The Hobbit!! YYYAAAAYYYY!

Miss Kemal, Mrs Sheriff, Mr Coombes, Mr Hart and myself are off to the cinema tonight with about 60 Flegg High Pupils from years 7, 8 and 9. We are going to see The Hobbit - a much awaited film version of the J R Tolkein novel.

We are very excited for the following reasons:

Me: I loved The Lord of the Rings, and this will get us into the christmas spirit!
Miss Kemal: I get to sit with Miss Bailey and Mrs Sheriff after school...what more could I want?
Mrs Sheriff: I get to eat some yummy sweets while watching a book I loved!
Mr Hart: I love Harry Potter - I think this will be quite similar.
Mr Coombes: I don't have many friends so it will be nice to do something with someone. I also loved the books and can't wait to see it come to life!

We will give you a review as soon as we can!

Merry Christmas one and all!

Book club...with a difference...

Some of you may know that I force my friends to take part in a book club with me. I don't really force them though, they do actually enjoy it! We read the same book over a month or so and then all meet up to discuss what we liked and answer some questions. (I usually cheat and get these off the internet!) Luckily, most of us have liked the books we've read so it's not been a chore at all. We have a laugh, talk about the book and eat some yummy food to keep us going.

Last week, I asked some of the best readers in my Year 7 class to make their own book club. They were allowed to choose a book and will be reading it over christmas. Luckily for them, they get to eat yummy food when they meet to talk about it too! Their posts will be arriving after the lovely holidays!

If you are interested in joining a book club at school - come and see me!

Bath Night Horror!

  

Calum Grant, Year 7, gives us an insight into his latest read...

This horror story is written by my favourite author Anthony Horowitz. He’s my favourite author because he gives lots of disgusting description. Here is an extract from the book.

Another glance over her shoulder told her that Marlin was getting closer, pushing his way towards the steam. She could see his teeth, discoloured and sharp, his gums exposed as his lips were drawn back in a grin of pure hatred.

Altogether I like this book because it’s full of action and drama. One minute its shocking then happy and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. Now you know my review, why not give it a read?



We're back!!

Flegg's back! After a lovely summer of rest and fun, school is back with a bang! We have lots of plans ahead for this year.

Coming up is the horror of Halloween - a great time to start trying out the horror genre - we have lots of those in the library!

We also have the release of The Hobbit at cinemas in December. Look out for some Hobbit themed activities in the library.

Also the release of Now is Good - the emotional film version of 'Before I Die' this month is much anticipated. Miss Sheriff, Miss Kemal and I are going to make a girls day out of it. We will probably spend the afternoon crying!

I will be catching up with you in your library lessons to find out if you have read anything amazing over the summer...Welcome back!!

Year 9 Bloggers!

Year 9 were asked to think about reading or their current books and came up with some interesting comments.

Eleanor Martin shares her obsession with HP (not the sauce)

I don’t consider Harry Potter as just a children’s series. It’s so much more to me. I received my first book – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – when I was 9 ¾ (a joke I finally understood when I turned ten).

By my tenth birthday, I had read the whole series and I still vividly remember watching the excitement of the release of the final book on the news. I wished I was older so I could camp outside of WHSmiths with other people like me, people who understood how important this series was. Last year, watching the premiere of the last film on television, I am not ashamed to say I cried, and I know that Hogwarts will always be there to welcome me home.

Charlotte Toon reflects on how hard it can be to find an book that graps you...

How hard can it be?

In general,  I find it hard to get into reading and I don’t enjoy books as much as other people might.  I would choose a book that looks good or a book that has a cool cover, I will start to read it and get distracted by the simplest things. When I start to read them, I take a while to get into it, and inevitable, after a while, I get bored and stop. The chance of me picking the book back up again is slim, but I’m not the only one, right?

Things like magazines and tweets I enjoy reading, but books are a different story. (haha)

Genres, what is the best way to choose a genre?

I usually go for the really girly and pretty covers, but I have a deep interest in  the twilight, films. I would read the books if Robert Pattinson was on every page! But in all honesty, I don’t really enjoy most genres, when I have to I like to read something different, providing I don’t get so distracted and never touch the book again.

George McBrayne agrees...I think he needs to read The Dead!

Ok, I’d admit I don’t put as much effort in to reading into reading books as most kids. But when I do get nagged at for not reading, I find it impossible to find a book that appeals to me! I’ve attempted to read countless books recently and no matter how much people say to me how great and exciting a book is, I just simply get bored after the first chapter. I don’t know if this occurs to anybody else but it is so frustrating!

 But…over the stupid amount of attempts of reading books, l found one book that appealed to me ‘The Enemy’. I felt a sense of achievement that I finally read a book.

Ethan Scally recommends a Susan Cooper novel...

The Dark Rising is a book written by Susan Cooper. It Is about a boy called Will who on his 11^th birthday finds out that he is the last person with the powers of the Old Ones - meaning he has to fight against Darkness.

This book is good as it captured my attention and I felt like I was in my own world while reading it. One thing the author does well is describe the characters with very powerful detail. I am not a massive reader but this is one of my favourite books.

I would recommend this book to mainly boys but also girls as it is a unisex book that I really enjoyed reading.

Readathon 2012

Readathon has started!! There are around 150 pupils taking part this year, which means we should be able to raise a massive amount to give to Clic Sargent, the children's cancer charity. Flegg pupils are known for their generosity. Raising money for reading? What could be simpler!!

Money is due after half term - so plenty of time to look for sponsors!

