makes the reading of a story so unique, so personal.

As you know, we are now well on our way to starting up our tremendous bookshop. I’ll admit that before we started this process, I was rather naive about rent negotiation and the drawing up of contracts. We have our own house and I remember only too well what I lovingly refer to as ‘the screaming down the phone phase’ of the proceedings. Nervous parents edging away from me in the playground as I explained that we needed to exchange immediately if not sooner. Oh, memories. If it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger, right? However, I just assumed that the process for beginning a business would not be quite so traumatic.

I don’t do this often, so make a note of the date, because I will admit that I was wrong. Very wrong. We have been in negotiations for the property of our desire for four months and have only just reached the point where ‘Heads of Terms’* have been drawn up. For those of you in the know, it probably doesn’t seem too long, but when you consider that the said property has been vacant for nearly seven years, it all seems a bit bizarre.

Why aren’t the landlords biting our hands off (not literally of course, I like my hands)? I’m not complaining. Not because I haven’t got anything to complain about, it’s just a bit pointless to be fair. And, to the landlords’ credit, they are carrying out a lot of the work for us, so we can move in and make it look groovy, without worrying about the cost of flooring etc.

What I would say is, if you are considering setting out on such a venture, be wary of time frames and be prepared for the fact that they have a nasty habit of shifting along the calendar without your knowledge. For us, our saviour has been a bit of blind faith and a truly brilliant agent who has kept us informed every step of the way. Now that contracts are being drawn up, I can honestly say that it has been worth the wait. We have the shop of our dreams in our line of vision and are one step closer to making ‘Chicken and Frog Bookshop’ a reality for the people of sunny Brentwood in Essex.

Now, who can we find to cut the ribbon on our opening day… *Heads of Terms are the pre-curser document to the final contract between tenant and landlord.

The school that I am currently working in has been chosen to take part in the Carnegie/Greenaway Shadowing Scheme. For those of you who may not know what it is (I didn’t until a month or so ago), it’s essentially a book club for selected children, who are given the opportunity to read some beautifully written, hand-picked books. These books have been nominated for the said Carnegie/Greenaway Children’s Book Award and our children will be given a voice to decide upon the winners of this prestigious award.

The children involved will meet once a week with me, to read and discuss a given novel. These sessions will be video recorded, to provide evidence of how the scheme is working and to help plan future activities. In addition, the group will have a webpage on a hosted site, where they will be asked to blog about the activities of the reading group. This is such an amazing opportunity! I work in the heart of East London, so for many of these children, far reaching opportunities are not always easy to come by.

Just before the Easter break we met up so that the children could select their first book of choice. Over the coming weeks, they will all have the chance to read any title from the books provided. And let me tell you, the list is exceptional, including Patrick Ness’ ‘A Monster Calls’, David Almond’s ‘My Name is Mina’ and Sonia Hartnett’s ‘The Midnight Zoo’.

Today was the first time we met to discuss the books. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of the children’s response. I don’t want this to be adult led; it’s driven by the children, so it’s a gamble. What if they just say nothing? What if they forget to read their book? Within ten seconds (I’m not exaggerating here), all of my concerns melted away. The group spoke with passion and clarity about their reading. They got to grips with the characters, they had thought about who would enjoy reading the book next. It was one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences that I have had as a teacher in the past sixteen years.

We plan to share the titles for younger readers with our Reception and Year 1 pupils, with the reading group taking on the adult role as reader, gauging responses to text and illustration. As with the list of titles for our older readers, the quality for younger children is just as high, including Emily Gravett’s ‘Wolf Won’t Bite!’ and Petr Horáček’s ‘Puffin Peter’ amongst the delicious collection.

If you would like to find out more about the shortlists or maybe even get involved, there is a website with all of the info you will need:

http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/shadowingsite/

What constitutes a good bedtime read? Well, it depends on the age, the mood, the level of sleepiness, but in this instance I’m thinking about a bedtime story for younger children.

Up until now, Mr Frog and I have always favoured a picture book, with a gentle rhythm, lovingly illustrated and seemingly designed to invoke calm upon our brood. The phrase ‘sleep is boring’ is often heard in our house, so the bedtime routine needs to be a cunning mix of parental love, peaceful thoughts and a distinction between story time and lights out!

