Last night we went to the cinema to watch The Sheep Detectives . It was a great, fun film packed with all the rollercoaster emotions you want from any movie. Interestingly, despite the fact the film was perhaps aged at a younger audience, everyone at the screening was quite a bit older. We made a comment later that, despite the fact the film is a PG rating, there was no way any of my nieces would be able to handle it. But the most appealing thing about the film was just how appealing it was! It was a murder mystery, of course, but it also bordered on drama, comedy, and romance. It certainly catered for all ages, with some of the references and topics which would be completely lost on young children. And it was not afraid to deal with some pretty brutal topics. In many respects, we expect these genre-collisions in films - we applaud them and celebrate them as crafty and creative. It's a shame, I think, that many books which portray a similar mixed approach at often overlooked as di...
Written by Michael Wray Illustrations by Anne Marshall Edited by Chris Firth ☆☆☆ I was born in Orkney, but I grew up in Lincolnshire. I went to primary school there and only moved back to Scotland after I had started at John Leggott College. As a result, I feel a certain connection with the place. Growing up in a village on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, I was very aware of the ghost stories around where I lived. My mum grew up in Epworth, so I was well accustomed to the tale of Old Jeffery that is featured in this book. Our house, itself, was very old and I'm pretty sure it was haunted. It talked - creepy floorboards when no-one was there, doors closing when I couldn't feel a draught - that sort of thing. Close to our house there used to be a wood where apparently someone hanged themselves. We were also down the road from Thornton Abbey with its headless ghost who sometimes runs across the road. (The story, as I heard it, was that someone was fishi...