What makes a good hostel?

By the time I head home I will have stayed in 30 Aussie backpackers so I'm getting to know how they can score points on the hostelling scale. All of the items on the list are there for a reason, even if they seem obvious. I've stayed in some amazing hostels that have close to all of these things and others that haven't even met the essentials. My favourite hostels have been clean, spacious, had plenty of space both in the kitchen and in the bedrooms, have benches and hooks in the shower cubicles and a light over each bed. In others I've had food stolen (by humans and mice!), rotting shower doors, banged my head on the bunk above, had nowhere to keep my clothes dry while I shower in a cubicle that doesn't lock and had to lock the bedroom door behind drunken room mates!  I've timed my dinner so the kitchen was quiet, been frustrated when the lock in the best shower doesn't work and slyly unplugged other chargers to get mine in.  Equally I've been into hostels that have amazing free food shelves, roof tops that overlook Sydney Harbour, plug sockets in the lockers and free Easter egg hunts!

So here's my list of what I look for in a good hostel. 

Requisites

All areas are clean, well maintained, and in working order. 

In the bedrooms

Doors that lock automatically when they close

Plug sockets

Lockable cupboards (used with your own padlock)

In the bathrooms

Locks on the shower cubicles

In the kitchen

Space to put dry food

Space to put refrigerated food

Cooking utensils, pots, pans, crockery, cutlery

Old, unrequired food thrown out regularly

To make your stay comfortable

In the bedrooms 

Are there enough plug sockets for one per person?

Are there beside lights for each bed?

Is there accessible space for everyone to keep their luggage? (Is the room big enough for the number of beds and does it have an appropriate layout?)

Is the space between the two bunks enough to be able to sit on the bottom bunk without ducking your head?

Even better:

Does each bed has a plug socket next to it?

Does each locker has a plug socket?

In the bathrooms

Is there a seperate space to the shower to keep clothes?

Does each shower cubicle have pegs?

Does each shower cubicle have a bench?

Is there a shower curtain (even better a shower door) between the shower and dressing area? Does it reach the floor?

In the kitchen

Is there enough space for everyone (who wishes to) to easily store dry goods?

Is there enough space for everyone (who wishes to) to easily store food in the fridge?

Are there enough dry tea towels?

Do all of the hobs work?

Is there space to eat your dinner at a table?

Are dirty dishes cleared away?

BBC's Big Read

In April 2003 the BBC's Big Read began the search for the nation's best-loved novel, and we asked you to nominate your favourite books.
Below are all the results from number 1 to 100 in numerical order!

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman 29/05/15
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling READ PRE-BLOG
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis READ PRE-BLOG
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling READ PRE-BLOG
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling READ PRE-BLOG
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling READ PRE-BLOG
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll READ PRE-BLOG
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson READ PRE-BLOG
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl READ PRE-BLOG
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian READ PRE-BLOG
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher

51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck READ PRE-BLOG
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl READ PRE-BLOG
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman READ PRE-BLOG
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden READ PRE-BLOG
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton 08/05/15
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl READ PRE-BLOG
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding READ PRE-BLOG
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson READ PRE-BLOG
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl READ PRE-BLOG
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar 16/04/15
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie 

Australian to English translations

I'd come across some of these translations when I've travelled previously and there had been Aussies/Kiwis on the tour but several I've only come across by living in Australia. 

Zucchini = Courgette

Capsicum = Pepper (as in the vegetable)

Lollies = Sweets

Doona = Duvet

Thongs = flip flops

Pants = trousers

Undies = pants

Poppers = Cartons (as in cartons of juice)

Fairy floss = Candy floss

Singlet = vest/vest top

Flying fox = zip wire

Are you a boy or a girl? The need for relentless labelling.

Labels. Why do we find it necessary to attach them to people and often so hastily and unnecessarily? The other day I was with a couple of friends amongst a bigger group encompassing several people I didn't know. Casually I nodded to one guy and asked 'who's he?' 'Oh, that's Simon, he's gay,' came the response. Beyond his name, was that the most important thing I needed to know about him? With an overtly camp demenour, perhaps it was but I would rather have heard 'Oh, that's Simon, he's a bit of a dickhead,' or 'Oh, that's Simon, he's cool.' Then it occurred to me, I wonder if the same is said about me when I'm out of earshot. I certainly hope people have something far more interesting to say about me behind my back!

So why is it that human nature dictates that we must pigeon hole people based on their gender, sexual preference, (dis)ability, nationality,  qualifications, religion... The list is endless. Is it worse that we then make assumptions based on which pigeon hole people belong in or indeed feel uncomfortable if we cannot identify which label to apply to people?

