Share a Read campaign - the winning reviews
In June this year, we kicked off our Share a Read campaign to encourage more people to pick up a book and feel the benefits of reading for pleasure. We wanted you to discover new books and share the joy of reading them with everyone.
To do this, we asked you to share what you’ve been reading with us and include an interesting review to encourage all of us to read your chosen book. Our favourite reviews have now been selected and we’re delighted to share them with you here!
Our winning reviews from Primary children
Charlotte, aged 9, wrote a fabulous review about ‘Tilly and the lost fairy tales’ by Anna James:
It’s Christmas at Pages and Co and they’re busy making essential preparations, but when Oskar’s Mamie gets sick, Tilly and Oskar hitch a ride on a train to Paris. On the way, books start leaking their magic and trouble arises. When Tilly and Oskar visit a secret bookshop, Tilly breaks her grandparents' rules, but, because of the mysterious twins, her bookwandering trip doesn’t go to plan. At the underlibrary, the twins become liars. Will Tilly and Oskar be able to prove to the underlibrary that the twins aren’t who they say they are?
I loved this book because it’s full of adventure, wonder and magic. My favourite character is Tilly because of her sense of adventure. I recommend this book for children aged 7+ because there are some words that I found tricky, so young children will struggle with the French pronunciation. There’s a French glossary at the back of the book that I found really helpful. My favourite parts are when Tilly and Jack go through the crack in the sky and Tilly’s room turns into a beautiful garden. If you’ve read yourself into Tilly’s first adventure, bookwander into this one!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
![Charlotte's drawing](/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/uk/images/subjects/english/20201110_201949.jpg)
![Charlotte's review](/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/uk/images/subjects/english/20201110_201926.jpg)
![Charlotte's review](/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/uk/images/subjects/english/20201110_201858.jpg)
Lucy, aged 7, wrote a magical review about Harry Potter by J K Rowling:
Harry Potter was sometimes funny, like when Ron mimics Hermione. There was a few times where it was quite scary, for example when Harry fights the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. I think the best book is the Prisoner of Azkaban. The scariest book I think is The Goblet of Fire. I enjoyed it a lot because it’s funny, exciting and scary all at the same time. The most amazing thing I think Harry did was kill a giant snake. I think the most wise character in Harry Potter is Dumbledore, because he’s very sensible. Maybe the worst thing I think described in the books was Voldemort on the back of Professor Quirrell’s head. I recommend the books for people who are interested in fairies, dragons and bewitched stuff.
![Lucy's review](/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/uk/images/subjects/english/Lucy%20Jack.jpg)
And last but certainly not least, Sarah, aged 7, sent us a lovely picture showing herself and all the amazing props she made for her impressive and very creative video, talking about her favourite book, ‘The Kanneh-Masons, The Carnival of Animals’ by Michael Morpurgo and Olivia Colman:
![Sarah Luke and her book review](/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/uk/images/subjects/english/IMG_0424%20(1).jpeg)
![https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccOECS5OM48](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ccOECS5OM48/hqdefault.jpg)
Our winning reviews from teachers
Devika’s brilliant recommendation was ‘Bridge to Terabithia’, by Katherine Paterson:
"This book really encourages to value uniqueness; accept and respect the differences. How much we can help each other to be ourselves is beautifully described. Also, it teaches us more than anything else it is important to be accepted, valued and there should be someone to listen to and encourage oneself to be successful. Further, imagination always helps you to be bold, creative and different."
![Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson](/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/uk/images/subjects/english/Bridge%20to%20Terabitha.png)
Alice discussed her chosen book, ‘The Girl Who Speaks Bear’, by Sophie Anderson:
"The book is a wonderful fantasy, drawing on folk tale conventions to explore an individual's search for identity and to find the answers to an unknown past. It is a super read for both teachers and students- a wonderful class or individual read that can speak to us all."
![‘The Girl Who Speaks Bear’, by Kathrin Honesta:](/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/uk/images/subjects/english/The%20girl%20who%20speaks%20bear.png)
Taya recommended ‘The Black Flamingo’ by Dean Atta, as a beautiful and powerful read:
"Explores the mixed race LGBTQ+ experience in the UK. It's a story about the power of embracing your own uniqueness and finding inner strength. The book was written in verse which made it very compelling. It was beautifully written and extremely powerful."
![‘The Black Flamingo’ by Dean Atta](/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/uk/images/subjects/english/The%20Black%20flamingo.png)
Laura has really made us want to read ‘Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town’ by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, with her interesting review:
"This is the much anticipated second book by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock and much like the first it is written with each chapter introducing a new character. All set across states in America these teenagers are living out their own personal dramas within these pages. There are heartbreaks and breakups, friendships and meeting new people, there is a lot of self discovery and there is an underlying theme of sexual abuse running through quite a lot of the stories. Life is complicated and especially so for young people, this is all captured beautifully in this book. Bonnie-Sue deals with the very difficult subjects with great sensitivity. We see it all through the lens of these teenagers -some of whom have suffered much. The beautiful thing about Bonnie-Sue's writing is that she manages to weave together these stories without their being the normal cliches. She writes for teens without being patronising or scared to speak of the darker things in life. This is not a horror story or even a sad set of stories, these are real and honest stories. I love her writing and I love what she is trying to achieve with her writing - to give young people a voice."
![‘Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town’ by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock](/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/uk/images/subjects/english/Everyone%20dies%20famous%20in%20a%20small%20town.png)
Finally, Katherine has recommended for your shelf ‘The Boy Who Grew Dragons’ by Andy Shepherd:
"Tomas is helping his grandfather clean up his garden when he spots a strange fruit tree - and gains quite a surprise when that strange fruit turns out to be a dragon egg! It's a fantastic chapter book for young children, managing to be funny and exciting without having any actual peril that might frighten more sensitive readers. I really enjoyed how well the characters and their relationships were written, making them realistic and easy to understand even while they are dealing with fantastical situations - like how to safely clean up dragon poo!"
!['The Boy Who Grew Dragons’ by Andy Shepherd](/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/uk/images/subjects/english/The%20boy%20who%20grew%20dragons.png)
We loved hearing our teachers' thoughts and recommendations on books, and it was a joy to hear one teacher comment, ‘I really enjoyed taking part in the reading challenge – it was a really fun excuse to get engaged with children’s books and try some new authors!’
All our winners have now been awarded a much deserved £25 book voucher, so they can read even more, and our Primary winners will also be granted 6 months free access to Bug Club Shared for their schools! Thank you to all who got involved in our Share a Read competition, we hope you felt the benefits of reading for pleasure, enjoyed talking about brilliant books and felt the delight in re-visiting some old favourites.
If you’re looking for a new creative project for your class, check out our My Twist on a Tale writing competition. Children aged 4 to 19 have until 5pm on Friday 26 November to get their creative thinking-caps on and compose a tale looking to the future.