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Category Archives: Book reviews
Wolf brother by Michelle Paver
Posted in Book Blog, Book reviews, pupils, Year 6
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The Fox and the Ghost King by Michael Morpurgo
Posted in Book Blog, Book reviews, pupils, Year 6
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Survivors by Nicola Davies by Lemur24
Posted in Book Blog, Book reviews, pupils, Science, Year 6
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Megan Shepherd, The Secret Horses of Briar Hill
Set in the midst of WW2, this is a beautiful, mysterious, adventurous yet, mostly, very sad story which is full of imagery. Emmaline, a young evacuee from Nottingham, has been sent to Briar’s Hill hospital suffering from ‘the stillwaters’. The hardships of war and illness combine to create a rather grey world, but Emmaline has a secret: she can see winged horses in the mirrors of the old house where they are being treated. When she finds an injured winged horse in the garden and begins receiving letters from The Horse Lord setting her the mission of saving the horse, she becomes absorbed by the challenge which literally brings colour into her grey world.
As the story progresses, we gradually piece together more about Emmaline’s past and about the illness the children are afflicted with as she struggles to protect the horse before it is too late. There are many details in the narrative and descriptions which you may need to return to at as the story develops to be sure you have worked everything out fully…
Although the large numbers of pictures may lead people to think this is a book for younger confident readers, it really isn’t. The illustrations are wonderful drawings that add to the mystery of the text and help to create a deeply imaginative and emotional story which is only likely to be understood or enjoyed by older readers.
If anyone does read this, it would be interesting hear what you think about it. The afterword from the author suggests that there is more than one interpretation of the ending to the story and she does not reveal which she intended, preferring instead to leave this to the reader’s own imagination.
Posted in Book Blog, Book reviews, pupils, Year 6
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Clive Gifford, Eye Benders, The Science of Seeing and Believing
If you are interested in optical illusions and the science of how we see, this little non-fiction book may be a fun way to find out more. Using clear diagrams to support the text, it will help you to understand what is going on in our eyes and our brains when we look at things. There are also some interesting optical illusions in the book which you can try out. You will recognise some of the illusions and images we discussed when we looked at optical illusions in art earlier this term (including, for example, the cafe wall.)
One of my favourites is Beuchet’s chair. There are also some funny 
photographs of a ‘man-eating lady’ and someone ‘carrying the moon’ in a wheelbarrow which use perspective to create trick photos. If you think it might be fun to create your own ‘trick’ photos, this could be a good book to get you started.
Posted in Book Blog, Book reviews, pupils, Science, Year 6
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