Books for Advanced Long Distance Readers
THE TIME TRAVELLING CAT SERIES
All the stories in this series begin in the present and are linked to the past by plot and theme.
1.The Time Travelling Cat and the Egyptian Goddess.
When Ka, the time-travelling cat vanishes for the first time, Topher is worried. When he finds a message on his computer, saying she's in Ancient Egypt, he's desperate to get her back - but how? Incredibly, he finds himself travelling through time to the ancient own of Bubastis, where Ka is trapped in the temple of the cat goddess, Bastet. Can Topher rescue her and bring her back to the twentieth century?
2. The Time Travelling Cat and the Tudor Treasure.
This novel is about a real search for the Philosophers Stone, which people really believed in in the sixteenth century. Queen Elizabeth I ordered a magician cum scientist called Dr Dee to find it, so she could have lots of gold and live for ever. In my story Dr Dee gets Topher and Ka, the time-travelling cat to help him in his search. If you want a Terrible Tudors Quiz to test your kids go to my Puzzles and Games page.
Go to the Write Away website for an excellent Teachers Guide
Also see Issue 55 July 2008 of Literacy Time Plus (pub Scholastic) for more super teaching materials.
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3. The Time Travelling Cat and the Roman Eagle.
Follow this link for an interesting review.
This story is set in Calleva Atrebatum near Silchester, not far from Reading where the artefacts from the town are on display in the museum. You can see the Roman eagle, the subject of my story. It's stolen from the statue of the emperor in the forum, creating danger for all the inhabitants Roman and British. You can also see a Roman tile with a cat's paw print in it - created by Ka!
4. The Time Travelling Cat and the Aztec Sacrifice
Ka, the time-travelling cat, leaves the word TENOCHTITLAN on Topher's computer. He is horrified. That was the home of the blood-thirsty Aztecs. When Topher travels to sixteenth century Mexico he finds Ka, and he makes a new friend, the Aztec girl, Patti. Can he stop the Aztecs sacrificing her. Can he save Ka from terrible danger? Can he escape before the Spanish conquistadores destroy the beautiful city of Tenochtitlan? In this fast-moving adventure Topher meets Montezuma, the legendary Aztec chief, and Cortes, the famous Spanish explorer.
5. The Time Travelling Cat and the Viking Treasure.
Topher is in London where there is a terrorist threat, when Ka, his beloved cat disappears. She leaves a message on his computer saying she has gone to HaEgellisdom. Pursuing her, Topher finds himself in an Anglo Saxon village threatened by the fearsome Viking, Ingwar the Boneless.
Nominated for a Fantastic Book Award 2008 by Lancashire School Library Service.
GHOST WRITER
NEW EDITIONA chalky handprint on the shoulder of his school sweatshirt. Wobbly letters on the blackboard.
What's going on?
Frankie's sure that the cupboard in the classroom holds the key to a mystery that's haunted the village for generations. He's convinced that the ghost of a boy who went to the school over a hundred years ago is trying to tell him something: if only he could figure out what it is..........
Ghost Writer won the Stockport Schools Book Award, (KS2),was Highly Commended for the NASEN Award and was shortlisted for the West Sussex Book Award.
ISBN 0-439-97854-8
FICTION FOR TEENAGERS
These two titles deal with challenging issues more relevant to secondary school pupils.
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Inspired by the past, coloured by the present, my latest novel weaves together two love stories and the struggle for peace. When Hilde finds a gold brooch on an archaeological dig, she starts to have vivid dreams and sees Maethilde, a young Anglo Saxon woman, who was the first wearer of the brooch - and a Peace weaver.
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Peace WeaversHilde is furious when her peace-campaigner mother sends her to live with her father on a USAF base. refusing to go to school, she joins an archeological dig, 'not really her scene', where she meets Friedman, 'definitely not her type'. He's the son of an American fighter pilot. War with Iraq looks likely. Hilde is against the war but thinks protest is futile - till she steals a brooch from the grave of a sixth-century woman, a Peace Weaver, and her feelings start to change. "Peace Weavers" has a provocative edge and asks the reader to make some hard-hitting moral choices. This is a timely novel about peace in our world" The Bookseller ISBN 1-84270-295-5 |
Researching "Peace Weavers."
