So as well as writing, I love to read. I read a number of different things and even have been known to read YA fiction as well as non-fiction. Running a Beaver/Cub unit with kids ranging from 6-10 also helps with my wide variety of books – fiction interests me, as well as how it is written both for children and YA.
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Walker was nice enough to give me a proof copy of a new book coming out on the 2nd October by John Agard. It’s called Book. Aimed towards the ages of 9 years and over. It’s a short enough book – 144 pages in all and once you get in it, it is quick to read, well it was for me but I do tend to read quick. I’ve never actually heard of John Agard even though as I google him I read that he is the winner of the 2012 Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, so as well as a Playwright and Poet he adds short story writer to his already packed resume.
It is different reading a book meant for children when you’re an adult. Well in my case quite a young adult, but studying Children Literature as one of my modules this year I thought it tied quite nicely in with what I was studying. However, being an English student it’s hard to now read a book for pleasure instead of trying to analyse why a writer wrote in a certain way.
On the cover at the back of the book reads…
‘My name is Book and I’ll tell you the story of my life’
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I love this – I find it’s a really good way to grab a reader, especially children.
Book is a non-fictional/fictional book. What I mean by this is, it is written from the point of view of a book and it goes through and tells all about its history; how it was made, what happened during different times and perhaps what will happen in the future. It, to me, is a fun way to learn history – especially that of a book.
Amongst the book there is pictures and quotes from ‘bookish people’. I find that this breaks up the story slightly – although the drawings and quotes do relate to what is being spoken about – it gives the book a new way of life – it’s fun and is set out in an interesting and different way.
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I would definitely recommend this book – I think it would be a pretty good book to study in primary school English/History lessons – I mean we read books but do we truly know where they come from and how they have evolved and changed? It’s a little bit of history all rolled into a big bit of fiction.
Our First Year Here 