Now, for fans of both Yorkshire teams that means a journey of about three hours to Wembley Stadium. They’re going to need something to read on the coach, right? Something to steady the nerves and distract them?

Here are my suggestions.

For Sheffield United fans try my Young Adult book Saturday Girl (12+). Suzanne, the main character, is a Sheffield United supporter. It’s available in paperback and Kindle editions. It’s heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny in parts (even if I do say so myself) and based on my experiences of teaching in Sheffield in the 80s. Probably more for girls than boys.

For Huddersfield Town fans there’s only one book and that’s There’s Only One Danny Ogle (junior fiction 8+)  Danny supports Huddersfield and is gutted when his family move and he has to leave all his mates at Frank Worthington Juniors (see what I did there, Town fans?) behind. How will he cope in a new school that doesn’t even have a football team and where all the kids make fun of him for supporting Town?

There’s Only One Danny Ogle is one of four brilliant books in ‘Football Mad’ The other three books don’t mention Huddersfield so Sheffield United fans could enjoy it too.

photographs © Kettering Baccleuch Academy from one of my school visits. Look at the sheer joy on that little lad’s face because he got to wear a Town shirt!

Of course, for fans of both teams there’s the whole of my Girls FC series. Parents, why not download the word-search and the template to design a new football kit?  More stuff to do on the coach, see! I am covering all options here.

Girls FC. Red and white there, Sheffield United fans. Red and white. That’s all I’m saying.

As I’m feeling magnanimous I’ll mention that there are other books about football out there by other authors. I blogged about Tom Palmer’s new series The Squad only last week and Bali Rai’s Soccer Squad is good fun, too.

Back soon. I’ve got loads to tell you, not just about football but also about what I’m doing with the Children’s Illustrators and Writers Group, including something very special next week. Watch this space.

The poems, all by Alec Finlay, celebrate nature. Displayed in a greenhouse, each poem has been ‘planted’ in a terracotta pot. Isn’t it a clever idea?  So simple to imitate, too.

I’ve tried a mesostic poem of my own. Tonight, Huddersfield Town FC play Milton Keynes Dons in the second leg of the semi-final of the League One play-offs. We beat MK Dons 0-2 on Saturday but anything is possible in football so I’m nervous about the match this evening.

Here’s my poem:

Hope

STarts

Again

Fierce

inCredible

Why not try writing one of your own. Beware – it’s not as easy as it looks!

‘It’s a real page-turner, funny, exciting and perfectly pitched for ten-year-olds with a cast of eccentric characters, mysterious goings on – and some gruesome bits too! I loved it!’ .

Well, I can tell you that I agree with Linda; I loved it, too.  Gareth P. Jones has written a classic 8-11s book – and I use the word ‘classic’ only on rare occasions.

The Considine’s are an odd family, as Mariel finds out when she meets them for the first time at her grandma’s funeral. Her mother’s five brothers are welcoming enough, to say they haven’t been close to her mother for years or seen Mariel since she was a baby, but her cousins are a different kettle of fish altogether. They’re decidedly unfriendly, especially Oberon, one of Uncle Harkett’s two sons, and Elspeth, Uncle Sewell’s daughter. ‘Grandma didn’t want you here and neither do we,’ Elspeth hisses by way of introduction. ‘Not the child of the daughter with blood like water.’

Charming, thinks Mariel, wanting to get the visit over and done with ASAP so she can go home to Australia.  Unfortunately, her mother has booked a ten day stay  and when it’s suggested they spend two days with each of the brothers’ families instead of in the hotel, her mum jumps at the chance.

This is a neat way of telling the story. As Mariel stays with each relative in turn, she (and we) find out more and more about her dead grandmother and the powerful grip she has on her grandchildren, even beyond the grave. Each discovery leads Mariel deeper and deeper into a dark, strange world.

The Considine Curse is a terrifically engaging read. Mariel is likeable, intelligent and sassy. The dialogue rings true, especially the tetchy mother-daughter exchanges. Each of the cousins has a distinctive personality; I really warmed to Amelia, who wants to be a model but has a certain extreme body-odour problem that hinders her ambition. It ends with a terrific punch, too.

Well done, Gareth P Jones. I’ll be reading more of your books from now on.

The Considine Curse by Gareth P Jones

Published by: Bloomsbury

Illustrated by: Adam Stower

Cover design: John Fordham

Suitable for: boys and girls, 8-11s, confident readers who enjoy humour and weirdness with a twist.

Other books by Gareth P Jones: The Thornthwaite Inheritance, the Dragon Detective Agency

Ysgol (that’s Welsh for ‘school’) Esgob Morgan is a junior school in St Asaph’s, North Wales.

monument in the cathedral grounds of St Asaph’s.

