The Liberators at Cranleigh Library - Goodnight Mr Tom by Michele Magorian

The Liberators read Goodnight Mr Tom by Michele Magorian

Britain is on the brink of war when young William Beech is sent to live with Tom Oakley in the village of Little Weirwold. Tom is a sad, reclusive widower who slowly accepts the idea of having the boy live with him. Tom soon discovers William has been a victim of child abuse and greatly needs his love and care.  Slowly, the frightened boy accepts Tom’s unconditional love and settles happily into life in the village.  Then a letter arrives from William’s mother calling him back to London.

A book about love and loss. 1/3 of us liked the book, 1/3 weren’t sure, and 1/3 didn’t like it at all.

We spent time making entries on our own Liberator’s Blog and made some plans for future book group meetings.

Chatterbooks at Cranleigh Library - Flour Babies by Anne Fine

This month our Chatterbooks Group read Flour Babies by Anne Fine.  About half thought it was good and would recommend it, and the other half didn’t like it at all.

4C.s Science project is Flour Babies - six-pound bags of flour that must be cared for day and night for three weeks as if it were a real baby. It must never be left unattended, it must be kept clean and dry, and checked for evidence of casual neglect or maltreatment. 

Robin kicks his flour baby into the canal and it sinks without trace. Sajid offers a reliable, if expensive, babysitting service.  Simon begins to understand just how tough it is to constantly care for a baby.  He's too young to be a Dad.

Caterham Chatterbooks #5

For our February meeting, we had read 'In A Glass Grimmly' by Adam Gidwitz. The book retold some famous fairytales with a bit of a twist, with the main characters being Jack and Jill of 'falling down a hill' fame.

This book had mixed reactions - some members found it funny, some did not finish it because they didn't enjoy it, but we all agreed that it was very gruesome!

For our activity we made peg people using some fabric and ribbon which we have in our craft stocks. Everyone chose a fictional character to base their peg person on. Unfortunately the glue would not hold so a lot of our peg people because imprisoned by Sellotape!

Next month we are reading 'Awful Auntie' by David Walliams!

Caterham Chatterbooks #4

Continuing on from last month, we read another as yet unpublished book - this time it was 'The 13-Story Treehouse' by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton.

We really enjoyed this book, with 5 of the 8 members awarding it 10 out of 10! We recommend it to those who enjoy humourous books such as Roald Dahl, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, or Fizzlebert Stump.

As our activity, we designed our own rooms to go on the Caterham Chatterbooks treehouse - unfortunately there are no close up pictures of the rooms because we were all so excited about being able to put anything in our dream room, that no one finished their drawings as we were all too busy chatting!

We had a great time reading and reviewing these books for The Reading Agency and highly recommend them both (here is the other blogpost).

For our February meeting, we had read 'In A Glass Grimmly' by Adam Gidwitz, look out for that post!

STELLA'S STORY  by Sarah Hawkins.

This is the story of a stray dog who breaks a leg and who is taken to Dogs Home to have the leg mended. It is a lovely story with a happy ending as the dog is finally adopted.

SORROWLINE by Neil Bushnell.

This story is about a boy who can walk back in time through gravestones. It was so good that I have ordered the next book in the series and can't wait until it arrives!

We are now reading  GRK and the Hot Dog Trail by Joshua Doder

and we are excitedly reading through the shortlisted  books for the

SURREY LIBRARIES' CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD

January 2015 Chatterbooks meeting at Egham Library

Here are some of our thoughts about our own choice books this month.

THE LOTTIE PROJECT by Jacqueline Wilson.

I really enjoyed this book and have read lots of books by Jacqueline Wilson which have all been great. The story fit in with our project at school about the Victorians. I liked the way in which the chapters are split into present day school life and Victorian school life.

 

KAYMON the GORGON HOUND by Adam Blade.

I have read a lot of the Beast Quest series and loved this book. I chose it because the cover looked exciting. The main character never dies but always completes his mission and I am always pleased when he does. Kaymon the beast has a diamond on his head which makes him able to split into three.
I would recommend the Beast Quest series.They are great and exciting books to read.

THE DEMON DENTIST by David Walliams.

This dentist is quit scary. She is dressed all in white and has white hair and a white cat and I found the mine where she kept children's teeth a bit frightening.
I loved the chase and when the toothpaste damages the bridge and makes the water bubble. The most disgusting thing in this book is when Winnie (the social worker) wears a bikini.
I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who has never been to the dentist before!

Winners! - Addlestone Library

Back in December we received an email about a competition being run by The Reading Agency and Bloomsbury Publishers. The competition was for Chatterbook Groups to create an imaginary friend and the winning group would win a visit by A.F Harrold and Emily Gravett, the author and illustrator of The Imaginary.

Just this week we have received an email from The Reading Agency informing us that Addlestone Library's Chatterbooks group's entry of their imaginary friend "Frilly Lilly" won!

Here is a picture of the group with their winning entry: 

As you can see Frilly Lilly is very individual! Here is a description of her:

Frilly Lilly

Frilly Lilly is our imaginary friend,

she has a sister called Dozy Rozie.

As you can see she wears frilly pants on her head

but she also has a multi-coloured moustache and a tattoo.

Although her name is actually Frilly Lilly we sometimes call her Wonky Lilly

because she can only afford one shoe.

Just like us she loves to read,

her favourite book is Pants by Giles Andreae and Nick Sharratt.

Frilly Lilly loves to eat everything

but most of all magic beans.

When she gets in trouble the blonde stripes in her hair

will glow brightly so that no one can see her.

Although Frilly Lilly is imaginary

we know that she really exists,

and for this we are really glad

because she is our very best of friend!

We are very excited about our visit from A.F Harrold and Emily Gravett! Watch this space to find out how it goes :)