Ash Beckham is a really cool TedX speaker (interestingly I found it really hard not to add labels myself there rather than just present a name and a talent) who speaks openly about 'coming out of your closest' which she uses as a cover all phrase for hard conversations. This story, which forms part of several of her talks, I've played over and over again. 

'Several years ago, I was working at the South Side Walnut Cafe, a local diner in town, and during my time there I would go through phases of militant lesbian intensity:not shaving my armpits, quoting Ani DiFranco lyrics as gospel. And depending on the bagginess of my cargo shorts and how recently I had shaved my head, the question would often be sprung on me,usually by a little kid:

"Um, are you a boy or are you a girl?"

And there would be an awkward silence at the table. I'd clench my jaw a little tighter,hold my coffee pot with a little more vengeance. The dad would awkwardly shuffle his newspaper and the mom would shoot a chilling stare at her kid. But I would say nothing, and I would seethe inside. And it got to the point where every time I walked up to a table that had a kid anywhere between three and 10 years old, I was ready to fight. (Laughter) And that is a terrible feeling. So I promised myself, the next time, I would say something. I would have that hard conversation.

So within a matter of weeks, it happens again.

"Are you a boy or are you a girl?"

Familiar silence, but this time I'm ready, and I am about to go all Women's Studies 101on this table. (Laughter) I've got my Betty Friedan quotes. I've got my Gloria Steinem quotes. I've even got this little bit from "Vagina Monologues" I'm going to do. So I take a deep breath and I look down and staring back at me is a four-year-old girl in a pink dress, not a challenge to a feminist duel, just a kid with a question: "Are you a boy or are you a girl?"

So I take another deep breath, squat down to next to her, and say, "Hey, I know it's kind of confusing. My hair is short like a boy's,and I wear boy's clothes, but I'm a girl, and you know how sometimes you like to wear a pink dress, and sometimes you like to wear your comfy jammies? Well, I'm more of a comfy jammies kind of girl."

And this kid looks me dead in the eye,without missing a beat, and says, "My favorite pajamas are purple with fish. Can I get a pancake, please?" (Laughter) And that was it. Just, "Oh, okay. You're a girl. How about that pancake?"

It was the easiest hard conversation I have ever had. And why? Because Pancake Girl and I, we were both real with each other.'1

Even as children we are keen to apply boy/girl labels on people and adults are insistent on applying them to toys. Why is it necessary to have pink and blue variations of the same toy? To have boy's sections and girl's sections in Toys 'r' Us? To specify whether you want a male or female toy with your Happy Meal? Why can't children just play?

Even when I go to the hairdressers I have to pay women's prices for what is essentially a men's haircut (why does short and spiky denote a 'men's' haircut anyway!) which is what prompted me to write this post in the first place. The last time I got a haircut I paid the $25 'men's' price rather than the $30 'women's' price, interestingly without a word uttered from either party. Why can't we always pay for a hair style rather than our perceived gender?  

I read an interesting article about labelling gender from an early age and the discomfort that this can bring for many children. 

'Hearing that the school would get a new uniform brought a new low. But the head and governors were worried about the arrival of a new academy down the road. So not only were our pupils’ perfectly adequate black blazers now to be replaced by expensively piped-and-pinstriped ones, lest we get “left behind” in the school fashion wars, but we were also informed there would be gender-specific ties – red for boys, orange for girls.

This was five years ago, but I still remember feeling bewildered. In a society that already puts too many arbitrary divisions between people, why create another by making our kids wear different-coloured strips of material?' 2

She then continues; 'Two stories recently reminded me of that letter. First, the case of Maria Muniz, a transgender teenager in Brazil, who was fined by school officials for wearing a skirt. In protest, all her classmates wore skirts – male and female – until the school overturned the decision. 

And parents have complained after a primary school in East Sussex introduced “gender neutral” toilets. This is not actually all that unusual. Many new schools are now built with private toilet cubicles that open on to a corridor where the washbasins are lined against the wall.

Nevertheless, the parents said they were concerned that their children would feel “uncomfortable” using toilets occupied at different times by people of the opposite sex – somewhat forgetting that this happens in almost every household in the country. And they apparently worry about bullying, as if girls and boys have always treated each other perfectly in their same-sex washrooms over the years.'2

'In 2000, New York University researchers asked mothers to put their 11-month-old children on to a sloped surface and set the incline to the level they thought their child could reach. Mothers consistently under-estimated the incline that girls could cope with, and set the bar too high for boys.