Situated in the middle of a housing estate, from the outside Esgob Morgan looks like most schools built in the 1970s; single storey, flat-roofed and functional. Inside, though, there’s a warmth about the place; a buzz, a sense of expectation. Visitors can tell straight away that exciting things happen here.

I’ve visited the school twice. Once was a flying visit when I was with Bethan Hughes, the dynamic children’s librarian for Denbighshire Schools Library Service and the second time was last Friday when I was invited by the head, Mr Tim Redgrave, in my new capacity of Patron of Reading.

The Patron of Reading idea was Mr Redgrave’s.  He is keen to promote reading for pleasure in his school. Scratch that;  he’s more than keen; he’s passionate about it. He knows how important it is for his pupils to catch the reading bug and wanted to think of different ways to do it. He already sends his staff on training days to develop their creativity. I know that works because I once led a creative writing day for teachers and Mrs Ritchie (below) stood out from the start because of her infectious enthusiasm. Esgob Morgan’s pupils also participate in the Writing Squads and are first to volunteer to visit the public library for book events. In fact they’ve got such a good reputation for all things bookish that they were selected as the school to host the launch for Chatterbooks in North East Wales which meant they got to meet the legends known as the 2Steves

Mrs Ritchie at the back (left hand side) with  Y3 and Y5 pupils

It’s no surprise then that it was in the public library at St Asaph’s that I first met Mr Redgrave. It was eight or nine years ago, back when he was merely a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed teacher. He brought his class to meet me during Book Week. I remember the session because the children were great (i.e. they laughed in all the right places) and Mr Redgrave was so full of compliments it was a bit of a struggle leaving the library afterwards because my head was so big!

While I took it for granted kids would find meeting an author a wee bit special what I didn’t realise was how much impact that visit was going to have on Mr Redgrave. It transpired Mr Redgrave wasn’t much of a reader when he was a kid. Even as a teacher he didn’t read that much fiction but when he met me, a real, live author who talked about where ideas come from and how I wrote, it was ‘like a light being switched on.’  Afterwards, he bought my books and read them all (Jade’s Story was his favourite). He hasn’t looked back since and now loves reading but it was that visit to the library, to meet an author, that turned Tim Redgrave into a reader.

Now I didn’t know any of this until last Friday when Mr Redgrave told this story in assembly during my introduction.  Talk about emotional. I was welling up and I’m not even kidding.

 Tim Redgrave (left) with Steve Skidmore (2Steves) (image © readinggroups.org)

Being the pro I am I managed to contain myself and the rest of the day was pretty straightforward. I met each year group:

The funky Y4s at Esgob Morgan.

Y3 and Y5 with students from Edge Hill and Y5 teacher  Mr Hatwood

Some of the super Y6s

Then I signed copies of my books in the library:

Big moment, this one. Roan (seen here with Mr Hatwood) bought the last copy of There’s Only One Danny Ogle. It’s only available in Football Mad now. Hope you enjoy it, Roan.  Feel free to tell my publisher, OUP, how you feel it ought to be available still as a stand alone book, won’t you???

I met Hannah and her sister, Bethan, who had broken her arm playing football. Go girl!  (I shouldn’t say that, really. Apparently it was the fourth time poor Bethan had broken her arm. She obviously likes visiting the outpatients ward…

Then Mr Redgrave posed with the school council:

All too soon it was 3.15 and home time. The end.

Only now that I’m Patron of Reading at Esgob Morgan it isn’t the end. It’s actually  the beginning of an exciting new adventure.  Quite where the adventure will take us we’re not sure yet. My first job will be writing to the children, staff and parents to tell them how much I enjoyed meeting them. I’ll also send  a copy of my new book Do Shinpads come in Pink?  for the school library when it comes out in June and link Esgob Morgan to my website.

I’m hoping Mr Redgrave’s first job will be to fill the notice board in the library with creative writing the children did during my visit (hint, hint).

Am I excited about being Esgob Morgan’s Patron of Reading? Just a bit.

Remember the formula:

Schools + Writers + Libraries = Magic

Lily, Lesh, Hatty, Adnan and Kester all have their own unique skills and all have one thing in common; their parents, secret agents before them, are  dead.  Now all they have is each other, especially after Rob, an original squad leader, is killed early on.

In book 1, Black Op, their new mission, assigned by their copper-haired commander Julia,  is both dangerous  and thrilling. Someone is planning to wipe out the England team during Euro 2012. They don’t know who they are but they do know where the would-be assasins are; somewhere near the Poland-Ukraine border. The Squad is the only unit who can prevent the murders taking place. They are flown into Poland, disguised as the England U13 defence, to work alongside Julia’s next-in-command Jim Sells, the U13s coach.

