Galway Students Write A Book

-
Here we are at the end of the school year! But before Galway itself gets caught up in all the excitement of summer with it's festivals and parties, there is something you really do need to know about.
The Galway City Home School Community Coordinators are a group of dedicated teachers who have the role of liaising between the home and school to promote a number of literacy initiatives in the local schools and community. The Write A Book initiative has followed on from the One Book One Galway back in November and through this has come the production of a very special work. With the students working very hard, collaborating between an twelve of area schools, the students took on the task of writing an illustrating what has turned out to be a great story! The end result has been published and we now have:
RUADAN, RIONA and the LUADOG CHALICE.
"A story of a long lost Chalice known as the Luadog Chalice, captures the imagination of Grandad and his grandson Ruadan. Armed with a map, compass and his Grandad's journal - assisted by his sister Riona, they find the missing Chalice.
Their amazing, exciting and sometimes terrifying adventure starts in Galway and has them magically transported to distant lands following the path of the Volvo Ocean Race.
The secret of their safe return home lies in protecting the precious Chalice."
Diarmaid O'Riordan (acting as coordinator for the project) pointed out the emphasis on this project was to get the students reading... to get them excited about reading, and to help them develop increased literacy skills. That aside, the book itself is a wonderful read! The story is well thought-out, well expressed and how on earth you accomplish that between twelve schools worth of students working on a project is just a miracle. It is a exciting adventure that you'll get caught up in and won't want to put down. Well done to all involved. You should be crowing with pride!
Please get behind this wonderful book. All profits from its' sale go to charity... and it's a project I think we should want more of in the future.

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

Launch of Genesis by Eilis Barrett

-
Image
A week ago, I played a small part of the launch of Genesis , the much-anticipated sequel to Oasis by Eilis Barrett; this time at Charlie Byrnes Bookshop in Galway. Vinny Brown introduces Eilis Eilis is a remarkable young woman, as you might imagine since she is 18 years old and this is her second book. ( Oasis was published when she was 16.) Articulate and accomplished, it is a real privilege to know her, to hear her speak and to read her writing. Genesis author: Eilis Barrett publisher: Gill Books (8 September 2017 ISBN: 9780717174355 Genesis picks up the story of Quincy Emerson. She now finds herself a captive once again, in the maximum-security prison, the Colosseum as a security risk. Held in deplorable and brutal conditions in the prison, where anarchy rules and rival gangs wage a 'street war' of sorts, Quincy takes care to not make an enemy of either gang boss, while holding allegiance to no one but herself and her comrades on the outside. Food is scarce an
Read more