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We have some fantastic young writers here at Pittville. Find out more about this competition by clicking on the link above.

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About the competition

As part of our year-long partnership with Good Housekeeping, we've been promoting the power of reading for children and how it opens horizons - but writing is just as important a part of literacy. New research from the National Literacy Trust shows that writing for fun in their free time can support a child's mental wellbeing and help them feel happier, more confident and relaxed. Children have also reported that it inspires their creativity and helps them express their imaginations, thoughts and feelings. That's why we're launching a new writing competition aimed especially at those aged 16 and under.

There's nothing like creating a story to set children's imaginations free and get them to put pen to paper. To enter, we're asking parents or guardians to send us their child's story on the theme of Christmas. This is a chance for children to let their creativity run wild and come up with something really original and exciting.

The competition is split into four age categories: seven and under, eight to 10-year-olds, 11 to 13-year-olds and 14 to 16-year-olds. Those aged seven and under are invited to send in a drawing and a few sentences, while those in the other three categories can submit up to 500 words on a Christmas theme of their choice. Each age category will be considered separately by our panel of judges, who will be looking for the most creative entries in each group. Winning stories will be published in the December 2023 issue of Good Housekeeping and each category winner will also receive £100 worth of book tokens.

How to enter

What to send: Send us your child's story of no more than 500 words (this can include a drawing if your child is seven or under) on the theme of Christmas. Please include the name of the parent or guardian, the name and date of birth of the child, the age category being entered and a mobile or daytime contact number for the parent or guardian.

Send your entry here: worthsharing@goodhousekeeping.co.uk by 31 August 2023. In the email, please include the following information:

Parent or guardian's name

Parent or guardian's address

Parent or guardian's postcode

Parent or guardian's mobile or daytime telephone number

Child's name

Child's date of birth and the category being entered

The National Literacy Trust cannot accept entries. See Good Housekeeping's site for the full terms and conditions.

Need some inspiration?

Award-winning children's author Michael Morpurgo shares his tips on getting started as a writer. His latest book is The Boy Who Would Be King, illustrated by Michael Foreman.

Write just a little every day, whether that's first thing in the morning like me or in the evening when it's quiet. Find a comfortable place to write that suits you. For me, it's my bed, with lots of pillows behind my head.

Settle on an idea that you're really passionate about, then research around it and dream it out in your mind. I don't plan out the plot - I let it emerge as I write.

When I write, I try as much as possible to forget I'm writing at all. I put it down on the page as if I'm telling it to one person only, my best friend. Try to read your stories out aloud as if someone is listening, and don't worry too much about spelling and punctuation.

Try to write about things you know about. Live an interesting life. Meet people. Read a lot and widely.

Give yourself time to develop your own style, your own voice. It takes a lifetime. And most of all, enjoy it and have fun.

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Good Housekeeping's young writer's competition | National Literacy Trust

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We've teamed up with Good Housekeeping to create a brand-new writing competition for anyone aged 16 and under. Winners will not only get to have their story published in Good Housekeeping, they'll also be awarded £100 worth of bookshop vouchers.

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The Ginger Nuts of Horror Review Website

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YA and Middle-Grade Horror Roundup, June 2023

The YA and MG Horror roundup reviews took a slight break thanks to the website hack, but they will bounce back in style with nine new books in this latest feature. Six of the books are YA and the other three roughly Middle Grade. Amongst the latter it was superb to see Hilary McKay making a cool change of direction from drama and historical fiction to Jodie, a quiet contemporary ghost story, from publisher Barrington Stokes which specialises in quality high interest easy read fiction. Christian Francis also caught my eye with The Dead Woods but this novel was much harder to classify muddling from YA to Middle Grade and not really settling in either and might be a tricky book for school librarians to know what to do with. Patrick Reuman suggests his fiction is for both adults and children, I would abandon the adult 'sell' as The Monster on Mulligans Hollow which was the first book in the Creepy Little Nightmares series was 100% for kids. It was a fun easy read for youngsters, but it absolutely was not " all age horror " as he advertises.

