Welcome To the Cedar Grove

I heard the wind above me in the sails. I remember thinking, this is silly you haven't got your harness on, you haven't got your lifejacket on. You shouldn't be doing this. Then the boat veered violently and I was thrown sideways. I had no time to grab the guardrail. I was in the cold of the sea before I had time to scream from Michael's retelling of his story Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo


After falling from the boat, Michael washes up on an island in the pacific. He can't find any means to survive, no food or water... but after a short while, finding food and water left for him, he comes to realise there is someone there looking after him. The rest of the book charts the tempestuous relationship between Michael and the 'saviour' who comes to be a good friend to him. /Such/ an excellent story that I'm trying to avoid saying too much about because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. Just to say I read this book three times in very quick succession, and each time was so emotionally moved by the ending. If you never read any other children's book, read this one! The writing is excellent, the lanugage not at all oversimplistic as some children's books can be. It's just a fabulous read. Who would have thought I'd ever say that of a book on an academic reading list. :)


The Wreck of the Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo

Also on the reading list, the above book. It's shorter than Kensuke's Kingdom but no less involved or no less interesting. Here is a man that just grabs readers by the heartstrings and won't let go.

From product information on Amazon:

Michael travels to Scilly for his Great Aunt Laura's funeral and inherits her diary, which reveals the moving story of her childhood, the great storms and the discovery of Zanzibar.

Life on the Sicily Isles in 1907 is bleak and full of hardship. Laura's twin brother, Billy, disappears, and then a storm devastates everything. It seems there's little hope... that is until the Zanzibar is wrecked on the island's rocks and everything changes.

I'll be working with this book over the next few weeks... hopefully they'll enjoy it as much as they did the last one. I certainly did!

Guardians of Ga'hoole - The Capture by Kathryn Lasky




From the product information on Kathryn Lasky's website:

When Soren, a Barn Owl, is pushed from his family's nest by his older brother, he is rescued from certain death on the forest floor by agents from St. Aggie's, a mysterious school for orphaned owls. When Soren arrives at St. Aggie's, he suspects there is more to the school than meets the eye. He and his new friend, the clever and scrappy Gylfie, find out that St. Aggie's is more sinister than they could have imagined. Soren and Gylfie devise a way to flee the dangerous school and warn owls everywhere about the dangers that lurk in the forest. Together, these owls must find their way through a difficult and perilous journey, in order to save owlkind from the evil plots being hatched at St. Aggies.

This is the first of 13 books (so far anyway - they seem to breed faster than rabbits). It's one of those amazing series that you stumble on from time to time, where the world has been reinvented according to, in this case, owls. The vocabulary is 'owlspeak,' the times of day changed to suit owls. The last time I read that kind of thing it was from the world of moles in William Horwood's Duncton series. It makes a big difference to the way the books read, it really does.

The Ga'hoole books are meant for readers aged seven to nine, but don't let that put you off. They're just as exciting and involved as any book if only you let yourself read with the innocent wonder of a child. We highly recommend these books.