Macbeth: A Shakespeare story

Macbeth: A Shakespeare Story

Andrew Matthews 

Illustrations: Tony Ross

As the title suggests, this book is the story of Macbeth. It has been shortened and written in modern language so it is easy for children to read. It also has lots of illustrations all the way through so it breaks up the pages from just text.

The story has kept all the main aspects of Shakespeare’s original story, however it has removed some aspects so the story is less complicated and shorter. Although the language has been changed, at the beginning and the end of the book there are short quotes from the original play so as to demonstrate the original language.

The story has been split up, not through chapters, but through page breaks, which would provide good stopping points for children. These occur with a change in scene so there is a definite change for children to understand.

At the back of the book there is some information given about the inspiration for Macbeth, about Shakespeare himself and the Globe theatre.

The start of the book includes a cast list page, similar to what would be given in the play version, as well as a short contents page, which children could explore.

I used this book myself to provide a quick reminder to the story of Macbeth when my class came to study the story. I found it quick and concise in the story and did help provide a reminder. I also think it could be used as an introduction to historical stories for children to be inspired by.

Matthews, A. (2003) Macbeth: A Shakespeare Story. London: Orchard Books.

I've seen Santa

I’ve seen Santa

David Bedford

Illustrated by Tim Warnes

This is a beautiful book for young children. It tells a lovely story of Little Bear wanting to stay up on Christmas Eve to see Santa as he delivers his presents.

Each page of the book is full of detail in the drawings and the font is of a good size so younger readers could follow along, or try to read themselves if they wanted.

I think the story would be suitable for a wide range of ages and the pictures would provide lovely visuals for very young children.

The text includes some interesting phonic language, which could challenge younger readers, and enforce some of their sounds, especially with lots of use of consonant digraphs: “ch”, “sh”, “wh”.

The story shows a lovely aspect of family life and demonstrates the excitement and mystery that Christmas holds.

Bedford, D. (2005) I’ve seen Santa. London: Little Tiger Press. 

How to handle your school

How to handle your school

Roy Apps

Illustrated by Jo Moore

I think this book is a great read for those children who find it difficult to enjoy reading and maybe even struggle with school. The book is presented as an ongoing investigation into how good/bad your school is and includes many hints, tips and jokes for children to enjoy. Throughout the books there are various quizzes for the reader to participate in, with a score card at the back so you can keep track of how you and your school are measuring up.

It is an easy read, with lots of repetition but also several puns, which help demonstrate children’s comprehension.

I used this book to initially engage my reading buddy into reading with me. He enjoyed the jokes and illustrations, although I did have to promise not to share some of his answers with my CTM.  I was able to assess his reading and comprehension level nicely through this book and he did enjoy completing the quizzes.

Within this book there is a contents page and footnotes on various pages, which also allow you to assess your readers knowledge of how books work.

This book is part of a series, this one giving an overview of handling school, but others helping you to handle your teacher or school bully.

Apps, R. (2005) How to handle your school. London: Scholastic Children’s Books.

Dust 'n' Bones

Dust ‘n’ Bones: Ten Ghost Stories

Chris Mould

As the title suggests, this book is a collection of ten ghost stories; a mixture of ones written by Chris Mould and traditional stories that the author has adapted.

The stories are of varying length, allowing some to be slightly longer reads than others.

I used this book to aid with a ghost story writing topic in year six. Although the writing is of a lower reading level than the children were at, there are a lot of good language techniques that could be picked out to demonstrate different writing styles. These include emotive language, good description, figurative language and techniques for building suspense. One short story that I particularly enjoyed was “A Bedtime Tale” by Chris Mould himself. This story was very short, only four pages long, and is very good for demonstrating how you can build suspense in a story and how you can describe a ghost. I read this story aloud to the children as part of a starter to a lesson on describing their own ghosts. The story inspired some brilliant descriptions.

The other stories through this book are just as good. The adaptations show how you can share traditional stories with children, and although they are scary they are not too scary for younger children too.

There are illustrations throughout the books, which add a great deal to the stories. The pages themselves look as though they are worn and old, as if the pages are old and damaged. The text is well presented, with occasional bold words to add further detail and emphasis.

The book has previously won “Year three/four book of the month” on a children’s book review website and I do think the content is suitable for this age range, as well as the reading level.

Mould, C. (2008) Dust ‘n’ Bones: Ten Ghost Stories. London: Hodder Children’s Books.

Choose your superhero

Choose Your Superhero

Norman Silver

Illustrations: Russell Ayto

This book is a compilation of poetry written by Norman Silver. The poems are all individual and do not seem to follow a set theme, length or style. It is a good, quick read, I would suggest it is good for children who might be put off by larger books with long chapters as it is easy to stop whenever you want.

Each poem is about a different topic, all are meant as a light read, but some touch on issues that children could be facing; such as getting along with a new step-parent, dealing with a bully, traveller children and special needs children. The poems promote healthy relationships, but also have the imaginative edge that child fiction has.

There are a few illustrations throughout the book, which aid visualising the poetry and the stories being told.

There is one poem, Day of Doom, which is split up into four parts throughout the book. This keeps the interest through the book, as you want to see how the poem continues. However it also gives you the page number of where it continues so, if you wish to, you could read the poem from start to finish without gaps.

As each poem is different there does not seem to be a logical flow to the poems, however the author has put some key poems in specific places. For example, a poem titled “And Now for Something Completely Different” is about a quarter of the way through, to provide a break. Also, there is a poem called “Intermission” which is situated in the middle of the poem.

The book itself has features that could provide interesting to explore with children, including a contents page, a tag line on the front cover and a blurb on the back.

The language of the poems would be aimed at a higher level of reader with some made up words in some but with a good understanding of phonics the made up words could be deciphered with ease.

Silver, N. (1998) Choose your Superhero. London: Hodder Children’s Books.

PGCE Children's Literature

I am currently studying for a PGCE in Primary teaching, and as part of my course I have taken an additional option of a topic on Children's Literature. Part of this is to read and write book reviews about various children's books and then share my thoughts. I thought an easy way to do this would be through a blog.

I hope you enjoy!