There are some big names mixed amongst the six straight YA titles, none bigger than the excellent Teri Terry who abandons her usual thrillers and dystopias for a very clever ghost story with Scare Me. Welcome to YA horror Teri! From the other side of the pond Kalynn Bayron pulls the exact same trick with You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight, abandoning her usual fantasy for a slasher horror film inspired romp. Vincent Tirado is another author we have reviewed before, their second novel We Don't Swim Here is another fascinating read and they are clearly a name to watch, mixing horror with fascinating racial social commentary. The superb Suzanne Young has been featured on the site on a few occasions and In Nightfall is a welcome addition to the vampire genre.

The final two authors make their debut on the site, Kelly McKain's Green Witch really held my attention, an engaging mix of teen drama and earthy witch magic. Finally, indie horror Ouija from Zoé-Lee O'Farrell wasa fun undemanding read with a group of dumb teenagers wishing they never fooled around with that annoying Ouija board.

The books are presented A-Z by author. Do reach out if you have something we might like to review.

Kalynn Bayron - You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BH7ZZPH2

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury YA; 1st edition (20 Jun. 2023)

Since Cinderella Is Dead arrived in 2020 Kalynn Bayron has made serious waves in the YA fantasy world, following that smash hit with This Poison Heart and sequel This Wicked Fate. All three books have been wildly popular in my school library and I am delighted to see Kalynn neatly side-step away from fantasy into YA horror. This author always features great diversity and LGBTQ+ representation, which continues in You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight with a Black gay teenage girl being the main character (although this is not a significant part of the story). In the acknowledgements Bayron notes that this novel is a tribute to all her favourite slasher films of the eighties and she has great fun playing around with the Final Girl trope. Younger readers might not notice many of the nuances or film references, but it remains a fun and enjoyable read and even thought it has some f-bombs any young teen will be sucked into a page-turner which really picks up the pace in the second half, with the first setting the scene.

Main character Charity Curtis loves her summer job playing a Final Girl at Camp Mirror Lake, where paying customers have the crap scared out of them in a location made famous by an old horror slasher film, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The game is incredibly realistic, full contact, and Charity is exceptionally good at it and gets a kick out of scaring people. The first half of the novel builds the tension, Charity's girlfriend Bezi is another major character and after weird things begin to happen they realise the camp is not what it seems and has a history significantly older than the slasher movie they pay homage to. With real killers on the prowl, Charity's Final Girl role becomes all too real and she has to fight for survival, with her camp role being well and truly reversed. Although it lacked genuine scares, there were some cool reveals towards the conclusion and an ending which would be go down well on the big screen. Charity was a great central character and I liked the way the novel did add in some social commentary regarding how the victims were chosen. Like the horror films which inspired it, You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight was not an especially deep read, nor did it need to be, but it sure was a fun one.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Christian Francis - The Dead Woods

The Dead Woods is Christian Francis's first stab at writing YA, having previously authored film novelisations for Vamp, Titan Finds and Wish Master, as well as other novels and screenplays. To be completely transparent: I enjoyed The Dead Woods a fair bit and sped through its brief 184 pages in a couple of sittings, but it suffers from an identity crisis. On a number of occasions I felt the book had been miscategorised and it was actually Middle Grade (MG) fiction, rather than YA, but even though it was written at MG level, the content got too dark. Kids having the flesh eaten off their legs would not happen in MG fiction and major characters would not be killed off without barely ever being mentioned again or mourned. On page 157 of 184, I have made some deletions to avoid spoilers: "XXX screamed as he got to the base of the gully that YYY had fallen into and saw the vast collection of vines now piercing YYY deceased body - lifting and pulling YYY apart bit by bit. Limb by limb." This sort of thing is unheard of in MG and is also fairly uncommon in YA. Even though it was a deceptively easy read it got very dark and the ending was not exactly happy.

