Tag: s4s

S4S – Books to take on an autumn walk

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Hello loves and lovers alike!

How are we all on this chilly Newcastle Sunday? What have you been up to today? Anything of note? I’ve been into town to get my eyebrows threaded and then I met my friend for a coffee. I’m posting this and then I’m off to get myself a cup of tea and mark my Maths books (thilling life of a teacher guys!)

If you’ve popped by its because you’re curious about today’s #SixforSunday post! Today we are taking on more Autumn realness with:

Books you’d like to take on an autumn walk

So I’m going for books I wanna take on an autumn walk because I wanna talk to the main characters about their life choices, ha!

State of Sorrow – Melinda Salisbury
I wanna go for an autumn walk with Luvain Fen. Enough said.

I, Cosmo – Carlie Sorosiak
Let’s be real, who is going to love a walk more than Cosmo? He deserves to go ona  brilliant little walk because he’s the best doggo there is!

Against All Gods – Maz Evans
I’d love to take Elliot for a walk to talk to him about what happened. I think he needs a hug and someone to listen to him, and I’d like to be that person!

Over the Top – Jonathan van Ness
I think going for a walk with JVN would be the most incredible walk ever. I think he’s absolutely wonderful and I’d learn so much about the world, his life and I can imagine it would be a very empowering walk… I’d come out full of self confidence and self care tips, and maybe even a brilliant haircut!

Jemima Small versus The Universe – Tamsin Winter
I wanna go for a walk with Jemima for 2 reasons. One: she’s s clever that I bet she could teach me a thing or two. Two: I wanna tell her that there’s people in the world who won’t judge her based on what she looks like; that she’s brave and brilliant and that she can do and achieve whatever she wants in life.

Scythe – Neal Shusterman
I’d love to go for a walk with any of the scythes to be honest, just to talk to them about what their job is like. However, I think Scythe Faraday would be my first choice because I just think he’s wonderful. 

So there we go! The 6 books (characters, I cheated, sue me) that I’d like to go on an autumn walk with! I’m loving seeing your responses to this prompt so far, so keep them coming! Remmeber to tag me on twitter (@eenalol) and use the hashtag #SixforSunday so I can keep track of your brilliant posts.

See you all next week for Autumnal covers!

S x

S4S – Books with leaves on the cover

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Hello #SixforSunday pals!

How are you today?

Here we are in #SixforSunday does Autumn weeks! I hope you’ve all had a lovely start to Autumn… all it’s done in Newcastle is rain, so typical Autumn here! However, to cheer us all up, here’s this week’s prompt:

Books with leaves on the cover

I don’t know why I do this to myself because this is HARD.

It’s funny how apart from Circe, all of these books are blue/green. However, there you go… 6 covers with leaves on them! I couldn’t not include Mel and Cosmo (he’s the goodest boy. If you’ve not read this book yet, my god please get on it!)

And that’s it for this week!

See you next week for #SixforSunday Autumn Feels does Books You’d Take On An Autumn Walk!

Thanks for being such brilliant humans!

S x

S4S – Books I read at school

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Hello #SixforSunday crew!

How are you all doing today?

What is going on in your worlds? It’s a cold and wet day here in Newcastle! The perfect day for snuggling up with a book and not facing the world. A perfect day for thinking about books in lots of capacities! The perfect day for today’s #SixforSunday prompt:

Books you read at school

Now I could cheat here becuase I read books at school EVERYDAY (being my job and all), but I’ll play fair and go for books that I genuinely remember reading myself! I don’t know what it says about me, or my education, but I struggled to recall more than a few… I had to do some serious thinking to recall the rest… hence all of the plays mentioned!

  1. Goodnight Mister Tom
    I remember reading this VIVIDLY. We did a whole thing around WW2 and there are some really vivid memories I have around this time. I’ve not read this book since school (not all the way through anyway), but I think I’d love to revisit this sometime!
  2. Nineteen Eighty Four
    Our GCSE literature book was Nineteen Eighty Four and guys, I absolutely adored it. I just thought it was fascinating. I don’t know anyone else who studied it for GCSE, so it feels lovely to have done it! 
  3. Charlotte’s Web
    I remember that we used this book and rewrote the story from the perspective of one of the other characters. I don’t remember which character I chose, or what I wrote though!
  4. Othello
    If I remember correctly, we studied a different Shakespeare play every year, but Othello was one of the ones that I loved the most. 
  5. Macbeth
    I think we were in Year 8 when we studied Macbeth. I remember having an exam and the question was about Lady Macbeth’s demise and another question about who was to blame for the death of Banquo. 
  6. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
    I remember studying this and making loads and loads of notes about it and then we didn’t even have a question that I wanted to answer on the exam.

