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#HistFicThursdays - Capturing the Essence of History

 I - along with my fellow members of Crowvus - are very excited about our new release on 16th September. We fell in love with this story for a number of different reasons, and one of the key ones for me was the role of history. Of course, when you have a story about the governing and governance of time, there is going to be some element of the past, but the way in which Elizabeth McKay so casually and seamlessly interweaves the past with the present is both clever and effective. Finding our own place in time is not always easy, and neither is finding a place in our current time for the past. Discussing an historical fiction book recently over the weekend's breakfast, we were led into the confusing cycle of how fine the line is between pioneering characters and utterly unbelievable ones. The conversation actually began because of a discussion into our family tree and a look at how the role of registry offices allowed for a step away from the power of the church. In our increasingly ...

Happy World Book Day! - Class Novel 1

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 pleased when asked to help an injured horse. Only this horse isn't entirely normal ... nor are his friends.

Without warning, Helen is thrust into an extraordinary world filled with magic rituals, fantastic creatures, and a dangerous, powerful beast known as the Master, who would destroy it all. Everything hinges on finding the lost Book of Wisdom before the Winter Solstice. Can Helen work out the riddles and help her new friends to make amends for a foolish prank?

First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts offers a wonder-filled mixture of fable and fiction, woven into an exciting race through Scotland's diverse landscapes and accompanied by an array of creatures from legend and folklore."

Because the story is all about folkmore and mythical creatures, there are lots of exciting activities to do that children will love. One of the themes of the story is responsibility and this fits very well with the Curriculum for Excellence. I will be posting a suggested lesson plan for this book on Friday (2nd March).


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