The Clockwork Crow By Catherine Fisher

Age 9+

When Seren Rhys is given a newspaper parcel by a stranger late at night in an empty train station, she has no idea what trouble it contains. She is on her way to a new life at the remote house of Plas-y Fran, but when she gets there the happy family Christmas she had hoped for turns out to be an illusion. Because Tomos has been missing for a

year and a day, and if the strange and dangerous Family have really taken him, who would be mad enough to try and get him back?Armed with a talking bird who might not be telling the truth, a magical snow-globe and her own indomitable courage, Seren sets off on a journey into a midnight world of snow and stars, to an ice palace unlocked only by a Door of Blood and Tears.

Kindle Edition £1.66

Read the first two chapter with Amazon uk ‘Look Inside’.

Read an interview with the author about this book:

https://thereadingrealm.co.uk/2019/05/31/the-clockwork-crow-an-interview-with-catherine-fisher/

Questions1. How does Seren get into the nursery and what two items does she take with her when she leaves? 2. What does the crow say he is and why is he now a crow? 3. When the tall thin man from the station arrives at the house, what does he want and why does Mrs Villiers threaten to send Seren back to the orphanage? 4. How does Seren stop Mrs Villiers from sending her back the next day and why is Seren so keen to stay just a day longer? 5. When Seren and the crow realise the palace is in a giant snow globe, how do they enter? 6. When Seren and Tomos have a chance to escape through the lake why do they turn back?7. What does Seren do that magics them out of the underworld and back to Plas-y-Fran?8. What happens to the Crow and the children in the end?

Answers1. The crow helps her find the key on the door frame and she finds and takes a snow globe and Tomos’ diary.)2. He says he is a prince who was changed into a crow by a witch.3. He wants his parcel with the crow in it. Seren say she doesn’t know where it is, so Mrs Villiers accuses her of lying and says she will send her back tomorrow.4. She shakes the snow globe which makes it snow so heavily outside that the roads are blocked. She needs to stay an extra day as that will be the day the golden staircase will reappear and she can attempt to rescue Tomos.5. The Crow asks Seren for a drop of blood and a tear and he uses them to magically make a doorway into the globe.6. Seren won’t leave without the Crow and he has been captured.7. She throws the snow globe to the ground and smashes it. 8. The children return home to Plas-y-Fran and Seren is welcomed into the family. The Crow turns out to be a school teacher and he leaves with the tall thin man who turns out to be his brother searching for a way to break his spell.

The Boy at the Back of the Class By Onjali Q Rauf

Age 7-11

There used to be an empty chair at the back of my class, but now a new boy called Ahmet is sitting in it.

He's eight years old (just like me), but he's very strange. He never talks and never smiles and

doesn't like sweets - not even lemon sherbets, which are my favourite!

But the truth is, Ahmet really isn't very strange at all. He's a refugee who's run away from a War. A real one. With bombs and fires and bullies that hurt people. And the more I find out about him, the more I want to be his friend.

That's where my best friends Josie, Michael and Tom come in. Because you see, together we've come up with a plan.

Kindle Edition £3.99

Activities for this book are provided by the publisher:

https://www.hachette.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/The-Boy-at-the-Back-of-the-Class-Activity-Sheets.pdf

Listen to a Book Trust interview with the author about her award winning book:

https://youtu.be/wHEdPqeTQyk

Questions

1) Who was the new boy in the class, and where did he come from?

2) What special fruit did the main character buy with his mum and why?

3) Why did Ahmet have time in seclusion?

4) What plan did they come up with to help find Ahmet's parents?

5) How did they get the letter to the queen, why did they not rely on the post?

6) Was the main character of the story a boy or a girl? What was their name and when did we find out?

Answers

1.The boy was called Ahmet and he was a refugee from Syria. 2. A pomegranate fruit to give to Ahmet as a present. 3. So that he could speak to people that knew what he had been through. This was to help him feel safe and secure. 4. They wrote a letter to the queen asking her to stop the border closing until the parents had been found. 5. They posted first but they didn’t think it had got to her so they got on a bus and tube and taxi and went to Buckingham Palace. At the changing of the guards, they jumped over the barriers and managed to get the letter to the guard... it was all caught on camera. 6. A girl called Alexa but we didn’t know until the very end.

Max and the Midknights By Lincoln Peirce

Age 7+

Max wants to be a knight – too bad that dream is about as likely as finding a friendly dragon. But when Max's uncle Budrick is kidnapped by the cruel King Gastley, Max has to act . . . and fast! Joined by a band of brave adventurers – the

Midknights – Max sets out on a thrilling quest: to save uncle Budrick and restore the realm of Byjovia to its former glory!

Kindle Edition £3.99

To read the first three chapters of this book follow the publishers link below:

http://insight.randomhouse.com/widget/v4/?width=600&height=860&isbn=9781101931080&shortCode=&author=Lincoln%20Peirce&title=Max%20and%20the%20Midknights&refererURL=www.penguinrandomhouse.com

To listen to an audio extract follow the publisher PenguinRandomHouse audio link below:

https://soundcloud.com/penguin-audio/max-and-the-midknights-by

Questions 1. When Max and uncle Budrick reach Byjovia, what does Uncle

Budrick notice is different and why? 2. When Max and Kevyn seek the help of Nolan the Ostler, what

magic item does he remember being given by Mumblin the Magician and what can it do?

