Julia Donaldson Children's Laureate

Julia Donaldson a fantastic children's author, she has written over 165 books (64 of them can be bought in shops, and the other 101 are for schools.) Her most famous book is probably The Gruffalo but she has written a couple of books for older children which I will read and review then at a later date. I loved her books when I was younger because they are funny exciting and my mum and dad enjoyed reading them too. If fact they probably know them off by heart and my five year old brother now loves them. To find out more about Julia Donaldson here is a link to a website about her: http://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/index.php

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to ask her a couple questions. She is currently touring the country and was in Shropshire on Wednesday and was interviewed by Jim Hawkins on BBC Radio Shropshire. Jim told Julia about my blog and asked her if I could interview her. She agreed to answer a couple of questions by email which was brilliant so a big THANK YOU. Here they are:

 

MS What gives you your inspiration for your books?

 

JD It is different for every book - but to choose one - sometimes an idea comes from my own children. My middle son loved collecting things and it gave me the idea for my novel The Giants and the Joneses where children are collected by a giant.  

 

MS What do you like to read? What do you think can be done to make reading cool for boys?

 

JD As I am the Children's Laureate, I have been reading lots of different children's books. Two books that I have especially enjoyed recently and ones that I think you and your blog readers would like are:Skyhawk by Gill Lewis    http://www.gilllewis.com/
Mr Stink by David Walliams  http://david-walliams.co.uk/

 

We have combined questions 2 and 3 and I hope Matthew won't mind this. I am pleased that we have been able to add this to his blog in between events!

I will read Julia's recommended books and review them when done.
 
What is a Children's Laureate?
 
The role of a children's Laureate is awarded once every two years to an eminent writer or illustrator of children's books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their field.
 
I thought I would add this in case you are wondering what a Children's Laureate is because I didn't know.

 

This is Julia Donaldson





 

Meet the authors!

Have you got a chance to meet an author? If you have take it, I've met several, Alan Gibbons, Ian Whybrow, Lucy Hawking and more!

 

 

Alan Gibbons

 

Alan Gibbons is a very funny character and he has written some very good books. Once he came to my school and told us about his books. He then asked us to write a mini story which we did. He told us he was a really rubbish speller which I thought was funny for an author. With his help our class wrote some really good mini stories. He has written some award winning books, and here is a link to a website about him: http://www.alangibbons.com/index.htm

 

 

 

Lucy Hawking

 

Lucy Hawking is the daughter of Professor Stephen Hawking the great scientist. I went to hear her give speech in late 2011 where she was talking about space and aliens. She talked about the books she has written, George's Secret Key to the Universe, George's Galactic Treasure Hunt and George and the big bang. She signed a book for me and I have read them all which are brilliant if you want easier to understand information about space and the universe. Here is a website about her:http://www.georgessecretkey.com/authors/

 

 

 

Ian Whybrow

 

I don't know much about Ian Whybrow because I was only 5 when I went to see him, but I do know that he has written loads of  books such as Harry and the Dinosaurs (I read these to my 5 year old brother), Meerkat Madness, Books for Boys and more! Here is a link to a website about him:http://clubs-kids.scholastic.co.uk/authors/3190   

 

I was supposed to go and see Mackenzie Crook the actor from Pirates of the Caribbean but he had to cancel because of filming he had to do. It was disappointing as the book Windvale Sprites is really good. I'm hoping he might decided to come to Shrewsbury again sometime. Here is a link if you want to look http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/jul/10/windvale-sprites-mackenzie-crook-review

 

 

All of these books and authors are recommended, but the books didn't quite make it in to my top five (I mean six!). 



 

 



Fantastic books to read

1) Harry Potter. Great for adults and children so parents can read them together(including my Dad). Harry Potter is left on the doorstep by a mysterious man. He learns how to play quidditch at school which is a school of witchcraft and wizardry. He is nearly killed in a heated battle by an evil assassin.  A fantastic series of six books in total packed full of fun ,adventure and jokes.
 

2) The Brilliant World of Tom Gates. A hilarious book winning the Roald Dahl funny prize award and the 2012 Shrewsbury Book Feast award. A great book if you want a laugh.
 

3) The last dragon chronicles. A thrilling and mysterious series which are extremely good. Based on a boy named David, who is given a special dragon when he goes to live at Liz and Lucy's house, but is there more to this dragon that meets the eye?

4) Diary of a Wimpy Kid. A diary based series of books written by Gregg a middle school student who tells us about his life at school and at home.

5) Beast Quest. These books started me on my reading journey. The hero is Tom and in each book he goes on a quest to defeat a beast, along with his best friend Ellena and two trusty animal companions Storm the horse and Silver the wolf. Together nothing can stand in there way. Great stories to read if you are not a confident reader.

6) Horrid Henry. These books are easy to read and are really funny. Horrid Henry has absolutely horrid parents, a perfect brother called Peter, a moody neighbour called Margeret and a stuck up cousin named Steve. Henry really a has got a truly horrid life (this is according to Henry!).



I was originally going to do the top 5 but I just couldn't decide 5 so I went with 6.

ALL OF THESE ARE DIFFERENT & GOOD IN THEIR OWN WAYS SO I RECOMMENDED YOU TRY AND READ THEM!!! 

  

  



Introduction to The Boy Reader

Hi I'm Matthew I'm 11 and I LOVE READING.I have decided to write a blog about reading from a boys point of view. My aim is to get boys to cut down on the video games and read a little bit more. To be honest I never used to like reading myself, the Biff and Chip books at school were boring, but the 2009 world book day is were it all began with a short Beast Quest book by Adam Blade which my mum bought for something differnt to read at bedtime. Mum or dad always read me a story at bedtime but I liked the look of this book and decided to try and read it myself. Ever since then I've never wanted to stop reading (and still don't) I've noticed that a lot of other boys prefer video games than reading and that is why I have started this blog to try and help them on the reading journey.

1.