The story is a familiar one: something nasty lives in the local Cromwell Woods, which has been hushed up down the generations, but resurfaces every few years. In a terrific prologue a little boy (James Petrie) opens his bedroom window to let in his pet dog (who died shortly before) and is killed. The story then picks up a group of inseparable young teens who were classmates of the dead boy some years later, James Tran, Findlay Scott, Emmie Hanson, Hamish Flynn and Philip Kaminsky. The story also takes in various adult characters, such as the sheriff, but might have been better concentrating on the children's story, it also includes a couple of time jumps back to the eighties and earlier which showed how the supernatural activity in the woods impacted earlier generations. After one of the five kids approach the mother of James Petrie, the evil in the woods reawakens and the rest of the group try to help their friends, whilst coming up against resistance from other members of the town. As I said I enjoyed this book, but its unsettling nature might upset younger kids, even if it was an easy read.
AGE RANGE 12/13+

Kelly McKain - Green Witch

Hilary McKay - Jodie

Zoé-Lee O'Farrell - Ouija

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09CGFXKN4

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (12 Aug. 2021)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 187 pages

There are plenty of Ouija board-based stories on the market and Zoé-Lee O'Farrell's debut Ouija is well worth a look should you be after a fast-paced teen read which includes a surprising number of deaths. The narrative is told from multiple perspectives in a tight friendship group which includes twins, a couple and regularly dips into mobile text lingo with the friends contacting each other out of school. The Ouija board part of the story follows the usual pattern, with one of the teens daring the others to fool around with the board. Reluctantly, they break into the abandoned Rayner High School, where the previous year there were some shocking deaths. This was absolutely not the place to be fooling around with a Ouija board!

Ouija gets dark very quickly when the teens realise they have woken or attracted something nasty from the other side. The dynamics between the group was authentic, moving from grumpy, to having punch-ups, to sacrificing themselves for the rest of the group. Six was a nice number for the narrative to move between, with the relationship between the twins a highlight, and I was surprised by the high numbers of casualties. Much of the deaths and violence happens off-screen, but I did wonder about the manner in which the kids were able to name the demon and wondered whether it was entirely necessary as parts of the story descended into cliché with sentences referencing "evil" rather too quickly. Ouija was an entertaining gateway style horror novel, which was written in an engaging and easy to read style, which could grab young readers and easily hold their attention for its 180 pages.

AGE RANGE 12/13+

Patrick Reuman - The Monster on Mulligans Hollow: (Creepy Little Nightmares - Book #1) (All-Age Horror)

Teri Terry - Scare Me

Vincent Tirado - We Don't Swim Here

Suzanne Young - In Nightfall

I was a massive fan of Suzanne Young's Program series (six books between 2013-18) and her Girls With Sharp Sticks trilogy (2019-21) but recently read in a viral Twitter post about one of her author events flopping with absolute zero attendees. There is no such thing as bad publicity! As this sad post encouraged me to buy her latest In Nightfall for my school library, which was a highly entertaining YA horror novel, many of her other books have a heavier dystopian twang. Although In Nightfall is clearly a vampire novel with the blurbs referencing both Lost Boys and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there is limited vamp action until well into the story. However, do not let that put you off as the involving and engaging teen build up to be entertaining in itself and even readers who don't traditionally read horror novels might enjoy this.

The action takes place in the small coastal town of Nightfall (Oregon) with Theo (the narrator) and her older brother Marco heading to Nightfall for the summer with their dad. This is their dad's hometown and they stay with the grandmother they had never previously met. Neither teen questions why they have never previously visited and are dreading their boring stay in a town where it rains a lot and only has a population of 846. Their grandmother is superstitious and strangely antisocial and upon their arrival she lays out the one house rule: always be home before dark. This is a tricky rule to follow as Marco and Theo quickly make friends and realise there are nightly beach parties leading up to a big event the following week. However, nobody is quite what they seem and Theo gets sucked into a complex mystery, ropes in two successful true crime podcasters, whilst her father hooks up with an old flame. There was a lot going on and Nightfall (terrible phone reception and all) was a terrific location. Although it lacked scares In Night Fall was a great dark teen thriller where the beautiful people really are too good to be true.
AGE RANGE 13/14+

Tony Jones

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Tony Jones returns with another YA and MG Horror Roundup for The Young Blood Library, the home of YA and MG Horror reviews.

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The winners of the 2023 Carnegie Medals, chosen by a panel of children’s and youth librarians, are announced, and the winners of the Shadowers Awards

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Looking forward to a visit to the new library space just around the corner from school at Oakley 📚

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Very well done to Leah in Year 8 for raising a fantastic amount of money for Read for Good 📚🤩🥳

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Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor book talk FAST, NO SPOILERS BOOK TALK!

