St Chris- Literacy Newsletter- Autumn Term 2024-Final
READING NEWSLETTER
At St Christopher, we prioritise reading to ensure every student can read confidently for pleasure and progress.
Welcome to our Termly newsletter We hope this will help you support your child with their reading at home
Why is reading important?
Reading for pleasure is associated with numerous benefits - from improvements in reading achievement and comprehension, writing, vocabulary, and general knowledge to improved empathy, understanding of self and others, and well-being. Reading is a powerful ally in developing literate, compassionate and healthy young people in today's society
Every Term we will share reading recommendations, news from our library and top tips for how you can support your child's reading at home.
Improves
Reduces stress Strengthens fluency Improves working memory
READING NEWSLETTER
December 2024
Recommendations
KS5
Simon Cockle Amy Anderson Rebecca Sweeney
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Roaring down the desert highway, Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo are seeking out the dark side of the American Dream. Armed with a drug arsenal of stupendous proportions, they confront casino operators, police officers and assorted Middle Americans, in surreal, chemically enhanced encounters. Hilarious, hallucinogenic and subversive, Hunter S. Thompson’s semiautobiographical novel is a cult classic and a masterpiece of gonzo journalism.
A Little Life
When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition
Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride
Washington Black
When two English brothers take the helm of a Barbados sugar plantation, Washington Black - an eleven yearold field slave - finds himself selected as personal servant to one of these men
They escape the island together, but then Titch disappears and Washington must make his way alone, following the promise of freedom further than he ever dreamed possible From the blistering cane fields of Barbados to the icy wastes of the Canadian Arctic, from the muddrowned streets of London to the eerie deserts of Morocco, Washington Black teems with all the strangeness and mystery of life
READING
December
Student Reviews
Nolan- V Group
Foul Play by Robin Stevens
READING NEWSLETTER
December 2024
Student Reviews
BOOK REVIEW
eatrix: I Group
TITLE : THE WIZARDS OF ONCE
AUTHOR : CRESSIDA COWELL
There are many types of humans living in the wildwoods. The Wizards, who were magic and the Warriors who were not. These two tribes have been brought up to hate each other like poison, but when a young Wizard boy meets an unusual Warrior girl, they discover something unspeakable. Have they been too busy fighting to notice that an ancient evil has returned to th f t?
Other book Cowell incl Your Drago to Anywher
I love this book because of all the twists and turns it has At the beginning, it just seems like an averagely good book but there are hidden secrets scattered throughout If you persevere and finish the entire series, (four books), you will be gasping at every page.
Another thing I like is how real the characters feel You can really understand where they are coming from and sympathise with their problems and hardships
I think the best part is the climax because that’s when everything is revealed and you find out what has really been happening all along It gets so tense that you can’t put it d
READING NEWSLETTER
December 2024
Student Reviews BOOK REVIEW
STUDENT
Maud: Lower Sixth
TITLE : I CAPTURE THE CASTLE
AUTHOR : DODIE SMITH
‘I Capture the Castle’ is a funny, romance novel, told in the form of a journal, about a young, plain girl, Cassandra and her beautiful but bored sister Rose. They live with their eccentric parents in an abandoned castle: her father who is struggling with the impossible task of writing a second book and her fading glamorous stepmother Topaz who tries desperately to keep the family together despite her own chaotic character Cassandra’s life is relatively mundane until one day her castle gets a visit from two American strangers who utterly change all their lives
AUTHOR : CRESSIDA COWELL
I can see how this might seem like a boring book but read it when I was on holiday and really enjoyed it I must admit that, until the two Americans arrive it’s a little dull, but they do so really near the beginning, so it doesn’t take long and after they did, I was hooked The way its written makes it an easy read, there isn’t really any challenging vocabulary or sections that were impossible, and I think that Dodie Smith is a very talented author (She also wrote 101 dalmatians!) Although it’s a bit unoriginal to like the main character best, I still did love Cassandra, she is very reassuringly realistic and not like other traditional movie/book characters who are annoyingly perfect I particularly liked the scene where she and her sister run off a train wearing fur coats (you’ll have to read it to see what I mean!) The only thing I would say that I didn’t like was the ending, it pretty much implies an event, but doesn’t implicitly say it happens, and for me, endings like this make the book less satisfying This is just my opinion though, as it, like I said heavily implies what happens, but I can only fully enjoy the end if I am certain of the outcome Despite this it is one of my favourite books and, as well as being a romance, is a comedy and so really made me laugh
I would recommend this to anyone who likes a calm, warm book, it’s not action packed but has some good plot twists It’s a little out of the ordinary but that’s one of the things I liked most about it. I think it’s mainly for slightly older readers, but it’s not, like I said, a difficult read so it’s for anyone really who's interested in this kind of thing. It's not in a series, just the one book but it has a very good movie which I would recommend watching AFTER reading it.
READING NEWSLETTER
December 2024
We are proud of all of our students and their reading progress. We wanted to share some highlights from September to the 5th December which our KS3 students achieved...
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