Before they have even reached the age of one, then, we can see that children are being set different aspirations based on false assumptions about their gender. “Skirts versus shorts” is simply the dress code embodiment of this difference.

Uniforms should do what their name suggests: unify students, instead of dividing them. Doing so won’t suddenly resolve all gender disparity, but it would be a reminder that – in schools, at least – we are all expected to set our intellectual incline at the same level.

It would also reduce the endless list of awkward choices faced by people who, for whatever reason, find gender identification difficult. Personally, I’ve never once thought about which toilet I ought to go into. But I grew up with someone who did – someone who couldn’t play on the sports teams they wanted to, or be in the changing room they felt they belonged in. Making a decision about what tie they should wear would have been torture; likely involving letters from parents, and a sit-down meeting with senior leaders, and lots of “but I have a special exception” pleading – all of which is embarrassing enough for any teenager and even more so for someone already marked out as “different” for intractable reasons.' 2

So why where does this inherent need to categorise people come from and will there ever be a time when we can just accept people for being wholly unique, individual and themselves? 

1 http://www.ted.com/talks/ash_beckham_we_re_all_hiding_something_let_s_find_the_courage_to_open_up/transcript?language=en accessed 28/12/14

2 http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/oct/21/lets-scrap-gender-divide-school-uniforms accessed 28/12/14

'If's 'but's and 'it could've been me's - the Sydney Seige

There are often times in life when you wonder how life would be different if something had happened or if you'd made a different choice but life takes a different course and you end up elsewhere. Usually these thoughts are inconsequential, life is still good, just different of unexpected. 

These reflections have never had the same impact as they did on 16th December 2014, the day of the Sydney Siege. At 9:45am local time, police were called to the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Martin Place; up to 50 hostages were being held inside by a bandana-wearing gunman. As the news developed, spine-tingling images were released of terrified victims escaping and after a 16 hour siege, two brave hostages were killed along with the gunman. Those innocent victims who lost their lives were hailed heroes as they were shot protecting other hostages including a pregnant lady.

I could've been there. It could've been me escaping. Yes, there are still lots of 'if's and 'but's involved. If I'd got one of the many jobs I'd applied for I would've still been in Sydney but I didn't. If I'd had a day off I could've been in the cafe but I wasn't. But what makes these 'if's and 'but's more chilling are the fact that I'd spent time in that cafe, people went through a horrific ordeal, some didn't survive.  It genuinely could've been me. 

The following day Martin Place was filled with flowers. The public poured into the area to pay tribute to those held up in the siege. 

 

When I returned to Sydney a week later I visited Martin Square. The majority of floral tributes had been removed but seeing those remaining and being in the area that the horrendous images had been recorded is indescribable.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I shed a few tears. 

Life is often inexplicable but we should always be thankful for the 'if's and 'but's and make the most of, and make positive, the opportunities and situations we are faced with - whether intentional or unexpected. 

The JCB song

So I'm sitting in Jamie's Italian in Brisbane. Already a coincidence as occurred as soon as I walked in when the girl showing to my seat asked if I'd been before. When I replied 'Not to this one but another one' she asked 'one in the UK?'  As I nodded she responded 'The Birmingham one?' Out of all the Jamie's Italians on the other side if the world, she'd picked the correct one!  

Now I've been here over an hour and I've been happily reading my book, on a couple of occasions, momentarily thinking I like the song choice but on the whole I've been absorbed in my book. I've just paid my bill and was finishing my current chapter when the JCB song came on. If you've not heard it, it was Christmas number 1 in the UK in 2005 and the lead singer is Luke Concanon. As a teenager I spent a New Year's Eve and a good friend Marcy's and her nephew, Luke came a sang. Now all these years later I hear his hit in a restaurant on the other side of the world! Needless to say I couldn't concentrate on my book while the song played!

The Book Trust's top 100 children's books

While I was compiling my bucketlist, I kept thinking about the IMDB's Top 250 list. The users of the Internet Movie Database vote for their top 250 films and Jen, who was on my trip from Alice Springs to Melbourne, had attempted to watch them all. I thought this was impressive and I often find myself saying 'There are all sorts of films that I 'should've' seen but haven't'. I thought that perhaps I should add the viewing of the IMDB Top 250 to my bucketlist but even looking at the top 10, I could see myself finding this a real chore and a waste of time - the complete antithesis of the ethos of a bucketlist.

But still I wanted to add something similar so I searched for Top 100 books. Google brought up the Book Trust's Top 100 Children's Books. I'd heard of the great work of the Book Trust from giving their annual book tokens at school and they have:

'a vision of a society where nobody misses out on the life-changing benefits that reading can bring.'