As well as raising money, we have lots going on in school:

We have an exciting storyteller in school - your teacher will let you know if you have been nominated to attend!

A book themed bake-a-thon! If you fancy yourself as a clever cupcake maker then tailor your decorations to a novel...try Alice in Wonderland, Twilight or even Beast Quest for inspiration! The comperition has two categories - Staff and Pupils. Who will reign as the Baking Best?!

A book swap shop! Bring in your own old books to Miss Kemal, swap for a ticket to enter the shop! Browse with a biscuit and give something old a new home!

Fancy dressing up? Your English teachers will be dressed as Alice in Wonderland characters on the last day of term! Join us!!

Erin Irwin in Year 8 gives us her latest review...

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo is an inspiring and emotional book about a horse who is stretched to his limit. Joey, the horse, is sold at Auction to Albert’s drunk father. Just as Joey and Albert become connected they are driven apart by the coming of the war. Albert is unfortunately to young so has to wait; but he knows that one day they will see each other again. This book was thoroughly enjoyable and is more detailed and exiting than the film. I would recommend this book to children and adults alike over the age of 10 as some chapters can be seen as unnerving. You can find this book, and many others by the same author in our school library!

Xena Dyball in Year 8 has some strong opinions on The Hunger Games Book VS Films. What do you think? Here are her ideas, feel free to ask further questions...

BOOK VS FILM

The Hunger Games is an award winning, best-selling trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. In brief, it is about a futuristic world, where once a year 2 tributes from each of 12 districts are picked at random and forced into an arena where they have to fight to the death on live television. For entertainment. Until there is one left. The books follow 16 year old Katnisss Everdeen and how the games affect her life.

The first book in the trilogy, The Hunger Games, has recently been turned into a film, which we went to watch. Before seeing the movie I had read the first book and was half way through the second book - Catching Fire. I wanted to see how the film makers had portrayed the characters in their own way as I was very opinionated about what I was imagining. I decided that overall, the film was good, particularly the acting and how they had filmed it etc. I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed as the actual characters weren’t what I had expected but I think this was down to me having already imagined the characters in my head while I was reading the book.

Also, in the film they had actually missed out a lot of parts from the novel that I personally thought were some of the most important and gave the book more of an edge. They also added in other parts that kind of confused me, as I thought that they were from the other books. Apart from that I thought it was a complete bonus that I had read the book first as I knew what was going on, whereas many of my friends hadn’t read the novels and were a bit confused at the end of the film.

This was understandable as The Hunger Games is a very complex and detailed read and if the filmmakers would have put as much detail in as the book contains, the film could have gone on for hours! That is one of the main reasons why I loved the books so much, it isn’t only action-packed, but there is so much detail and description, it is as if Suzanne Collins is painting a picture with words. In the script I liked how they had tried to stay as close to the words in the book as possible which was good as it made the film feel like it still had a link to the book. Before I watched the film I had a few queries like whose perspective would they do the film from because in the novel it is from Katniss’ point of view. In the book we read about her thoughts. My other query was how were they going to explain how The Hunger Games started?

After watching the film I thought the way they had explained how the games had begun was pretty ingenious, as I would of never of thought of that, however it didn’t really tie in with the rest of the film as smoothly as I would of liked. They could have considered maybe putting in a voice over and maybe Katniss narrating it as if it had already happened and she was telling her story to us.

I thought that the special effects in the film were very good and realistic but was disappointed at the end with muttations. Also I liked the costumes of the characters and even though Katniss dresses weren’t what I was lead to believe they were in the book. I still thought they were good but I thought they could have done with making the people of the capitol look more outlandish.

The actor choices were good as many of the characters looked vaguely how I had imagined them although in my opinion they could have done with looking thinner to show their struggle to get food more obvious, especially Katniss.



Should Katniss have looked as healthy as she does?



I also think she could have appeared more confident and strong as the whole point of the trilogy is that Katniss is defying the capitol and is the face of rebellion. Although it seems as though I have criticized a lot of the film, I did like it a lot!

If I had to choose which was better, the film or the book, I would definitely choose the book 100% and would recommend reading the book before seeing the film and even if you are not even going to see it as these books are my number 1! The reason I personally would choose the book over the film is because I think the book makes you feel more engaged and as if you know the characters and you are part of the games with them - that is why I love The Hunger Games!

The Hunger Games Cinema Trip



The Hunger Games Cinema Trip

Year 8 were blown away with the film version of The Hunger Games. We had a great evening at the cinema. Armed with nachos, sweets, popcorn and chocolate, we settled in to view the much hyped blockbuster. For me, the film lived up to a lot of expectations, but as you will have guessed, I still prefer the books! The Capitol was a visual pleasure - the colours popped and the costumes were fantastic. Cinna was exactly as I imagined and I loved the part when Katniss shot the apple! I missed the undercurrent of fear that is present in the District in the novels, but overall, one of the best films I have seen this year. After Easter I will ask you all for your comments - I'm sure you will have plenty! I, for one, will be spending the break reading the trilogy over again on my new Kindle!

The Hunger Games

The excitement of Thursday's trip to the Hunger Games has been buzzing around year 8. The teen novel by Suzanne Collins has been a firm favourite of staff and pupils. The recent film release has attracted almost 40 people from Flegg to sign up to this week's blockbuster trip. In our eyes, it'll be a winner!

Welcome!

Welcome to Flegg High's Reading Quest blog! Here you can post about a recent book you have read, an activity you have completed or an upcoming title. Enjoy and get reading!