Chatterpack  

 

 

A  great  new  title    from  Hot  Key  Books  !  

The  Spin  by  Rebecca  Lisle    

   Reading  ideas  and  activities  for  your  Chatterbooks  groups  

     

Here  is  a  new  Chatterpack  from  Hot  Key  Books  and  The  Reading  Agency  with  ideas  for  Chatterbooks  reading  group  activities,  discussion,  and  further  reading,  inspired  by  a  brilliant  new  book:  THE  SPIN  by  Rebecca  Lisle      Chatterbooks  [  www.readinggroups.org/chatterbooks  ]  is  a  reading  group  programme  for  children  aged  4  to  14  years.  It  is  coordinated  by  The  Reading  Agency  and  its  patron  is  author  Dame  Jacqueline  Wilson.  Chatterbooks  groups  run  in  libraries  and  schools,  supporting  and  inspiring  children’s  literacy  development  by  encouraging  them  to  have  a  really  good  time  reading  and  talking  about  books.    The  Reading  Agency  is  an  independent  charity  working  to  inspire  more  people  to  read  more  through  programmes  for  adults,  young  people  and  Children  –  including  the  Summer  Reading  Challenge,  and  Chatterbooks.  See  www.readingagency.org.uk      Introduce  the  book  to  your  group  and  give  them  time  to  read  it  –  then  you  can  follow  up  with  a  session  using  activities  from  this  pack.  

A  Suggested  Chatterbooks  session  plan  (times  approx)  Welcome  –  juice  &  biscuits  (5  mins)  Getting  started  -­‐  simple  warm  up  activities  (10  mins)  -­‐  eg  

• Write  down  all  the  magical  creatures  you  can  think  of  • Talk  about  which  magical  creatures  you  would  like  to  have  in  your  life  –  and  why  

Activities  to  get  your  group  talking  about  the  book  –  choose  from  this  pack  (35  mins)  Goodbye,  and  dates  for  the  next  meeting  (5  mins)    After  you’ve  read  The  Spin  -­‐  here  are  some  more  books  to  enjoy!      AUTHOR     TITLE   PUBLISHER   ISBN  Almond,  David   The  Boy  who  Swam  with  

Piranhas  Walker   ISBN:  978-­‐

1406320763  D’Lacey,  Chris   Fire  World  (The  Last  Dragon  

Chronicles)  Orchard   ISBN:  978-­‐

1408309599  Fletcher,  Charlie   Far  Rockaway   Hodder   ISBN:  978-­‐

0340997338  Funke,  Cornelia     Dragon  Rider   Chicken  House   ISBN:  978-­‐

1904442486  Hare,  Lucinda   The  Flight  to  Dragon  Isle   Random  

House  ISBN:  978-­‐0552560238  

Garner,  Alan   The  Moon  of  Gomrath   HarperCollins   ISBN:  978-­‐0007127870  

McCaughrean,  Geraldine  

The  Kite  Rider   OUP   ISBN:  978-­‐0192755285  

Pullman,  Philip   The  Firework  Maker’s  Daughter   Random  House  

ISBN:  978-­‐0440866404  

THE SPINby Rebecca Lisle

About the Author

Rebecca Lisle was born in Leeds to two artists. Having studied Botany at Newcastle University she then completed a PGCE at Oxford. Rebecca lived in France, Manhattan, and England before becoming a ‘proper’ writer. Awarded a distinction for her MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa, Rebecca is now married with three almost grown-up sons, who are the inspiration for many stories. When she is not writing Rebecca paints peculiar pictures of dogs.

About the Book

Stormy is an orphan and a kitchen skivvy. He tends the compost, he scrubs the floors, and watches feasts make their way up the mountain as he survives on bread and water. A skivvy is all that Stormy can hope to be.

But Stormy has a secret. He wants to be a sky-rider, to soar amongst the clouds on spitfyres: flying horses that spit fire and smoke, and answer only to their riders. A chance meeting with an escaped convict turns Stormy’s life upside down. Sent up to the

Academy he uncovers a web of lies, deceits and neglect, at the centre of which lies the mysterious thirteenth horse. Can Stormy save Thirteen, defeat the dark forces at work within the Academy and prove himself worthy as a sky-rider?

Find out more about Rebecca at www.rebeccalisle.com, or tweet her @LisleRLisle

THE CHARACTERSWrite a short description of these characters - what do they look like? Are they kind or mean? Do they change as the book goes on?

STORMY:

MAUD:

ARAMINTA:

OTTO:

RALF:

MRS CATHCART:

BRITTEL:

SPITFYRESThe Spitfyres of the Star Squad are all very different. If you were a Sky Rider, what colour would your Spitfyre be? What special qualities would it have? Draw it below and add a few words to describe its personality!

SEARCHING THE SKIESCan you find the Spitfyre names hidden below? There are 13 to find!

BLUEY SERAPHINACLOUDFREE SMOKEYDAYGO SNAPDRAGONKOPERNICUS SPARKITKYTE SPIKELETLACEWING WESTERLIEPOLARIS

SPOTTING SPITFYRESCan you match the description to the correct Spitfyre?

1. “a massive creature of silvery grey – the size of a shire horse with feet like dinner plates and legs like small trees.”

2. “silvery-pink with shining coral-coloured wings... staring with one gleaming dark eye. It was as big as an eagle’s egg and it swivelled in its socket, showing the yellow-white around it. Its purple hooves pawed the ground as if it was going to leap at any moment”

3. “he had coal-black eyes and a long nose with a white star between his eyes.”

4. “It had emerald scales around its hooves and a fine blue and turquoise tail”

5. “a dull red coat, like old velvet, and violet-coloured scales around its hooves and nose”

6. “an orangey-yellow spitfyre... She was gentle, with a crooked ear, and damaged wings so she couldn’t fly”

7. “a Star Squad spitfyre whose coat was brown or green depending on where the light hit it; it had extraordinary eyes with golden irises.”

8. “a fat pink spitfyre with very small frilly wings”

9. “That spitfyre is not rideable,’ Al said. ‘Not tameable. Not anythingable. Best left alone and forgot.”

ANSWERS: 1. Sparkit 2. Snapdragon 3. Kyte 4. Daygo 5. Kopernicus 6. Cloudfree 7. Polaris 8. Lacewing 9. Serafina

REBECCA LISLEQ&A

We grabbed Rebecca Lisle to ask her some questions about writing. Have you ever thought about being an author?

What inspires your writing?Everything. I’m a great watcher and hoarder of odd moments scenes. Usually I forget them, but I do try and note them down so I can put them in my books.

How did you first become an author?I’ve always written stories, ever since I learnt how to hold a pencil. Some of my first stories were pictures, but every picture tells a story.

What was your earliest career aspiration? Just to get published and have a book on a shelf in the library with MY name on it.

What advice would you give to budding writers? Write and read all you can. Everything you write will look like rubbish to you, but only (hopefully), to you. It will get better anyway, so keep on writing.

REBECCA LISLEQ&A

What was your favourite childhood book? THE LITTLE WHITE HORSE by Elizabeth Goudge.

Where is your favourite place to write? At home in winter by the fire when it’s cold and dark and grim outside. When the weather is warm I find it very hard to knuckle down to work, I’d much rather go out and garden.

Who do you most admire? It’s what. And the answer is trees. They stand around making oxygen for us, they shade us from the sun, and they provide a home for many small animals and insects and they give us wood. And they are very beautiful. I’d quite like to be a tree myself.

➢Are there any books you wish you had written?Hundreds. Too many to list. But if you twist my arm to tell you one, then I’d say - ow!

Find out more at www.rebeccalisle.com!