Although there’s nothing new in the genre of children-as-spies - Palmer acknowledges this in mentions of  Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider and Mark Walden’s H.I.V.E. books within the dialogue- it’s the football element that makes The Squad different. The football sub-plot – where the non-football playing child spies have to assimilate into the U13 team – gives the book that added dimension. It’s timely, too. EURO2012 is already mired in controversy with people calling for a boycott after the treatment of their former prime minster Yulia Tymoshenko. Historically Ukraine and Poland both have a rocky relationship with their neighbour Russia, home of all the best spy stories. The Squad series is bang on target.

You can download the first chapter from Tom’s website.

Suitable for: 8-12s

Readership: Boys and Girls

What’s new?

Book 11 of Girls FC comes out soon (June 7th).  Blurb: Amy Minter is different from the rest of the girls on the team. She’s soooo not in touch with her inner-footballer but as the season finishes and her time on the Parrs comes to an end she’s beginning to wish she’d tried a little harder… but isn’t it too late?

Cover design by Sonia Leong.

In other news OUP are going to re-jacket the Clubbing  (After School Club series) books.

I’m delighted by this news. The Clubbing  books have sold well with their current covers by Tim Kahane.  Clubbing Together has sold especially well:

 Clubbing Together  is now on its 11th imprint and has sold more copies than any of my other books. OUP plan to add activities to the books and are going to ask the incredibly named Tuesday Mourning to re-design the covers. Clubbing Together might look something like this next year (rough):

 Exciting stuff, eh?

I’ve finished the re-writes of my first non-fiction book, too. This is for Harper Collins’ new educational series for KS3 (11-14 year olds). My book is about girls’ football and comes out in November. I am hoping this picture of Marta will be on the cover:

Marta, Brazil’s ‘Pele in a skirt’. Watch out for her at the Olympics this summer.

 All of which means I am now free to start something new. We’re talking BIG, bold and no, there won’t be any vampires

Isn’t it ace? The Magic Shirt is a short story Y5 pupils from Anglesey Primary School,  Burton-on-Trent, produced after I’d worked with them last year as part of Staffordshire Library Services Booked! Project. Booked!  was a joint venture between the library service and the football club, Burton Albion FC.

I’m impressed by how polished the book’s design appears; the photograph  makes the cover really eye-catching. The ‘blurb’ on the back is a nice touch, too:

Everyone has made a real effort to make the story look professional.  There’s even a message inside from Ben Robinson, the Chairman of Burton Albion. It reads: ‘Burton Albion believe that the football club, its stadium and its players should be used to help educate children across our community. We are delighted that this book has been produced to help children all across East Staffordshire enjoy reading.’

I’m delighted, too, because helping children enjoy reading is what I care about most. There’s no point being a writer if nobody reads for enjoyment and that’s why initiatives like this are so important. In my opinion the English National Curriculum at KS2 has sucked the life out of writing and reading for pleasure over the last two decades. Projects like this help to put it back again, not just for pupils but for teachers, too.

This is what Mrs Rachael Bradley, the TA who supported the children during the project, wrote to me afterwards: ‘Thank you so much for giving inspiration to the children and myself. I can’t put into words just how much I have enjoyed this project and hope that I will be able to carry on this scheme with other groups.’

Mrs Bradley with Evija during the Booked! Project.

While I’m obviously pleased that Rachael and the children found me ’inspirational’, I was only a part of the jigsaw. To make Booked! a success  everyone played a part.

First there was Paul Tovell, the librarian, who came up with the idea and made it happen.

Anglesey Primary School for agreeing to participate (the Y5 staff and Mrs B. especially. Unfortunately I never met the head (?) so can’t extend my thanks to him or her).

Burton Albion FC. Not only did the escorted tour of the ground generate such super writing, the staff there went all out for the launch of the book, too. They gave the kids free tickets to the match against Aldershot and invited them onto the pitch at half-time to present them with their stories. These are moments those 15 children (hello y’all!) will never forget.

Writers + teachers + librarians + kids + football = MAGIC

And had this view from my hotel:

 As well as spending time walking along the beautiful sandy beach at Guardamar in the sunshine:

It was such a treat to have the sun on my skin, even for a short while. I can see why so many people emigrate to warmer climates. Oh well, back to the jumpers and central heating…

]]> http://www.helena-pielichaty.com/blog/2012/04/hola/feed/ 0 http://www.helena-pielichaty.com/blog/2012/04/miro-at-the-yorkshire-sculpture-park/ http://www.helena-pielichaty.com/blog/2012/04/miro-at-the-yorkshire-sculpture-park/#comments Mon, 16 Apr 2012 19:33:36 +0000 Helena http://www.helena-pielichaty.com/blog/?p=4698 Continue reading →]]> If you’ve never been to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park at West Bretton, just outside Wakefield, Yorkshire, you don’t know what you’re missing.  I know I sound like a Tourist Board advert but it honestly is a brilliant day out for all ages.