However, in the past week or so, we have discovered the joys of poetry. We have always read poems to our children and encouraged them to read books of verse for themselves, but not used them as a tool to induce sleep. I have to say it’s been wonderful. Max chooses the book, Mr Frog picks out three or four poems and let the reading commence.

It’s been a really lovely experience and I’m not actually sure why we have never done it before. After all, we used to sing to the children all of the time, until they begged us to stop in fact. I have one poignant memory of Alice simply saying ‘Oh Mummy, don’t’ and looking rather perturbed by my dulcet tones…I digress. The point is, poems are awesome. They don’t have to be specifically for children, they just need to speak to our children on some level.

If you could go back to your childhood, what would your bedtime book of choice be?

What an exciting day it’s been in the world of Chicken and Frog! Although we went to the London Book Fair primarily to meet publishers and the like, we also had the opportunity to meet authors. Sadly we missed Patrick Ness today (boo), but we did manage to be in the audience for the interview between Lindsay Mackie (English PEN’s Readers and Writers Committee) and the rather fantastic Anthony Horowitz. I know, THE Anthony Horowitz!

It was a very relaxed set up, which meant that the audience felt a real connection with Horowitz. The questions ranged from the differences between writing for children and adults, libraries, schools, violence in children’s fiction and the inspiring work that Horowitz takes part in when he visits young offenders in prison. When asked about the latter, Horowitz replied that ‘in a very very dark tunnel [reading] is a spark of light.’

The importance of libraries, in particular school libraries, came up. He believes wholeheartedly that the school library saved his life, that books saved him when he was at school. Although an advocate of e-books, he said ‘I don’t believe the book is finished…I think they’re with us for a long time.’ That was probably a highlight for me! I think there was an audible smile and nod response from the audience. The fact that Horowitz writes his first draft in fountain pen, on real paper was also good to hear. Of course, final drafts are submitted via a laptop, but how wonderful to hear that the physicality of writing lives on.

At one point Horowitz suggested that it may be ‘time for new younger talent’ to come to the fore. I think that it’s fair to say that no-one agreed with that statement. He went on to say that he is ‘writing for a very visual generation…everything is image…you have to write visually, as if you’re writing a film.’ In no way is this prolific writer out of touch with the demands of the next generation of young readers.

I look forward with great anticipation to whatever Anthony Horowitz has to offer next, whether it be a screenplay, a novel, a short story or a play-script…and I am a very grateful chicken for seeing and hearing the man himself today!

 

Today was the final day of the LBF 2012 and our very first time visiting. It was a great opportunity for us to get to grips with some of the nitty gritty of bookselling, as well as a chance to do a bit of networking with publishers.

The experience was invaluable, as it really helped to cement some of our ideas and answered a lot of our questions. The only problem is that we need to build an extension to house the catalogues and fab proof books that we were plied with!

We now have contacts to push our dreams even further into the realms of reality, including wonderful people from Bounce and Letterland who are so passionate about what they do, that you can’t help but be swept along by their waves of enthusiasm.

Our next daunting step is to make choices about the titles we want to offer at Chicken and Frog, but that’s a whole other blog entry…

After nearly a whole day of waiting, our middle radish finally got to take a look around the Pottermore site. She was really looking forward to it. I could tell because she managed to get dressed in about a minute, which in this house is a record. Off she rushed to log in and all seemed well. We heard a gleeful ‘Yes!’ as she was assigned to Gryffindor; I think it would have all been over if any other House had been allocated. But, within an hour she reached a disappointing verdict. The positives are that it is free, you can chat with people in your House and you ‘get to take cool quizzes’, but on the negative ‘the games seem a bit pointless because the instructions aren’t clear’ and the interaction was limited.

I had a quick look myself (for research purposes of course!) and unfortunately, I have to agree. Although the site has great potential and looks rather wonderful, it is quite dull in reality. Maybe some of the glitches will be ironed out over time, but for now, in the opinion of our radish, Pottermore does not live up to the hype. For a book loving parent, there is a plus-side of this disappointment and that is that the books hold more appeal, which will result in less screen time. As an advocate of reading over playing computer games, for me at least, this isn’t such a bad thing.

As with everything, opinions will differ greatly, so I leave you to decide for yourselves. Is Pottermore a hit or a miss?