I became interested in the Anglo Saxons when I visited a school on an American airbase in East Anglia. I heard about a dig that had taken place there. Archaeologists found an Anglo Saxon warrior, a horse and a 'very tall woman'. They became the subject of much media attention. The BBC made a Meet the Ancestors programme about the warrior and his horse, but didn't mention the woman. I wondered about her. What sort of life did she have?
I started to research and came across the concept of woman as Peace Weaver. I read about one young woman who sailed across the North Sea in the middle of the sixth century - as a peace weaver - to marry a man from a tribe with which her tribe was at war.
Some historians think peace weaving was one of a woman's most important roles, and that men consulted them about preventing war. Women were the weavers of society, literally - they wove all the fabrics used for clothes and furnishings - and metaphorically. They were word weavers, the diplomats responsible for weaving the fabric of society. They used words and gifts and acts of kindness to weave peace. I found this idea exciting and began to write a historical novel.
As I was writing in 2002 there was much talk of war with Iraq. I followed the build up to war closely and this experience coloured my writing. I asked myself 'What could a young woman peace-weaver do today to stop war?' I noted that many young people were active in the Stop the War campaign - and my book gained another, modern strand. A gold brooch, found on a dig, links the two strands.
NORTH EAST TEENAGE BOOK AWARD 2006!"Peace Weavers" didn't win, but the party in Newcastle was great. I met lots of readers, inspired by my book. Do you like Rachel's illustration? I think it would make a great cover for the book. Publishers, please note!
HangmanNEW EDITION Toby's heart sinks when he hears that Danny Lamb is coming to Lindley High School. Danny will expect Toby to be his friend, and Toby doesn't want that again. It was bad enough in the infants. Danny is different - that's the trouble - though it's hard to say exactly why. Being Danny's friend would destroy his street cred and turn off his other friends. He doesn't want to harm Danny. He wouldn't bully him. Of course not. But on a school trip to Normandy, on the D-day beaches where men fought to defeat Fascism, a harmless game goes dreadfully wrong. Anne Williams, Joint Children's Services Librarian, Shropshire County Library said, " 'Hangman' is sensational. The characters and situation are all too believable... What a powerful read!" "a powerful and perceptive story" Mail on Sunday "Read this incredible story and take note" The Times
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BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY
You can find even more titles in your library. These are currently out of print but your library will get them for you.
| OLLIE AND THE BOGLE. (30,000 words)
When Ollie first sees the bogle she can't quite believe it. Then the wizened tree spirit points a long spiky finger at her, and writes STOP HIM in elderberry juice on the shed roof. Dare she obey? Dare she not? Andersen paperback.
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THE GHOST OF TANTONY PIG
(35,000 words and illustrations by Laszlo Acs) Laurie thinks he has problems enough when his mum is arrested and a strange new teacher appears at school. Then a pig talks to him! Could the legend of Tantony Pig be true? What must Laurie do to save the village from disaster? Andersen
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THE CROW HAUNTING (30,000 words)
Medi learns that her local supermarket is built over a Stone Age site where the skeletons of two Stone Age children were found. Why did the pre-historic children die in each other's arms? Why is her diabetic brother Davey scared of going into the store. When Davey disappears Medi goes in search of him and discovers the reason for his terror - and an amazing secret. Andersen
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| WHEN POPPY RAN AWAY
(25,000 words illustrated by Karen Elliott) Poppy is sure she shouldn't be around when the grown-ups find out what she's done to prissy, boring Virginia Creeper. That's why she runs away - and finds herself in deeper trouble. Andersen
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POPPY AND THE VICARAGE GHOST
(25,000 words Illustrated by Laszlo Acs) Poppy is looking after Mephistopheles the cat when she begins to suspect something strange is happening at the old vicarage. Could it be Alice, a girl who disappeared three hundred years ago? Poppy doesn't believe in ghosts but ... Andersen
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