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Feb 2013 FUNNY BOOK FOCUS The Hilarious Books Experience is a popular Pageturners project. Here’s a snapshot of some funny favourites. Einsteins Underpants and How They Saved the World by Anthony MacGowan: When I bought this book for a project, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it myself. I thought a book about slimy, disgusting aliens trying to take over earth wouldn’t be my cup of tea. I was wrong. This is a very funny story about an band of school misfits who become unlikely heroes. It worked well for the project too – the boys involved loved it! 10+ Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce: I’ve read extracts of this book aloud to groups of children countless times and it never fails to make them (or me) laugh out loud. This is one of my favourite funny books ever. It’s the madcap story of twelve year old Liam who keeps being mistaken for an adult – with some crazy consequences. None more crazy, however, than the day he finds himself in charge of a group of children on a space rocket. Full of warmth and humour. 9+ (One for adults to love too). The Teenage Years (Dark Lord) by Jamie Thomson: I had to put it down several times due to laughing so hard. A Dark Lord from the underworld suddenly finds himself blasted to earth as a 13 year old boy. None of his powers are intact and so he ends up in the care of Social Services who are convinced he is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. 9+ 11 + How to Train Your Parents by Pete Johnson: I can’t read this book without laughing. Louis has moved home and into a new, posh school. As a result, his once easy- going parents start putting Louis under pressure to be more like the boy up the road, whilst they try to impress his parents. 9+ Socks are not Enough by Mark Lowry: Michael Swarbrick , aged 14, is a much misunderstood teenager. It’s Adrian Mole for a new generation – quirky and very,very funny. 11+ Gangsta Granny by David Walliams: This book is popular on Pageturners projects with 8 - 13 year olds. It’s great for reluctant readers and has lots of scope for activities about our perceptions of others. Funny and moving. HILARIOUS BOOKS EXPERIENCE IN CALNE There have been several exciting Pageturners projects in Calne thanks to the Calne Community Area Partnership as well as funding from the Wiltshire Council Area Board. The Community Partnership funded a pilot project at The Community Hub for five weeks in November/December 2012. Twelve children aged between 8 - 11 took part in a variety drama, writing, arts and games activities all based around Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce. This funny book was chosen by the group at the first session. They had a selection of award winning funny stories to choose from. Everyone got a copy of the book to keep. The final session was held in Calne library, where family members were invited to watch short drama scenes, hear about the book and see some of the things that had been created. Children got personalised ‘further reading lists’ and they were able to take some of those books out of the library straight away. This helped keep the enthusiasm going! The project was fully booked and even had a waiting list. Calne Community Area Partnership applied for an Area Board grant to run a further two projects. Another one for the 8 - 11 year olds and one for 11 - 14 year olds. The second project for 8 - 11 year olds is already underway and the group have selected Shrunk! By Fleur Hitchcock as the book to focus on. The project for 11 - 14 year olds is starting on Monday February 25th, 7pm - 8pm at The Community Hub. The project will run for five weeks and bookings are being taken now. About Pageturners Pageturners runs creative workshops based around books for groups of children, young people or families. Themes and issues are drawn from books to create very interactive, fun workshops. The workshops use a mix of drama, arts, games, debates, story-telling, creative writing and discussion. This provides an exciting way of exploring the book and related issues, concepts and feelings. Pageturners workshops bring books to life and promote reading, writing and creativity. They provide a fresh look at books for older children and young people and families working together. Workshops/projects can be run over a short term period with a group or on a one-off basis. There are a number of themed workshops and projects available too, including Hilarious Books and Revolutionary Reading. For more information please look at the website or get in touch with Lesley Taylor www.pageturnersproject.co.uk [email protected] k

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Page 1: HILARIOUS BOOKS EXPERIENCE About Pageturners IN CALNEmedia.freeola.com/other/13984/newsletterfeb2013.pdf · The Hilarious Books Experience is a popular Pageturners project. Here’s

Feb 2013

FUNNY BOOK FOCUS

The Hilarious Books Experience is a popular Pageturners project. Here’s a snapshot of some funny favourites.

Einsteins Underpants and How They Saved the World by Anthony MacGowan: When I bought this book for a project, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it myself. I thought a book about slimy, disgusting aliens trying to take over earth wouldn’t be my cup of tea. I was wrong. This is a very funny story about an band of school misfits who become unlikely heroes. It worked well for the project too – the boys involved loved it! 10+

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce: I’ve read extracts of this book aloud to groups of children countless times and it never fails to make them (or me) laugh out loud. This is one of my favourite funny books ever. It’s the madcap story of twelve year old Liam who keeps being mistaken for an adult – with some crazy consequences. None more crazy, however, than the day he finds himself in charge of a group of children on a space rocket. Full of warmth and humour. 9+ (One for adults to love too).

The Teenage Years (Dark Lord) by Jamie Thomson: I had to put it down several times due to laughing so hard. A Dark Lord from the underworld suddenly finds himself blasted to earth as a 13 year old boy. None of his powers are intact and so he ends up in the care of Social Services who are convinced he is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. 9+ 11 +

How to Train Your Parents by Pete Johnson: I can’t read this book without laughing. Louis has moved home and into a new, posh school. As a result, his once easy-going parents start putting Louis under pressure to be more like the boy up the road, whilst they try to impress his parents. 9+

Socks are not Enough by Mark Lowry: Michael Swarbrick , aged 14, is a much misunderstood teenager. It’s Adrian Mole for a new generation – quirky and very,very funny. 11+

Gangsta Granny by David Walliams: This book is popular on Pageturners projects with 8 - 13 year olds. It’s great for reluctant readers and has lots of scope for activities about our perceptions of others. Funny and moving.

