Session Three - Friday 28 February

Happy 110th birthday - click here

Last Day of Summer!

Another great session today. 

We celebrated Dr Seuss' 110th birthday…
with a few quiz questions.


1. How many times did Dr Seuss's first book get returned from publishers before it was published? - 27

2. What was the name of his last book? Oh, The Places You'll Go! published in July 1990

We will place some more quiz questions up for you in the near future!

New Books
This year sees the century of the beginning of World War 1 - 100 years  ago World War 1 began.

"The First World War (1914–1918) was one of the most significant events of the 20th Century and had a seismic impact on New Zealand society.Ten percent of our then population of one million served overseas, of which more than 18,000 died and over 40,000 were wounded. Nearly every New Zealand family was affected." (ww1.govt.nz)

If you want to read more about this click here -

We thought it would be good to focus on a couple of books on this theme.

We introduced the book "Stay Where You Are Then Leave" written by John Boyne. This book is described as " An instant classic that, once read, will never be forgotten." by Eoin Colfer (author of Artemis Fowl)

What's the story? (from The Book Zone: For Boys blog)

Watch the Book Trailer

Stay Where You Are And Then Leave tells the story of Alfie, a boy whose fifth birthday coincided with the announcement of Britain going to war with German in July 1914. That night Alfie's dad makes a promise to his mother that he will not go away to fight, a promise that last less than 24 hours.
Four years no and people are still saying the war will be over by Christmas, exactly as they have been stating in each of the previous years. The letters from his father have stopped arriving and Alfie's mother has told him that his father is not able to write as he is on a top secret mission. Alfie fears the worst and wishes that his mother or grandmother or someone would be honest with him.

Unbeknownst to his mother Alfie has taken to skipping school several days a week in order to help supplement her meagre earnings by shining shoes at King's Cross Station. One day, whilst shining the shoes of a doctor, the doctor's papers go flying and as Alfie aids in their retrieval he spots his father's name and serial number on one of the sheets, with the name of a Suffolk hospital inscribed at the top. So sets in motion a series of events that sees Alfie heading off to Sussex in the hope of finding his father and bringing him home, whatever the consequences.

John Boyne also wrote " The Boy in the striped pyjamas" which is another book based around a war theme.


What Are You Reading?

This week we would like you to let us know what you are reading. Add a comment and let us know - make sure you name your comment  but only with your first name. Looking forward to hearing from you!