BREAKING THE LOCKDOWN BLUES WITH THE BOOK OF HOPES

-

Being in lockdown is hard on all of us. With the world staying home, we are missing our families and friends, venturing out to new places, even the mundane things like going to work and school. It's easy for restlessness and boredom to set in as we wonder how long will this go on, only to hear things like "for quite some time to come." It's easy to lose hope. But help is at hand with something marvelous!

On 27th April, The Book of Hopes: Words and Pictures to Comfort, Inspire and Entertain Children in Lockdown was launched by award-winning (and completely brilliant) childrens' author, Katherine Rundell. Here, Katherine has curated the work of more than 110 authors and illustrators in a volume that is utterly wonderful. This is a collection of poems, short stories, essays and pictures from many favourites like Lauren Child, Anthony Horowitz, Jacqueline Wilson, Emily Sutton, Jonny Duddle, Sharna Jackson, Michelle Paver, Ross Montgomery and so many more, including Katherine herself. A book that can be shared in bits and pieces, depending on your mood and whim, it is a great gift to each and every family stuck at home and is sure to lift everyones' spirits, regardless of age or situation.
Now, are you ready for the best part? The Book of Hopes is being hosted exclusively on the Family Zone on the National Literacy Trusts' website. That's where you'll find it... COMPLETELY FREE FOR ALL CHILDREN AND FAMILIES. That's right. 377 pages of all this hope, completely free. All you need to do is follow the link (below), which you can visit at any time and open yourself up for any one (or two or three...) of a myriad of adventures.
The Book of Hopes is dedicated to all the doctors, nurses, porters, cleaners and everyone currently working in hospitals to help and support us all in these strange and trying days. Bloomsbury intends to publish a gift book based on this special project in the autumn, in support of NHS Charities Together.
A wonderful gift to us all, here's the link for you. Read The Book of Hopes...you'll feel much better.

https://literacytrust.org.uk/family-zone/9-12/book-hopes/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rights of the Reader

-
Image
The Rights of the Reader; Daniel Pennac, illustrated by Quentin Blake Summer is here and we do encourage summer reading with numerous incentives and programmes. It is important for children (of all ages) to 'keep their reading up' outside of school time. This is the time when kids develop their own taste in books and can be free to read books of their own choosing. And this is the single most important factor in young people developing a lifelong reading habit. But how do we, as the 'gatekeepers' of kids reading, encourage them properly without running the risk of thrusting pressure and our own ideas on them? Do that and you'll run the risk of pushing them away from reading, and there are already so many distractions for the young reader to contend with that can tempt them elsewhere. Published by Walker Books; 9781406300918 In 1992, French writer Daniel Pennac originally published this little gem of a book; The Rights of the Reader. I highly recommend
Read more

The Summer of Lily and Esme by John Quinn....25 years

-
Image
This year marks the anniversary of the publication of an extraordinary book. In 1991, Poolbeg published The Summer of Lily & Esme by John Quinn and in the 25 years since, it has never been out of print. The Summer of Lily & Esme tells a quiet story, filled with compassion, friendship, memory and heart. It is the story of Alan, an 11-year-old boy who has moved from the city into a house in the countryside; in the middle of nowhere.The house is old and extremely large and immaculate; and there is a locked, boarded over attic room that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young boy who died tragically. Alan is not too pleased with this move and becomes even less thrilled when he discovers his closest neighbours, in fact his only neighbours, are a pair of elderly sisters, Esme and Lily, who seem to be suffering from dementia.  When Alan falls down a hill of brambles and weeds, the sisters, who believe they themselves to be children, mistake Alan for their
Read more

Joyous Jolabokaflod!!!!

-
Image
For a book lover, Iceland has a very special tradition. Each year, in the few months before Christmas, Icelandic publishers release the majority of their books. This is "Jolabokaflod", or the Christmas Book Flood. Hundreds of books are published each year at this time, revealing just how strong a literary tradition exists in this small Northern island, dating back to medieval times. During World War II, there were strict currency restrictions, which limited the amount of imported giftware Iceland could take in. But paper itself was less restricted than other items, so this really led to books being seen as an ideal gift. Add that to the traditionally strong literary sector in Iceland, and the annual Book Flood really began in earnest. As Christmas nears, sometime around the end of October-beginning of November, a catalog is delivered to every house in Iceland, detailing the books available for that year. Iceland now represents one of the strongest book publishing countri
Read more