My memory clearly isn’t very good! We did a lot of poetry in secondary school too, but I don’t recall anything well enough to name it ha!

Thanks for stopping by! Remember to tag me, or if you’re joining in to use the hashtag #SixforSunday so I can see your post!

WHILE YOU’RE HERE… I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THE FUTURE OF #SIXFORSUNDAY.

Now, I’d love to start a twitter chat using the #SixforSunday prompts. I used to join in Sunday YA and I absolutely loved it, so I’d love to do something with #SixforSunday. It’d be a really cool opportunity to talk to authors and fellow bloggers (and joiner in’ers of S4S) about the prompts that week. It would probably happen on a Sunday late afternoon/early evening (6pm UK time) and there’d be questions based around the prompts, or even based on specific books.

WOULD THIS BE SOMETHING YOU’D BE INTERESTED IN?

I’d love to know if you have any other ideas about how we can keep #SixforSunday evolving and make it even better than it is now! I really respect your opinions and would love to know your thoughts!

See you next week for the start of our October journey: Autumn feels!

S x

S4S – Characters I’d love to be friends with…

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Hello friends!

Happy Sunday to you all! How are you on this grey, chilly Sunday in Newcastle?

We’re here for another #SixforSunday post I guess! Today we’re talking about something which I love thinking about:

Chracters I’d love to be friends with

Now, let me get this straight, I was one of those people at school that had a wide range of people who were nice to me. I had a close knit group of friends, but everyone else just got on with me. I was a teacher’s pet, I studied hard, I always put my hand up in lessons. No one hated me, no one particularly loved me… I just got on with everyone. The characters I’d love to be friends with are not necessarily ones who would choose to be friends with me, ha!

  1. Izzy O’Neill – The Exact Opposite of Okay/A Girl Called Shameless
    I say this every time I can. I love Izzy: she’s cool, witty and brave. She’d make me laugh an AWFUL lot.
  2. Emily – No Big Deal
    I’d love to be Emily’s friend because I think teenage me could have learned a lot from Emily. She’s not afraid to stand up for herself and be who she is… teenage me was not always that!
  3. Sorrow – State of Sorrow/Song of Sorrow
    I think she’s one of those brilliantly clever young women in the world and that’s the kind of young women teenage me would’ve loved to be around. Also, she seems like she could do with a hug occasionally… and I give good hugs. I’d like to just be her friend so I could be around Luvian also though.
  4. Leora – Ink/Spark/Scar
    I love that Leora is afraid but always brave. I love that she stands up for what she knows is right, even if it means things happen to her that aren’t great. Plus she lives in a wonderful world.
  5. Storm – The Extinction Trials
    I would NOT survive being sent to a dinosaur land, but I would love to be a friend to Storm and maybe get to give it a go! She’s brave and bold… 2 things I’m not always!
  6. Helen – Oh My Gods
    I mean who WOULDN’T want to be friends with someone who has the Greek gods in their family?!

And there you go: 6 fictional characters I would LOVE to be friends with (well, teenage me. It might be weird if adult me was friends with these brilliant young girls!)

While you’re here… I have a question about the future of #SixforSunday.

Now, I’d love to start a twitter chat using the #SixforSunday prompts. I used to join in Sunday YA and I absolutely loved it, so I’d love to do something with #SixforSunday. It’d be a really cool opportunity to talk to authors and fellow bloggers (and joiner in’ers of S4S) about the prompts that week. It would probably happen on a Sunday late afternoon/early evening (6pm UK time) and there’d be questions based around the prompts, or even based on specific books.

Would this be something you’d be interested in? 

I’d love to know if you have any other ideas about how we can keep #SixforSunday evolving and make it even better than it is now! I really respect your opinions and would love to know your thoughts!

S x

S4S – Fictional schools

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Hola #SixforSunday pals!

How are you all doing? What’s happening on this Sunday afternoon? I’ve just been doing a bit of work ready for next week and now I’m sitting down to do next week’s blog posts…

Today I’m interpreting the #SixforSunday prompt a little differently to how I would normally… we’re talking

Schools you’d love to go to

And I’m going to go down the route of THINGS I’d like to learn in my ideal fictional school (because why not?? I’m the boss and I can do what I want!)

