Tag archives for England
Posted by BOOK NAME: The White Giraffe
AUTHOR: Lauren St. John
Martine is your average eleven year old girl living in England. But that all changes the night she loses her parents in a house fire. She has no other place to go but her grandmother’s home on a wildlife reserve in South Africa. Now she’s expected to live with this woman who is a stranger to her. Her grandmother turns out to be a kindly lady, but she seems to be hiding something. Martine is especially worried that the kids at her new school won’t accept her and that her traditions will be too different. Fortunately, she meets a boy named Ben with whom she confides her adventures with. He always has a kind ear for listening and helps Martine face challenges that she is intimidated by. Despite all her adjustment troubles, the thing that keeps her motivated is her secret friend, the white giraffe, who is only rumored to exist. The animal lives safely in the reserve, but Martine gets worried when she and her grandmother are finding more and more poacher traps. Do they know of her friend and if so, how can she protect her sacred secret?
The first thing that drew me to this book was the beautifully illustrated cover. The author uses such beautiful descriptive language that it definitely makes the book live up to its cover. I found it compelling, so it was really hard to put down until I got to the end. It has simple black and white illustrations throughout the book too. I recommend this book for almost anyone, but especially if you like adventure books or ones about different countries. This book was fast paced but also had nice sweet slow parts and is a great read for almost everyone.
Posted by BOOK NAME: Tall Story
AUTHOR: Candy Gourlay
This book is about a boy named Bernardo who was very short for much of his childhood and then magically grew to be eight feet tall when he was teenager. When he suddenly grew that tall, the earthquakes mysteriously stopped on the island in the Philippines where he lived with his aunt and uncle. When he was told he could move to England to live with his mother, step-father and half-sister, Andi (who are all pretty short), the people on the island begged him to stay because they were afraid the earthquakes would return with him not there. Bernardo’s sister was both surprised and disturbed by how tall he was. She was an exceptional basketball player, and wouldn’t let her below-average height bother her because she never missed a single shot. Meanwhile, Bernardo could just stand there and tip the ball into the hoop without trying. Life became very hard for Bernardo in school and at home, including his relationship with his sister. He eventually told her the story of how he became so tall and she found it very thrilling. You’ll have to read the book for yourself to find out how he grew so fast.
I liked how the book was written from both Bernardo’s and Andi’s perspectives. Every other chapter was from the other’s perspective, which gave it a lot more voice than if the author hadn’t done this. It was better than just writing it in the third person.
Posted by In 2009, a metal detector enthusiast found a huge Anglo-Saxon treasure hoard in England. It’s the largest collection of gold from this period ever found! Terry Herbert discovered the gold and has worked with a team of archeologists to dig up more than 3,500 different pieces. National Geographic Museum has more than 100 of these shiny objects on display in Washington, D.C.
The exhibition explains the history of the Anglo-Saxons, and explains why the gold may have been buried. In a kids area of the exhibit, you can search for buried treasure with a metal detector, find out how heavy Anglo-Saxon swords and shields were, and make your own Anglo-Saxon helmet. The exhibit will be at the National Geographic Museum through March 4, 2012.
Learn more about the hoard and the exhibit on the National Geographic Events website.
Put together puzzles of some of the objects on display on National Geographic Kids.
Photograph by Robert Clark, National Geographic
Posted by BOOK NAME: The London Eye Mystery
AUTHOR: Siobhan Dowd
Welcome to August’s last book club meeting!
jindo2108, we agree with you! It would be disappointing to get this far and not have Kat and Ted solve the mystery. 2whitie, it’s true that a lot of mysteries have leads earlier in the story. Can anyone think why the author might wait so long to give readers a lead to follow?
We’ll be talking about the end of the book today. Click “See More” to jump into the discussion.
If you haven’t finished the book, stop here!
Read the whole post »
BOOK NAME: The London Eye Mystery
AUTHOR: Siobhan Dowd
Welcome, readers! Ready to talk about The London Eye Mystery? We are too. Let’s get started!
If you’ve read through chapter 27, click “See More” to talk about the book.
If you haven’t caught up, stop here!
BOOK NAME: The London Eye Mystery
AUTHOR: Siobhan Dowd
Welcome to the book club meeting. We’re reading The London Eye Mystery. The mystery is starting to unfold–Ted and Kat’s cousin Salim has gone missing!
If you’ve read through chapter 17, click “See More” to talk about the book.
If you haven’t caught up, stop here!
BOOK NAME: The London Eye Mystery
AUTHOR: Siobhan Dowd
Welcome to August’s first book club meeting! We’ve just started reading our book for this month, The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd.
If you have a copy and you’ve read the first five chapters, click “See More” to talk about your book.
If you haven’t gotten to chapter five yet, stop here!
August starts on Sunday, and you know what the beginning of August means—time to start a new book!
Our next book club pick is The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd. We’ll be reading the first five chapters for Wednesday’s meeting. We can’t wait to get started!
