ISLINGTON TEEN READ TOP SIX: EGA RESULTS

EGA'S TOP SIX!

1. Her Sister's Voice - Lesley Cheetham
2. The Third Wheel - Jeff Kinney
3. The Demon Dentist - David Walliams
4. Wonder - AJ Palacio
5. Genius Ideas - Liz Pinchon
6. Fear - Michael Grant

Emil and the detectives - from book to stage

Since January the Bookaholics have been reading Emil and the detectives by Erich Kastner, a classic children's book writttn in German in 1931. Despite the old fashioned nature of the tale (children roaming the streets of Berlin at night) we enjoyed the book and on Saturday went to see the stage production at the Olivier theatre. The students enjoyed the production, although changes to the story in the second half were not thought to be beneficial.

Last week Keren David was our invited author to talk about ‘Becoming a Writer.’ Keren is the author of several YA books, the ‘When I was Joe’ trilogy, Lia’s Guide to Winning the Lottery, and her latest novel Salvage.

Keren talked about her writing history, from writing stories about her friends at school, to becoming a journalist at the Independent newspaper. After living for eight years in Amsterdam, she turned to fiction writing, and on returning to London enrolled in writing for children course at City University.

Keren showed us some of her notebooks for the book she is currently writing, a romance set in Amsterdam. The girls had lots of questions for Keren and it was a very informative and enjoyable session.

 Dave Cousins visited EGA in  February

to participate in ‘Becoming a Writer’ and what a treat it was! Dave gave a very entertaining talk about his journey to becoming a writer – trying out vaious options along the way, such as being Superman, a song writer, pop star and a graphic designer. (Yusra, 9L asked him whether he had ever considered becoming a stand-up comedian as he made us laugh so much!)

Dave’s talk showed how his persistence and determination to write eventually paid off. He got up at five every morning to write in a freezing cold attic before going to work, and did this for seven years until he won a writing competition, which led to his book being published.

He then talked about his second novel, Waiting for Gonzo, before answering questions and playing us his video ‘Attack of the cigarette UFO’ which is a spin off from the book along with a soundtrack composed by Dave and his old band.