Set in glorious countryside, the grounds at the YSP are spacious enough to give you a sense of freedom and rejuvination but with the bonus of sculptures and works of art to give it the ‘wow’ factor.

The main exhibition this summer features the Spanish artist Miro. Joan Miró is best known for his bold and colourful abstract paintings such as this one:

Miró image courtesy of Lisa Thatcher’s blog

However, the YSP focus is on Miró’s sculptures. His dream that his sculptures should ‘stand in the open air, in the middle of nature’ has certainly been fulfilled here as you can see from a few pictures I took:

If I’d been bright enough to make note of the labels I’d be able to tell you the name of the sculptures, too!

… Seeing as I didn’t I’ll call this one ‘ET came home’ …

… and I’ll call this one ‘Corkscrew with Attitude’

The exhibition continued in the Underground Gallery. Here, the sculptures were smaller and even more surreal. Unfortunately photography wasn’t allowed, as I found out just after I’d taken a shot of one of the posters in the first gallery and was admonished in a firm but pleasant manner by one of the attendants :

I think we’d better call this one ‘You ain’t seen this’

 It’s a shame you can’t see Miró’s signature on the bottom right hand side of the poster more clearly. It’s an eye-catching swoop of a thing; a work of art in itself.  One biographical detail that stood out for me was how, as a child, Miró set such store by his after school art lessons he always washed his hands first and approached each brush and pencil as a good surgeon would a scalpel; with respect and gravitas.

If Miró doesn’t float your boat there are plenty of other things to do and see. In my opinion the grounds are worth a visit in themselves and at a mere £5.00 for parking (admission is free) it’s not going to break the bank. The shop is gorgeous as well, with sumptious art house books, ceramics and jewellery to spend your money  on.

I liked the stuff by Tatty Devine such as this brooch of an old watch (though the  one I saw didn’t have the gilt edging:

 The gallery café does great cakes and has an outdoor balcony overlooking Bretton Lake but it was heaving yesterday so we settled for the smaller café in the Old Stable Block.  The flapjacks and bakewell slice were highly recommended by Joe and Mr P but I objected to paying £1.50 for a tiny jar of clotted cream to go with my jam and scone. That minor quibble aside you should get yourself down to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park at the next opportunity. It’s divine.

Then we had Martha and the Muffins:

But best of all we now have:  Martha and the Bunny Brothers by Clara Vulliamy.

  Like with Gillian Philip I follow Clara on Twitter. We once had a tweet-athon involving taking pictures of the knick-knacks we have on our mantelpieces so I know she’s as nutty as I am.

Clara Vulliamy

Anyway, when I saw the last copy of Martha and the Bunny Brothers in the Blackwell’s book tent at the Oxford Literary Festival the other week I snatched it up. I loved the bright, retro cover but most of all I loved the story. Martha is so sweet. She’s the kindest big sister ever, excited about starting school but also worried about leaving her two younger brothers, Monty and Pip, at home. How will they cope without her?  We follow Martha through her day, deciding which precious things to pack in her school bag, being instructed to get a move on by her mother, while all the time being besieged by Monty and Pip. To distract them Martha helps make a special, secret den. Genius. Who doesn’t like a special, secret den? I do!

From start to finish this is a book made for sharing. As I read I felt a pang of nostalgia for when my now grown-up children were tiny. I could imagine them sitting with me and pointing to all the fun and colourful illustrations. Every page has a talking point and what’s more it’s about something every child can relate to, such as what to have for breakfast. Vulliamy takes the simplest of objects, such as buttons, and turns them into something magical and eye-catching. Best of all is the affection Martha shows for her brothers. This is a happy family where brothers and sisters might be a bit annoying at times but their affection for each other shines through.

Martha and the Bunny Brothers is an absolute gem and a perfect example of what a picture book should be all about.  Highly recommended.

Han and Joe share a book in their den back in the day

Martha and the Bunny Brothers by Clara Vulliamy is published by Harper Collins. Hardback edition is £10.99

Ideal for: pre-schoolers, children worried about starting school, sharing, bedtime reading.

 PS: Clara linked my review to her blog here: http://claras.me/2012/04/thank-you/