Scrolling through the list I found I'd already completed some of the books, several of the list I already have on my bookshelf but am yet to read and further books I'm keen to experience. So here's the list I decided to add to my bucketlist. I've noted the books I'm sure I've already completed pre-list and the rest I'll sign off as I complete them. 

The list is split into 4 sections, mirroring the original list.  Each section relates to a different age group - 0 - 5 years, 6 - 8 years, 9 - 11 years and 12 - 14 years.

✓ Each peach pear plum Janet and Allan Ahlberg 10/01/15

✓ The Jolly postman and other people's letters Janet and Allan Ahlberg PRE-LIST

✓ The Snowman Raymond Briggs 27/11/14

✓ Gorilla Anthony Browne 09/01/15

✓ Would you rather? John Burningham 28/11/14

✓ The Very Hungry Catterpillar Eric Carle PRE-LIST

✓ I Will Not Ever Eat a Tomato Lauren Child 20/04/15

✓ Princess Smartypants Babette Cole 17/06/15

 ✓ Hairy McLary From Donaldson's Dairy Lynley Dodd 09/01/15

 ✓ Room on the Broom Julia Donaldson and Avel Scheffler PRE-LIST

✓ Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury 17/6/15

✓ Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears Emily Gravett 09/01/15

Where's Spot? Eric Hill

✓ Dogger Shirley Hughes 27/11/14

✓ Lost and Found Oliver Jeffers 17/06/15

✓ The Tiger Who Came to Tea Judith Kerr PRE-LIST

✓ I Want My Hat Back Jon Klassen 27/11/14

✓ Not Now Bernard David McKee PRE-LIST

✓ Meg and Mog Helen Nicholl and Jan Pienkowski 09/01/15

✓ We're Going on a Bear Hunt Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury PRE-LIST

✓ I Want My Potty Tony Ross 09/01/15

✓ Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak PRE-LIST

✓ The Cat in the Hat Dr Seuss 29/11/14

✓ The Elephant in the Bad Baby Elfrida Vipont and Raymond Briggs 27/11/14

✓ The Enchanted Wood Enid Blyton 30/03/15

✓ Five on Treaure Island Enid Blyton 09/01/15

A Bear Called Paddington Michael Bond

The Milly-Molly-Mandy Story Joyce Lankaster Brisley

✓ Flat Stanley Jeff Brown PRE-LIST

Clarice Bean, That's Me Lauren Child

✓ That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown Cressida Cowell 06/05/15

✓ The BFG Roald Dahl PRE-LIST

The Story of Babar Jean De Brunhoff

My Naughty Little Sister Dorothy Edwards

✓ Asterix the Gaul René Goscinny 11/01/15

Amazing Grace Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch

Finn Family Moomintroll Tove Jansson

The Queen's Nose Dick King-Smith

The Sheep Pig Dick King-Smith

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney

Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren

Winnie the Pooh A A Milne

✓ The Worst Witch Jill Murphy PRE-LIST

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs Jon Scieska and Lane Smith