3. When Mumblin attempts to turn the gargoyles in to stone, what goes wrong and how do the Midknights get past them?

4. When Sir Gadabout is paralysed by the plant, how do the Midknights get him the help he needs?

5. Where does Bruce the dragon take the Midknights and who do they rescue there?

6. Why has Fendra been collecting blood drops each week from King Conrad?

7. When Fendra turns into a giant snake how do Max and Sir Gadabout defeat her and how then are Gastley's soldiers defeated?

Answers 1. It is no longer a place full of kind happy

people led by King Conrad, instead people are mean and unhappy and is in charge.

2. A magic coin which can summon the magicians help. 3. Mumblin accidentally turns himself to stone. The Midknights roll

themselves in barrels down the hill at the gargoyles and bowl them over.

4. Mumblin gave Max a ring that would transport the wearer to him. They put the ring on Gadabout to transport him to Mumblin in the hope he can be cured.

5. To a tall tower, they rescue a boy who turns out to be King Conrad imprisoned by Fendra the sorceress.

6. She has needed it for her spell to keep all the people in Byjovia under her spell.

7. They crossed the King's sword and dagger and the magical power turns the snake to dust, Then Mumblin and gets the dragons to come and take away/eat the soldiers and Gastley.

Famous Five Adventures - Five and a Half-Term Adventure By Enid Blyton

Age 5-7

George's dog Timmy sniffs out an adventure when he spots some suspicious-looking passengers on a train. He is very interested in one of them, but what has he spotted? Can the Famous Five solve this mystery?

Kindle Edition £3.99

Extracts from this book and others in the series can be seen using Amazon ‘Look Inside’.

Free pdf copies of the full Famous Five Stories are available from the archive:

https://archive.org/details/EnidBlytonFamousFive/page/n2/mode/2up

Try writing some secret messages with these invisible ink ideas:

https://bitrebels.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/How-To-Invisible-Ink-Infographic.jpg

Questions

1. Why did the five get caught in the dark and have to take the train? 2. What was Timmy so interested in on the train? 3. What did the five work out must have been in the shawl? 4. What did the police do with the Pekinese before it was returned to its owner?

Answers

1. Julian's watch was wrong so they hadn't realised the time. 2. A man and a woman with a 'baby' in a shawl. 3. A Pekinese dog stolen from the dog show. 4. Let it stay one night with Timmy to guard it.

Baby’s First Bank Heist By Jim Whalley and Stephen Collins

Age 3-5

Move over, Bonnie and Clyde, because there's a new criminal mastermind in town ... Baby Frank!

Baby Frank's parents say that he can't have a pet – 'Pets are for older kids', 'Be happy

with your teddy', 'They cost too much to keep' – which leaves Baby Frank with a BIG problem because he REALLY wants a pet. What's a baby to do ... ? Rob a bank, of course! But will money buy Baby Frank the fluffy pet he so desperately wants?

Kindle Edition £3.74

To read an extract go to Amazon ‘Look Inside’.

To have a go at some of the fun activities related to this book produced by the publisher, following the link below.

https://media.bloomsbury.com/rep/files/bfbh_activity_pack-003.pdf

To listen to the author reading the story go to the Waterstones Bookshop facebook page link:

https://www.facebook.com/waterstones/videos/2548209035440447/

Questions

1. What did Baby Frank really want his Mum and Dad to buy him? 2. What did Baby Frank decide to do to raise money to help pay towards the pet's bed? 3. Where did Baby Frank hide all the money and jewels when he robbed the bank? 4. Can you name some of the pets Baby Frank choses to get? 5. What animal did his Mum find in the shed? 6. What did they decide to do with all the animals?

Answers

1. A pet. 2. He decided to rob a bank? 3. In his romper suit / baby gro. 4. A meerkat, a dog, pig, aardvark, cat, leopards, beaver, giraffe, rhino! 5. A rhino 6. Make a Zoo.

There's a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom By James Sellick and Frann Preston-Gannon

Age 3-6

When a little girl discovers a mischievous orangutan on the loose in her bedroom, she can’t understand why it keeps shouting OOO! at

her shampoo and her chocolate. But when Rang-tan explains that there are humans running wild in her rainforest, burning down trees so they can grow palm oil to put in products, the little girl knows what she has to do: help save the orangutans!

Published in collaboration with Greenpeace, featuring a foreword from Dame Emma Thompson this is a very special picture book with a vital message to share.

Kindle Edition £3.99

To find links to the publishers book resources for teachers and parents:

https://www.hachette.com.au/james-sellick-frann-preston-gannon/theres-a-rang-tan-in-my-bedroom

Open this link to find children’s activities for this book:

https://5getbookish.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Rang-tan-Acitvity-Sheets-WTS.pdf

Watch the animation of this book:

https://youtu.be/3Ha6xUVqezQ

Questions

1. Why is the Rang-Tan in the bedroom?

2. Why are the forests being destroyed?

3. Do you know what palm oil is used for?

4. What can you do to help protect the Orangutan?

Answers

1. Because people are cutting down the forest were she and her family live and she has nowhere to go.

2. To make space for palm oil trees.

3. Lots of things like, chocolate, crisps, toothpaste, shampoo, soap etc.

4. Ask Mum and Dad not to buy things with palm oil in them or only use products with responsibly grown palm oil.