  1. Spell casting
    If I could go to a fictional school and learn how to cast spells, I would be there. I’d only cast them in good ways though. None of this bad spell casting for me. No love potions against people’s wills.
  2. Astrology
    There’s something fascianting about the stars and I’d love to be able to look at the sky and go “that’s such and such a constellation” (I realise this is something I could teach myself, but shush.
  3. A school with a swimming pool
    There was always a rumour circulating in my school that there was a door that led to a swimming pool under the school. I love swimming an awful lot and I’d love to have gone to a school with a swimming pool.
  4. Some kind of self defence PE thing 
    Let’s be honest, fictional me is a kick-ass magician who can swim well, but I’d love to have compulsory classes where you do kick-boxing or jiu-jitsu or something. I think that would be SUPER COOL.
  5. Something creative as compulsory
    Painting, blogging, knitting, drawing… whatever “creative” means to you, I think in my ideal school day there would be time for it. I think it’s important that we’re taught that looking after yourself and doing things you enjoy is as important as learning the actual academics of the world
  6. A massive fuck off library
    BEST TIL LAST. Think the Beast’s library from BATB. Think any book you want in the world. Think an unlimited budget for books. Think connecting with authors and readers. Think book clubs aplenty. That’s what my fictional school would have.

Man. I wanna work at/be at this school now. Fictional school me would be ALL OVER THIS SCHOOL. (I already was a proper goody two shoes, so THIS me would be unbearable).

Talk to me! I’d love to know what your ideal school would teach you!

I hope you enjoyed my rebelling for this week’s #SixforSunday!

S x

S4S – Books set in school

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Hello there everyone!

How are we all today? It’s another Sunday! We are back again for more #SixforSunday does Back To School Realness. (The realness of back to school is THERE. I am EXHAUSTED, but this is a good thing!!) This week’s #SixforSunday post sees us taking on:

Books set in schools

I think I’ve read a few books set in schools recently, but here’s the first 6 that popped into my mind…

  1. Dead Popular – Sue Wallman
    Boarding school mysteries afoot. I really enjoyed this!
  2. The Truth Pixie Goes to School – Matt Haig
    I loved this. The importance of being who you are.
  3. Scars Like Wings – Erin Stewart
    Friends, the theatre and not hiding who you are. 
  4. Jemima Small versus the Universe – Tamsin Winter
    Be your bright, brainy self!
  5. Gangster School – Kate Wiseman
    Take yourself off to criminal mastermind school!
  6. Goodbye Perfect – Sara Barnard
    LOL. This one teacher doesn’t make SUCH a great choice…

And there we go! 6 books set in school. There’s quite a bunch more (and I didn’t want to mention Harry Potter cause EVERYONE else will!)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See you next week for more #SixforSunday does Back to School realness!

S x

 

S4S – Books I think should be studied in school

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Hello there!

How are we all? Are we ready for a new month of #SixforSunday challenges? I’m VERY excited about this month because I love a new set of challenges (not so much the having to think ha!). I decided since it was September that we’d focus on back to school themed prompts for this month. Predictable or not… that’s what we are going for ha! This week’s #SixforSunday prompt sees me taking on something that is quite close to my heart:

Books I think should be taught in school

As a teacher, I could go ON AND ON AND ON about this subject (which I may come back to in another blog post during the week sometime… but for now I’ll try to stick to 6 ha!) I’m going to go for a range of picture books, kids books and YA books (so 2 of each eek!) that I think should be taught in schools because they are INCREDIBLE.

Picture books

How To Catch A Star by Oliver Jeffers
I love everything Oliver Jeffers has written and I THINK How To Catch A Star might be my favourite. It’s just such a lovely story.
The Building Boy by Ross Montgomery and David Litchfield
This is an INCREDIBLE book about grief. I read this to my Year 6 class in my training year and it made some absolutely wonderful conversations and it’s one of my go to books.

MG books

The Explorer by Katherine Rundell
Katherine Rundell is another one of those authors who can do no wrong in my eyes. I’ve read all of the books she’s published so far and they’ve all been amazing. I’m still waiting for the day when I’m doing the rainforest so I can use this absolutely beautiful piece of writing.
The Truth Pixie by Matt Haig
Definitely aimed at younger children, but this is a book that should be read to every child. It’s the importance of being who you are. It’s love and compassion. It’s empathy.

YA books

The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven
Friends, we ALL know I love this book. I think it needs to be read, talked about and shared. It’s so so so important that we talk about things like slut shaming and revenge porn with our young people because the reality of the world is that this is a thing.
No Big Deal by Bethany Rutter
Another one you will have seen me ramble on about on here, but it’s another necessary one. It’s important that kids study a range of books from a range of perspectives and where else are they going to get a brilliant fat protagonist? HERE. That’s where.

Okay. I need to stop because this could 100% turn into a lovely ramble about school and books and all of those things that I love the most.