HILARIOUS BOOKS EXPERIENCE IN CALNE

There have been several exciting Pageturners projects in Calne thanks to the Calne Community Area Partnership as well as funding from the Wiltshire Council Area Board. The Community Partnership funded a pilot project at The Community Hub for five weeks in November/December 2012. Twelve children aged between 8 - 11 took part in a variety drama, writing, arts and games activities all based around Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce. This funny book was chosen by the group at the first session. They had a selection of award winning funny stories to choose from. Everyone got a copy of the book to keep.

The final session was held in Calne library, where family members were invited to watch short drama scenes, hear about the book and see some of the things that had been created. Children got personalised ‘further reading lists’ and they were able to take some of those books out of the library straight away. This helped keep the enthusiasm going!

The project was fully booked and even had a waiting list. Calne Community Area Partnership applied for an Area Board grant to run a further two projects. Another one for the 8 - 11 year olds and one for 11 - 14 year olds. The second project for 8 - 11 year olds is already underway and the group have selected Shrunk! By Fleur Hitchcock as the book to focus on.

The project for 11 - 14 year olds is starting on Monday February 25th, 7pm - 8pm at The Community Hub. The project will run for five weeks and bookings are being taken now.

About Pageturners

Pageturners runs creative workshops based around books for groups of children, young people or families. Themes and issues are drawn from books to create very interactive, fun workshops.

The workshops use a mix of drama, arts, games, debates, story-telling, creative writing and discussion. This provides an exciting way of exploring the book and related issues, concepts and feelings.

Pageturners workshops bring books to life and promote reading, writing and creativity. They provide a fresh look at books for older children and young people and families working together.

Workshops/projects can be run over a short term period with a group or on a one-off basis. There are a number of themed workshops and projects available too, including Hilarious Books and Revolutionary Reading.

For more information please look at the website or get in touch with Lesley Taylorwww.pageturnersproject.co.uklesley@pageturnersproject.co.uk

Page 2: HILARIOUS BOOKS EXPERIENCE About Pageturners IN CALNEmedia.freeola.com/other/13984/newsletterfeb2013.pdf · The Hilarious Books Experience is a popular Pageturners project. Here’s

Current Pageturners

projects

Revolutionary Reading Abbeywood Community School, Bristol

Pageturners has recently started a 6 week Revolutionary Reading project for a group of year 7 - 10s. This project is funded by a national literature trust and is run in conjunction with South Gloucestershire Arts Service and Libraries. The project is an opportunity to explore exciting ‘political’ fiction for teenagers. There will be reading, writing, debate, discussion, drama and art. Following the 6 sessions, we will hold a café event where the young people can showcase their work to their families, teachers and local writers and share their thoughts about the some of books we are exploring - and maybe even debate the hot issues! The group are focusing on Uglies by Scott Westerfeld and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Hilarious Books Experience Hardenhuish School, Chippenham

This is a four week after-school project with a group of Year seven boys and is funded through Wiltshire Council PAWS. The group need

encouragement to read more and the school felt this approach would suit their needs. They selected Gangsta Granny by David Walliams at the first session, with great enthusiasm!They are looking forward to drama, arts and games over the next few weeks, even if someone of them “really don’t like books.”

They loved the idea of a Gangsta Granny and that’s why they selected this story.

St. Peter’s school in Chippenham Family Project.

Boroughlands Charity funded this family project aimed at Year 4 pupils and a parent, plus siblings too! We have a group ranging from age 5 - 10 plus adults! They chose Zeus on the Loose by John Dougherty, which proved the ideal book for such a mixed age range. The children love the arts and drama activities based on this funny story.

PROJECT ROUND UP

Creating backdrops for a Zeus on the Loose puppet show at the family project in St. Peter’s School. The children worked on their own scripts.

Making bling for Gangsta Granny. A popular Pageturners book and currently being read by year 7s at an Hilarious Books Experience in Hardenhuish School, Chippenham.

QUOTES FROM YOUNG PEOPLE, TEACHERS & PARENTS

Children and young people views on Pageturners:“Imaginative.”

“Epic and awesome and cool.”

“It was great. Never had as much fun reading a book. Making new friends.”

“I enjoyed it very much, it was fun and I liked all the different activities.”

“I really enjoyed it! I loved it. I thought it would be awful but it exceeded all my expectations.”

“I enjoyed making the characters because we could do whatever we wanted to.”

“My favourite was debating because I like putting up an argument.”

Teachers and parents thoughts:“He loves coming every week, it’s great to see as he doesn’t normally read much.”

“She has loved going and said if there are any more sessions she wants to go!”

“It’s been brilliant. She has really loved coming and it’s great to see her being enthusiastic about books. She’s just selected two [from the library] to take home, which is so encouraging to see.”

“Whatever you’ve been doing, it’s worked! He’s loved coming.”

“Thank you for running the project, it’s been lovely.”

“Applicable not only to ‘English’ learning but elements of politics/citizenship/philosophy too. Engaging and interactive whole group activities.