Thursday, May 30, 2013

May reviews from Albert Park

Mudpuddle farm by Michael Morpurgo - reviewed by Zoe


This book is about animals that live on a farm where it is hot and there is hardly any rain.  They tell tales to each other.  Some of the stories are funny.  There’s a cat who is supposed to catch mice but never does – he’s too sleepy.

Rated: 4½/5 - "It’s alright."

The outcasts (Brotherband, bk. 1) by John Flanagan - reviewed by Annabelle
 
A group of people called the Herons have to prove their worth by being told to guard something.  It gets stolen and the Herons have to search for it. It’s stolen by pirates.  The book is set in medieval times.

Rated: 5/5 - "The book has a really good storyline, and dispenses pearls of wisdom that is really cool!"

The magic faraway tree by Enid Blyton - reviewed by Latetia

Jo, Beth and Franny go on more adventures with their cousin Rick who is visiting because his mother is sick.  Rick gets into lots of trouble because he is greedy – for example he eats a door knocker , when he is in one of the lands at the top of the Faraway Tree and this makes everyone get into a mess.

Rated: 5/5 - "Enid Blyton has a good story."

Watership down by Richard Adams - reviewed by Emma

The story is about rabbits who are on the run and need to get to a destination.  Hazel, the leader of the group meets another rabbit while on the run called Cowslip.  It’s a bit of a confusing book – and not appropriate for younger readers.  It’s not the best book.

Rated: 2/5 - "I’ll keep trying to read it."

The scarecrow and his servant by Philip Pullman - reviewed by Alex G.

It’s about a scarecrow who is made by a man when he is trying to manage his crops.  The scarecrow is struck by lightning and comes to life.  He meets a little boy named Jack who teaches him how to be human.  The farmer's cousin wants to build a factory on his land and wants to hunt for the scarecrow.  I kind of like it, but it’s a bit silly.

Rated: 4/5 - "It's not very exciting."



Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Winning entries...


Well, the judges have made their decision and chosen the 'winning entries' in our latest writing competition where you were asked to use 5 words - eyeballs, book, mud, monkey, driftwood - in a story with a maximum 1500 words. So, here they are:

Category 1 (7-8 years): 
   
Winner:
Runner up:    

Category 2 (9-10 years):
     
Winner:        
Runner up:   

Category 3 (11-12 years):

Winner:
Runner up:

George and Phoebe's adventure ... by Skyla, aged 8

Ding a ling a ling a ling a ling a ling a ling a ling.

There was a fire practice in kinder. All the children were sent outside, even George and Phoebe, the four year old twins. Phoebe is a stubborn girl and doesn't want to be bossed around. George just follows Phoebe because they are best friends too.

Phoebe didn't like the loud noise, so she and George went to the furthest corner of the fence. They were playing hopscotch when George saw something that was unusual. He thought it looked like a colourful spiral. 

George was too scared so Phoebe decided to have a look and suddently she felt like she was being vacuumed up. George was shocked and called out for her, but suddenly he got sucked in too.The twins felt like they were jumping out of an aeroplane without a parachute but in slow motion. They were nervous but a bit excited because they didn't know what was happening.

They landed softly like they had just fallen onto a nice comfy bed. They looked ahead and saw a mysterious jungle full of trees with moss and vines wrapped around. George froze and looked so shocked that Phoebe thought his eyeballs might fall out, but when Phoebe turned around she jumped up and down and was ready for adventure.

Phoebe was standing on a rock with George, but she realised she couldn't walk through the jungle because it was full of mud. "Hmm, what shall I do? Let's be action kids!" When George heard that he was excited and wanted to start the adventure. He had to swing like a monkey through the jungle because the floor was covered in mud. George jumped onto a branch and started to swing and swing and swing and this time Phoebe was following.

They got a bit tired and decided to hop onto another rock. They lay there for a few minutes and then they saw a rainbow so they started swinging again because in their favourite story book at the end of a rainbow there would be a pot of gold. But when they got to the end of the rainbow there was only a plain old lake with lots of wood floating on it.

George looked over the lake and the sun was going down so it looked beautiful. Suddenly he fell in. He couldn't swim but he grabbed onto a big piece of driftwood and Phoebe pulled him out. George was very cold and wet and shaken but luckily Phoebe saw another colourful spiral on the ground and they thought it would take them back to kinder, so the twins jumped in together.

This time they felt all dizzy and sleepy. Suddenly they popped out of the fence and they were playing hopscotch again. 

Everyone was inside and the alarm wasn't going so they went inside and decided to make a book and draw all about their jungle adventure.