February 2014: THE TERRIBLE THING THAT HAPPENED TO BARNABY BROCKET

January 2014: SMALL CHANGE FOR STUART

‘It’s about a boy called Stuart who moves to his old family town. He tries to find out his great-uncle’s secret. I enjoyed it because it was intriguing and scary-but-not-scary . . . It’s very easy to get into’

‘We enjoyed it because it had humour. My favourite part was when he got chased by the triplets!’

‘I enjoyed the book because I like adventure books’

November 2013: EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES

We also went on a trip to see the National Theatre production.

October 2013: WONDER

The clear favourite when we voted for our book of the year.

September 2013: a new school year, and a new year for Book Club

Our introductory meeting for the beginning of a new year, and we first agreed our ground rules:

Read - try to finish each book
Listen to Each Other
Keep an Open Mind
No shouting or Messing Around

Then we had a lovely chat about the books we like the most and what we like to read.

We talked about how we choose books - by reading the blurb, or being recommended from school, or reading the first sentence. We confessed that quite often we read late into the night. And in general we prefer the books to the movies - because as Rachel says 'they miss the exciting bits', and Sophia points out 'they're the originals' and Dylan agrees, recommends reading the book first, because it will have more description.

We like a wide range of different things, but there's a definite preference for fantasy, ('because they can write anything they want'), mysteries and adventures. Sofie particularly likes 'sad mysteries' and Dylan likes to be scared. Sophia says her dad says she's read more books than he has!

You can see our recommended reads on our pinterest board

Katherine Rundell, author of ROOFTOPPERS, visited us in July 2013

Katherine was captivating, and we loved the book - no surprise that it has gone on to win some very well-deserved awards. Here's just a little extract from our chat:

Mercedes:      Did you ever think of joining a circus?

KR:                  Yes! I never thought I’d be a writer, so for a time I had the more realistic ambition of joining a circus. I went to clown school. I always wanted to learn trapeze, but there is no trapeze in Zimbabwe.

Alice:               How do you write?

KR:                  I try to write a thousand words a day. I also teach about Shakespeare during the day, so I get up at 4am to write before I go to work.

Scarlett:          It’s amazing to hear about your childhood in Africa. You really liked it there. Do you like it better here or there?

KR:                  I like them both the same. My mother is still in Zimbabwe, so Africa is home. The world is more wild there. People in England are much better dressed. In Zimbabwe they only wear shorts and sandals, which is wonderful. I’d love to go back.

Rafferty:         I can’t decide whether to be a vet or a writer.

KR:                  Read James Herriot and you’ll see that maybe you can be both!

Maia:               If you could live on a rooftop in Paris for a week, what would you take?

KR:                  How many things am I allowed? Matches, definitely. And my brother. He’s a jazz musician, and very calm. He’s such a cool human being.

Kes the monkey (he could have a tiny backpack and help me carry things). A rain hat and an umbrella, because I used to live in Paris so I know that although when you think of Paris you think of sunlight and stars, actually it rains a lot there, just as much as in London.

Oh, and sausages and a saucepan. Comfort food. Treacle tart. What other comfort food? Yes – sticky toffee pudding, and spaghetti Bolognese and malteser cake.

Alice:               Why did you choose a cello?

KR:                  When I was your age I’d never heard a cello. Then, when I was ten, I was taken to hear Bach played by the best cello player in Zimbabwe. He was a most beautiful human being, a black Zimbabwean man. And I vowed then I’d marry a cello player. Only maybe that won’t happen now because my boyfriend doesn’t play the cello!

            It was also a practical decision, because Sophie is found in a cello case, so it had to be big enough to hold her: either a cello or a double bass, and a double bass is less soulful; and a harp is too difficult to carry around …

Mercedes:      How did you choose the names for your characters? They’re so unusual

KR:                  Vivienne is named after my aunt. Matteo I named because I had a distinct picture in my mind of a boy who could fend for himself. It sounded like a tough name.

                        Anastasia and Saffire – my two cousins wanted to be in the book, so that was easy.

                        Sophie I thought was a good name for a stubborn, practical person.

                        Charles is sort of like one of the Fellows I work with at Oxford, who is one of my favourite people in all the world. When I first wrote it, I used his name, but I had to change it so people couldn’t tell who it was!

And I chose his surname because Maxim means a saying, a famous phrase. And I wanted it to be like maximum, because he’s an extravagant human being.

Scarlett:          My favourite bit was when Sophie was learning to walk on the roof.

                        When I’m reading a book, it’s like watching a little film in your head, and I didn’t want it to end.

Mercedes:      My favourite bit was when she got the package and ate all the food. And my most favourite bit was when she heard her mother’s music. That was …

KR:                  I love writing about food! And reading about it. I always remember the food in LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE: when they make toffee out of snow, and DANNY THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD and jam sandwiches.

My agent always says that books need to answer the two most important questions: What’s for dinner? And Are we there yet?

Look how much we loved The Apothecary by Maile Meloy!