Sunday Summary 1st June- Meeting Elys Dolan and Half Term Happenings

Hello book loving friends!

Today we thought we would share our book related musings for the week. This week has been half term for the landlady whilst I have been working hard in the Hamster Library sharing books with all the hamster children on their half term too! The landlady has had a lovely week and is ready to go back to school tomorrow with some new books to share with her class!

Carry on reading to find out all about this naughty fox!

Books Read

Blogs- A lot of reading time has been taken up with finding fantastic Twitter people and blogs to follow so blog reading has to be top of the list! Maybe next week we should share some of our favourite blog posts from the week on our 'Sunday Summary.'
- Harry the Poisonous Centipede by Lynne Reid Banks, published by HarperCollins Children's Books. We loved the adventures of Harry the Centipede and learnt loads about centipedes at the same time! Those naughty hoo-mins though!
- The Mischievians by William Joyce. Kelly reviewed it here so go read her thoughts if you haven't already!
- Nuts in Space by Elys Dolan. Absolutely fab and we will be doing a review soon. See some more Elys Dolan news below!
- Teaching Mathematics Creatively by Linda Pound and Trisha Lee. Half way through.
- Just started Pea's Book of Best Friends by Susie Day. So far really enjoying it!

Book News

The wonderful Heffers Children's Department hosted the author and illustrator Elys Dolan to launch her new book 'Nuts in Space.' The class had really enjoyed 'Weasels' when we read it earlier in the year so we couldn't turn down a chance to go and see Elys Dolan read 'Nuts in Space'. Elys started by reading from the book and there were lots of giggles from the adults as well as the children! Then we were impressed with Dolan drawing some characters from the book (see picture above). My favourite had to be fox! The young audience were fantastic with reminding Elys Dolan of things that needed to be put on the crew's uniform.

Afterwards there was amazing cake and I cannot remember the name of the person who made them but it was amazing! Kelly also had the honour of chatting to the aunt of Elys Dolan who was lovely and then I managed to meet Elys herself. As always with these events we came away inspired and eager to share the new book with the class and those at the Hamster Library!

How was your book reading week? Any good reads to share? Have you read any of our reads from the week? If so please leave a comment below!

Sebastian and Kelly

The Mischievians by William Joyce

Today I would like to hand you over to my landlady who has recently read a super picture book that she really wanted to share with all our book loving friends. She was on a regular jaunt to Heffers and whilst wandering around the Children's department she stumbled across 'The Mischievians' by William Joyce. Over to you Kelly!

Sebastian Hamster

How could I resist faces like this on the front of a book? As someone who often has questions like 'Where is my other sock?' and 'Where is the homework my class were supposed to be handing in?' this book finally helps me understand what the problem has been all these years. The Mischievians! The Mishievians are an ancient race of global mischief makers who do all the things that embarrass us. Ah, so they are responsible for making my eyes water when conducting meetings with parents at school? They are the ones who cause me to be clumsy and stub my toes several times a day? I see!

This is a fantastic picture book that gives the reader all the answers to those key questions in life. Our two inquisitive children find themselves sucked into the laboratory of Dr. Zooper who claims he has a book that will answer all the questions the children have. What follows is a lively question and answer compilation that clearly focuses on questions children will have for example 'Are Mischievians responsible for belly button lint?' and 'Where do blisters come from?' Apparently that is the work of Mista Blista.

I love that the line of questioning follows a child's natural train of thought and it reminded me of several super children I teach. I also like the extra little touches in the book. As I was reading I thought I had spotted some typos with letters missing from the text but then, as you explore the pages more thoroughly, you notice the little Mischievians' hand at the side of the page with a stolen letter! The last page of the book also has a page for children to write their own Mischievian Top Secret Report. I think this would be a perfect book to lead children in creating their own Mischievians to explain every day phenomena like why do keys mysteriously disappear when you are on your way out?

For more sneak peeks at the book check out this video!



The Mischievians Picture Book Trailer from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo.

Have you read The Mischievians? Let us know in the comments below!

Kelly and Sebastian

Hello!

Hello my name is Sebastian Hamster and I am chief librarian at the Hamster Library. My landlady (she calls herself my owner, pah!) is a primary school teacher who adores books and may occasionally contribute to this blog. If I let her. I guess she does read some good books and loves sharing them so I might let her occasionally. In fact just today she read 'The Mischievians' by William Joyce and absolutely loved it. She has been begging me to let her share it so I have relented, expect a review in a day or so. Anyway I have a few shelves to tidy and books to read so I shall see you soon!