Horrid Henry Francessca Simon and Tony Ross

✓ The Arrival Shaun Tan

✓ Charlotte's Web E B White PRE-LIST

Little House in the Big Wood Laura Ingalls Wilder

✓ Mister Magnolia Quentin Blake PRE-LIST

Tilly's Promise Linda Newbury

✓ The Wolves of Willoughby Chase Joan Aiken PRE-LIST

Skellig David Almond

Carrie's War Nina Bawden

Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer

Millions Frank Cotterill Boyce

✓ The Witches Roald Dahl PRE-LIST

✓ Matilda Roald Dahl PRE-LIST

Flour Babies Anne Fine

✓ Once Morris Gleitzman 30/11/14

The Adventures of Tintin Hergé

✓ Journey to the River Sea Eva Ibbotson PRE-LIST

✓ Stig of the Dump Clive King PRE-LIST

✓ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C S Lewis PRE-LIST

✓ Goodnight Mr Tom Michelle Magorian PRE-LIST

Private Peaceful Michael Morpurgo

A Monster Calls Patrick Ness

The Borrowers Mary Norton

✓ Truckers Terry Pratchett

Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome

✓ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone J K Rowling PRE-LIST

✓ Holes Louis Sacher 16/04/15

The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Expery

Ballet Shoes Noël Streatfeild

The Hobbit J R R Tolkein

✓ The Story of Tracy Beaker Jaqueline Wilson PRE-LIST

Watership Down Richard Adams

✓ Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman PRE-LIST

✓ Forever Judy Blume 19/04/15

✓ The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas John Boyne 13/07/15

Junk Melvin Burgess

Looking for JJ Anne Cassidy

✓ The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins PRE-LIST

The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman

Maggot Moon Sally Gardner 

The Owl Service Alan Garner

Coram Boy Jamila Gavin

✓ The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon PRE-LIST

Storm Breaker Anthony Horowitz

The Kite Rider Geraldine McCaughrean

The Knife of Never Letting Go Patrick Ness

Life: An Exploded Diagram Mal Peet

✓ Northern Lights Philip Pullman 29/05/15

The Ruby in the Smoke Philip Pullman

Witch Child Celia Rees

Mortal Engines Phillip Reeve

Angus , Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging Louise Rennison

How I Live Now Meg Tossoff

Revolver Marcus Sedgwick

I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith

The Fellowship of the Ring J R R Tolkien

You know how I said on my bucket list that for everything you tick off, you add something else? Well that was bound to happen with this challenge so here's a list of other books I discovered and wanted to read while completing the original list. 

- The Man Raymond Briggs

✓ Then Morris Gleitzman 5/11/14

✓ Now Morris Gleitzman 14/11/14

✓  After Morris Gleitzman 18/01/15

- Pinocchio by Pinocchio Michael Morpurgo

Thoughts on the books:

The Snowman Raymond Briggs 27/11/14

Great to discuss with children and would make good writing prompts

Dogger Shirley Hughes 27/11/14

Got déjà vu - must have read it as a child!

I Want My Hat Back Jon Klassen 27/11/14

Super for teaching inference and good for younger children to read themselves

The Elephant in the Bad Baby Elfrida Vipont and Raymond Briggs 27/11/14

Lots of repetition - boring for adult readers

Would you rather? John Burningham 28/11/14

Good for why questions with children

The Cat in the Hat Dr Seuss 29/11/14

Easy to read for beginner readers but with a catchy story line and a thoughtful question at the end. 

Once Morris Gleitzman 30/11/14

Great for Upper KS2 and a WW2 topic - lots of inference using pre existing knowledge  

Then Morris Gleitzman 5/11/14

A real tear jerker and good for teaching about WW2

Now Morris Gleitzman 14/11/14

Think this might be the first book that made me physically shed a tear. Not as good as Once or There but still worth a read to learn about the emotions connected with the Australian bush fires. 

Gorilla Anthony Browne 09/01/15

Very nostalgic - the kind of story I imagine I listened to and interestingly published in 1983!

Hairy McLary From Donaldson's Dairy Lynley Dodd 09/01/15

Would make a great display for Reception children

Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears Emily Gravett 09/01/15

Fabulously designed with cutouts and additional maps, postcards etc. 

Meg and Mog Helen Nicholl and Jan Pienkowski 09/01/15

Lots of learning objectives for young children, e.g. Ordering, lists, rhyming, but there are no full stops all of the way through!

I Want My Potty Tony Ross 09/01/15

The title says it all! Just a fun book!

Five on Treaure Island Enid Blyton 09/01/15

Straightforward old fashioned reading but a page turner nonetheless 

Asterix the Gaul René Goscinny 11/01/15

Straightforward but gripping story but ending is anticlimactic

Each peach pear plum Janet and Allan Ahlberg 10/01/15

Good for spotting things in the pictures

After Morris Gleitzman 18/01/15

Another tear jerker at the end. Good for teaching WW2. Although it was the 4th in the series to be published, it sits third in the storyline. 

The Enchanted Wood Enid Blyton 30/03/15

Like 17 stories in one! With no real ending just the completion of the 17th adventure. 

Holes Louis Sacher 16/04/15

Great story. Wasn't impressed with the ending. 

Forever Judy Blume 19/04/15

Couldn't believe how much sex there was in it - understandably controversial when it was first published. A gripping story nonetheless.  

That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown Cressida Cowell 06/05/15

A beautifully illustrated storybook - similar to Lauren Child and gives a great message about imagination and fun. Should be in the 0-5 year old age bracket. 

Northern Lights Philip Pullman 29/05/15

One of my favourite books of all time. A real page turner with twists and turns which are unexpected but easy to follow.

 Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury 17/6/15

Great for teaching young children about racial equality

Princess Smartypants Babette Cole 17/06/15

Girl Power!

Lost and Found Oliver Jeffers 17/06/15

Nice illustrations but not overly impressive story

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas John Boyne 13/07/15

Felt like I'd read it before as the film is adapted so closely. Very poignant and lots of inference and deduction.