I can’t wait to see what you all think we should be using in schools! Share your posts with me using the hashtag #SixforSunday and I will check them all out!

Speak to you all soon,

S x

S4S – Yellow books

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Hello friends and followers alike! 

How are you on this here #SixforSunday? What plans do you have for this fair Sunday? As this post goes live, I am hopefully sitting in Quilliams with one of my bestest friends and having an enjoyable breakfast and some tea. I hope the sun is shining in honour of Summer, but also today’s prompt:

Yellow books

I don’t think I have read many yellow books… but here goes nothing!

Having looked on Goodreads, I have read LOTS so you can have 6 MG and 6 YA (don’t tell anyone… I do spoil you!)

yellow books YA

A Change is Gonna Come anthology
The Paper and Hearts Society – Lucy Powrie
Friendship Fails of Emma Nash – Chloe Seagar
It Only Happens in the Movies – Holly Bourne
Bookshop Girl – Chloe Coles
Floored – the Floored Seven

yellow books MG

The Day I Was Erased – Lisa Thompson
Evie and the Animals – Matt Haig
And Then I Turned Into A Mermaid – Laura Kirkpatrick
The Girl of Ink and Stars – Kiran Milwood Hargrave
Ghost – Jason Reynolds 
Shona, Word Detectove – John Agard

And there you go! Reviews for the rest of these brilliantly bright books will be up soon! 

Thank you for joining in/reading with #SixforSunday this week! See you next week for the first week of September with Back to school realness: Books you think should be studied in school!

S x 

S4S – Perfect fictional holiday destinations

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Well hello!

It is Sunday again, where did the last week go? I hope everyone has had a lovely week! This week’s prompt has had me thinking hard, and I can’t wait to see what you all think of the prompt (and let’s be honest, I can’t wait to see where you all want to go!!).

This week’s #SixforSunday prompt was:

Fictional places you’d like to visit

I found it hard to find YA places I’d like to visit (because I would NEVER survive in them haha!)

  1. The Shire/Rivendell – The Hobbit
    There are so many beautiful scenes in these books that this would be a lovely walking holiday I imagine! Lots of beautiful scenes to wake up to!
  2. The Emporium – Nowhere Emporium
    Who wouldn’t want to go somewhere like the Emporium? Magic everywhere, yes please!
  3. Arranmore – The Storm Keeper’s Island
    This place just sounds magical, and we all know I love the beach! 
  4. Narnia – The Chronicles of Narnia
    As much as I don’t want to go somewhere cold, I do want the adventure!
  5. Emerald City – The Wizard of Oz
    It just sounds like a wonderful place to visit. It has its drawbacks, obviously, but I’m all for a bit of an adventure. 
  6. Rhylla/Rhannon – State of Sorrow duology
    I WANNA FIND LUVIAN FEN THANKS. Where do I find him thanks?!

And that’s it… there aren’t many fictional lands that I would want to holiday! 

Remember to share your thoughts with my using the hashtag #SixforSunday – I can’t wait to see where you all want to go!

See you next week!

S x 

S4S – Perfect pool reads

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Hello everyone!

Sorry for the very late #SixforSunday today… I NEEDED to finish I Hold Your Heart by Karen Gregory before I came and wrote this. It is finished now… now I have the dilemma of what to read next?!

Unfortunately, I shan’t be sunning myself by the pool with this week’s prompt, but hopefully I will give you some ideas for books which are:

Perfect pool reads

Now for me, reading by the pool, I need something that doesn’t take up too much headroom, something that’s a bit fun, something fast paced and maybe even a bit crime-y.

Alex Cross books by James Patterson
(These may come as left field for some of you, but I BLOODY love these books).
Sweet Pea by C.J.Skuse
(Loved this book and I can’t wait to get into the whole trilogy!)
Coco Pinchard books by Robert Bryndza
(Another one that will come from left field, but this series was SUCH fun… I love and miss Coco a lot!)
How To Stop Time by Matt Haig
(I bloody love Matt Haig, as you should know, and this book was just wonderful!)
How To Be Champion by Sarah Millican
(I loved this book, so so much. I love an autobiography and she’s a Geordie, so win win!)
May I Have Your Attention Please? by James Corden
(Another autobiography that I devoured a few years ago by the pool. He’s not the most popular of folk on my twitter feed, but I like him!)

I think something revolutionary has happened… none of the books I’ve recommended are YA or MG. 

ALERT ALERT ALERT.

But seriously, I do read non MG and YA books SOMETIMES (see: rarely!)

I’d love to know what your perfect pool reads are! Share them with me using the hashtag #SixforSunday. I’ve loved seeing your posts today! 

S x