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Book two- The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne

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Book two- The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne

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The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne by Jonathan Stroud | Book Trailer

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Waterstones Virtual School Event with A.F. Steadman

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Wednesday vibe ... Series two coming soon!

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Wednesday vibe ... Series two coming soon!

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https://www.readbrightly.com/books-with-magic-mystery-suspense/#

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Not sure of the order of a series? Try here ...

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Not sure of the order of a series? Try here ...

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The goal of this website is simple: to list the series of every book in order.

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Today's session is all about learning more about Accelerated Reader

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Ms Brinkworth and Mrs Godding are taking part in a book group for teachers and librarians.

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Welcome to the online library newsletter 

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Welcome to the online library newsletter 

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What's new?

Monday lunchtime is year 7 book club

Tuesday lunchtime is year 8 book club

Wednesday lunchtime- open to all

Thursday lunchtime -open to all

Friday lunchtime - creative writing, all welcome

Please collect a library pass from the library to come up. Numbers are limited.

Students in years 7, 8 and 9 are having reading lessons once every two weeks. You will have the opportunity to borrow and return books. Students can also renew books as required.

Make sure you have a  book with you in school as you will need one.

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Take a look here a there is lots of audiobooks available, for free with your public library membership.

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Children, Children's Fiction, Comedy, Humorous Fiction

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This reading related blog is great and well worth a look.

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This reading related blog is great and well worth a look.

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Our top picks of books for children and teens starring Mighty Girls who love to read!

For 50 years, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization has celebrated International Literacy Day. On their Literacy Day web page UNESCO emphasizes why literacy is so important: it is "the foundation of all learning... a human right, a tool of personal empowerment and a means for social and human development."

To mark International Literacy Day, A Mighty Girl has put together a collection of our favorite books about reading, libraries, and literacy featuring Mighty Girl characters. These books celebrate the love of reading, the value that books bring to our lives, and the incredible joy and pride that comes with learning this critical skill - as well as the haven of all book lovers, the local library! Along with numerous recommendations for children and teens, we also highlight a number of books for parents offering tips and strategies to help foster your children's love of reading and information on how to support those children that might be struggling.

Book Lovers: Books, Libraries, and Literacy

Whether these Mighty Girls are just learning to read or are passing on their love of reading to others, each of these books celebrates the joy and connection to others that books can bring.

Raising A Reader: Parenting Books About Literacy

The best way for all of us to show our gratitude for the amazing gift of literacy is to help children develop facility with - and a love for - reading. These books for parents will give you tips and strategies to help make sure that reading will be a family legacy.

Whether your Mighty Girl is a toddler or a teen, spend some time together today and celebrate the amazing gift of literacy. Encourage them to share their love of reading and books with their peers, their community, and beyond. After all, with the help of Mighty kids around the world, hopefully someday illiteracy will be a thing of the past.

Additional Recommended Resources

For books about educational access, check out our blog Honoring Malala: Mighty Girl Books on Children's Fight for Education or our Educational Access section.

For more Parenting books to support readers, check out our Literacy / Book Clubs section.

If this blog has inspired you to read aloud to your Mighty Girl, check out our list of the Top Read Aloud Books Starring Mighty Girls. These great books can be read independently by older children as well - or, have her read aloud to you!

If you're interested in forming a book club, why not make it a Mighty Girl book club? Our book club page includes tips for setting up a club, reading lists for a variety of age groups, and an option to sign up for our ongoing book club newsletter.

When you're helping your Mighty Girl choose books, make sure you browse our full selection of Mighty Girl books. With categories and subcategories to help you find books on almost any theme, both fiction and non-fiction, you're sure to find some unexpected titles that your Mighty Girl will love.

And you can encourage reading and literacy through play as well as through books! In our Toy section we have a section of Reading / Literacy toys that focus on letter recognition, storytelling, and word play. Or, get your Mighty Girl writing her own stories by checking out the toys and journals in our Writing / Journaling section.

