This blog contains spoilers! Downton Abbey spawned such a high degree of loving obsession from people around the world that it would seem wrong if it never featured in this blog series. We were late arrivals to it: by the time we were catching up, there had already been three series and their associated Christmas Specials. Everybody knew that Matthew died in a car accident at the most inopportune moment possible, and that the lovely Lady Sybil died in childbirth. I do wonder how differently I would have felt about the series if I had experienced the same shock as those who watched it the first time round. Now, I'll caveat the following statement with the fact that I love Downton Abbey - it's one of my comfort series that I'll go back to time and time again to watch on my phone. But, in writing terms, I think it's something of a cautionary tale. The tale being: know when to stop. The first three series of Downton Abbey are pure drama, taking us powerfully - and often pa...
Tomorrow (Thursday 1st March) is World Book Day! At school, we are supposed to be dressing up as book characters but we had a snow day today so I'm wondering if school will open tomorrow. To honour, World Book Day, I thought I would write about 2 children's novels (1 today, the other tomorrow) that I have serialised for my Primary 4 class. I will also write a lesson plan for each, which I will post on Friday. The 1st novel I read to them was "First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts" by Lari Don. This is a great book for adults and children (I first read this when I was studying at university and loved it!). It is about a girl in Southern Scotland who meets a young centaur and his friends who have done something foolish that could threaten fabled beasts and humans alike. It's a book full of suspense and adventure. Here is the blurb from Goodreads: "Helen has absolutely no interest in becoming a vet like her mother. So she isn't best plea...