READING NEWSLETTER
Despite the short half term, we have had a lot to celebrate with regards to reading In this edition, we will update you with breakfast parties, staff and pupil book reviews and our recommended reads. This half term our recommendations all have a World War Two theme, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day.
Each term, we host an exciting reading competition between the Form Classes in Year 7 and Year 8. Using Accelerated Reader quizzes to track progress, we encourage the boys to explore new books and achieve milestones in their reading journeys. At the end of each term, the Form Class to have read the highest number of books is rewarded with a special prize.
This term, Miss Cunningham’s Form Class claimed the top spot, reading nearly 100 books. To celebrate their fantastic achievement, the class enjoyed a delicious breakfast party complete with donuts, muffins, and juice. Well done, 7H1 – keep up the great reading. Which Form Class will be the next reading winners?
Let’s Grow a Book Tree!
At St Cuthbert’s we want you to dream big dreams and Books will help you to dream and imagine big. This half term, we want you to write about your favourite book on a leaf and add it to the library reading tree after the holidays You will have received a leaf from the library, so make sure you add lots of important information about the book you are reading and decorate it with colour and images There will be prizes awarded to the best leaves
Pupil Book Reviews
Daniel Mathias 7A1
‘When the Sky Falls’ by Phil Earle
"1941. An angry stubborn boy runs against the tides and is sent to London to be at the mercy of the German Luftwaffe. He faces multiple challenges like armies, bullying and even his guardian. Then most importantly, a might silverback gorilla. Will he learn to subdue his anger and get along with others? Great book, exciting from start to finish."
This is one of this term’s recommended reads and is in our library to borrow.
Aninterviewwith
What is your favourite book and why?
I don't have a favourite book I do not tend to read books more than once as there are so many out there to read for the first time
When and where do you most like to read?
Anywhere and everywhere. I enjoy sitting on the sofa when I return from work reading my latest book, lying in bed on a Sunday morning and zoning out with a good book or lying on a sun lounger reading on the beach with the sound of the waves in the background All are very relaxing
Why do you enjoy reading?
Reading helps me to de-stress. Sometimes watching the news or reading newspapers can be very negative and reading a book can take you away from the negativity, make you laugh and make you think in a more positive way.
What are you currently reading?
CJ Sansom's Dissolution. I am sentimental about the series of books featuring Tudor lawyer Matthew Shardlake as they were special to my late mother. The books describe parts of London I have visited, such as the Tower of London and how it was used in Tudor times combined with Shardlake solving crimes. They are a good blend of fiction and non-fiction and are very well written yet easy to read
How can you support your son's reading at home?
BOOKRECOMMENDATIONS
YEAR7
Arctic Star by
Tom Palmer
Winter 1943 Teenagers Frank, Joseph and Stephen are Royal Navy recruits on their first mission at sea during the Second World War Their ship is part of an Arctic Convoy sailing to Russia to deliver supplies to the Soviets The convoys have to navigate treacherous waters, sailing through a narrow channel between the Arctic ice pack and German bases on the Norwegian coast Faced with terrifying enemy attacks from both air and sea, as well as life-threatening cold and storms, will all three boys make it home again?
The Bletchley Riddle
by Ruta Sepetys & Steve Sheinkin
It is the summer of 1940 The world is at war These days, you don’t know who you can trust or who might be a secret spy
Maths whizz Jakob Novis has been recruited to the secret codebreaking centre at Bletchley Park As Jakob works to crack the Nazi’s Enigma cipher, his younger sister Lizzie is busy on an undercover mission of her own: to find their mother Filled with codes to decipher and mysteries to unravel, this is the unputdownable historical adventure that will have you on the edge of your seats
YEAR9
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall
Chas McGill has the second-best collection of war souvenirs in Garmouth, and he desperately wants it to be the best When he stumbles across the remains of a German bomber crashed in the woods - its shiny, black machine-gun still intact - he grabs his chance Soon he's masterminding his own war effort with dangerous and unexpected results
YEAR8
When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle
1941 War is raging And Joseph has been sent to live in the city, where bombers rule the skies There, he will live with Mrs F, a gruff woman with no fondness for children Her only loves are the rundown zoo she owns and its mighty silverback gorilla, Adonis As the weeks pass, Joseph and Adonis become friends but what will happen when the bombers set him rampaging free?
1939 Nazi Germany The country is holding its breath Death has never been busier
Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp Liesel steals books This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
October 11th 1943
A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France Its pilot and passenger are best friends One of the girls has a chance at survival
The other has lost the game before it's barely begun But their love will have the power to change everything
When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo she's sure she doesn't stand a chance As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution
As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie and why she left her in the wrecked fuselage of their plane
Unbroken By
Laura Hillenbrand
In 1943 a bomber crashes into the Pacific Ocean
Against all odds, one young lieutenant survives Louise Zamperini had already transformed himself from child delinquent to prodigious athlete, running in the Berlin Olympics Now he must embark on one of the Second World War’s most extraordinary odysseys Zamperini faces thousands of miles of open ocean on a failing raft Beyond like only greater trials, in Japan’s prisoner-ofwar camps
Driven to the limits of endurance Zamperini’s destiny whether triumph or tragedy, depends on the strength of his will
Night By Elie Wiesel
Born into a Jewish ghetto in Hungary as a child Elie Wiesel was sent to the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald This is his account of that atrocity: the ever-increasing horrors he endured, the loss of his family and his struggle to survive in a world that stripped him of humanity, dignity and faith Describing in simple terms the tragic murder of a people from a survivor’s perspective, Night is among the most personal intimate and poignant of all accounts of the Holocaust A compelling consideration of the darkest side of human nature and the enduring power of hope it remains one of the most important works of the twentieth century