She can show off her love of reading by checking out our selection of Literary Themed clothing. This section includes a series of shirts from Out of Print, a company that makes T-shirts featuring vintage book covers which will donate one book per shirt purchased to a community in need.

And if your Mighty Girl wants to share her love of reading with the world, one great way to do it is by supporting the African Library Project. By sending her gently used books to a book drive, she can help the project start new libraries in communities in Africa. It's a great way for her to help kids everywhere end up with great books in their hands!

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35 Mighty Girl Books Celebrating Reading, Libraries, and Literacy

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Our top picks of books for children and teens starring Mighty Girls who love to read! For 50 years, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization has celebrated International Literacy Day. On their Literacy Day web page UNESCO emphasizes why literacy is so important: it is "the foundation of all learning...

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Keep quizzing everyone and get your class at the top of the list!

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Years 7 and 8 check if you can quiz on all the books you are reading at home here ...

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Years 7 and 8 check if you can quiz on all the books you are reading at home here ...

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Make sure you are still doing quizzes on the books you are reading!
https://ukhosted10.renlearn.co.uk/1893457/

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Tips on boosting your reading, writing, speaking and listening skills for young adults.

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Tips on boosting literacy for young adults.

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Waterstones has some great recommendations arranged in different genres.

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There are some great suggestions on this books list, the link is well worth a look

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Recommended books for KS3 & KS4 - children and teens aged 11-16

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Books for children aged 11-16. Recommended reading lists for Year 7, Year 8, Year 9, Year 10 and Year 11 in secondary school KS3 and KS4.

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This is a great selection of videos looking at why we should read certain books, how many have you read?

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Writer A.J. Jacobs was going through life feeling more grumpy than grateful. To start...

iStock Yes, we know it takes plenty of time and energy to be a good person in the here and now....

" And if you r boss is on the fence, here's a compelling case study - from economics professor...

Melissa McFeeters The bad news: Online user reviews don't really match up with performance...

Maybe you r beach vacation is more rocky coastline than sandy paradise. Maybe happy endings just...

This compilation of reading assigned to students everywhere will expand your horizons - and you r...

In honor of National Poetry Day, TED-Ed asked writing teachers at the San Francisco Writers...

Ready to level up you r working knowledge of math? Below, Jennifer Ouellette, author of The...

Who taught you how to identify and manage you r emotions, how to recognize them when they arose,...

If one of your New Year's Resolutions was the classic " read more books" and you haven't so much...

The short answer is yes. Here's why. In the Lego Movie, the protagonists are "master builders" -...

Are you a soldier or a scout? You r answer to this question, says decision-making expert Julia...

Justin Tran Here are the must-dos that you need to check off your list before you get you r...

Summer: it's the season of rest, rejuvenation ... and read ing lists. TED-Ed asked some of our...

BIO Alejandra Guzman is a secondary science strategist for Los Fresnos CISD in Texas. She is...

What should you read next? From art history to science fiction, here are 50 fantastic books...

Yash Khatavkar, Fridley High School TED-Ed Club Member and high school senior, wants to see a...

Whether you put on you r cap and gown last week - or last century - these honest answers can give...

Stretch your mind and strengthen you r relationships with this simple exercise borrowed from...

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Writer A.J. Jacobs was going through life feeling more grumpy than grateful. To start... iStock Yes, we know it takes plenty of time and energy to be a good person in the here and now.... " And if you r boss is on the fence, here's a compelling case study - from economics professor...

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14-year-old reviews horror books aimed at 10-14 year-olds - prepare to be scared!

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GINGER NUTS OF HORROR, THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR WEBSITES

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BOOK REVIEW: ​THE DEVIL AND WINNIE FLYNN BY MICOL OSTOW AND DAVID OSTOW

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BOOK REVIEW: ​THE DEVIL AND WINNIE FLYNN BY MICOL OSTOW AND DAVID OSTOW

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Love Reading For Kids is a brilliant website. Use the Browse By Age tab for books 11+, 13+ and YA

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Book Trust has it's own bookfinder search, try it - you never know what you might find!

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Be inspired and discover your child’s next favourite book with the BookTrust Bookfinder: search by theme and age, from babies and toddlers all the way up to teenagers.