Read with the Stars

On Friday 18 September John was one of the authors performing at the Read with the Stars event at the Kassam Stadium organised by ARCh – Assisted Reading for Children in Oxfordshire. Hundreds of children attended the event, including 200 from Blackbird Leys, which provided a literary festival with a difference. Among the other authors taking part were TV presenters Sam and Mark, Teresa Heapy, Adam and Charlotte Guillain and Cas Lester.

Full Marks

Four of John’s books have been included in the Marks and Spencers’ Full Marks series.

*The Oxford Rhyming Dictionary for 7-9 year olds was included this year

* Next spring three more titles will be available: I Can Read Poetry for 5 year olds, I Can Read Poetry for 6 year olds and I Can Read Poetry for 7 year olds. The books contain details of rhyme games that parents can play with their children, as well as ideas on how to perform the poems, as required in the National Curriculum.

March

One of John’s poems ‘Dinosaur Rock’ is to be published as a picture book by Barefoot Books and his poem ‘Wind’ is to be included in a book of poems being edited by Kenn Nesbitt, the American Children’s Poet Laureate.

ohn’s book for primary teachers Fun With Words, which consists of creative language activities to stretch more able KS2 children was published by Brilliant Books in May. (for details see Teachers)

He has also written a book for teachers of games and activities for Personal, Social and Health Education lessons with 7-12 year olds in the Jumpstart series published by Routledge and is currently co-authoring a book on Speaking and Listening in the same series.
 

Spring Latest

John has recently become an Author Ambassador for the charity Reading Quest, which through its intensive focus helps young children , who are struggling to learn to read, to overcome their difficulties. For information about Reading Quest and its work see www.readingquest.org.uk

John has contributed teaching ideas on playing with sound words and writing list poems about sounds based around his poem Let’s Give a Cheer for Onomatopoeia to the Teacher Zone section of the Poetryzone website www.poetryzone.co.uk

John’s book Dragon Poems, illustrated by Korky Paul has been selected by the Reading Agency for this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, which has a ‘Mythical Maze’ theme. You can find out more about the Summer Reading Challenge from http://readingagency.org.uk/children/quick-guides/summer-reading-challenge