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Somewhere far away, there's a sea that ripples with magic. And if you were a bird flying high over the sea one fine day, you'd be able to look down at the tiny green-and-gold dot that's Monty's Island...

Monty never knows what he might find when he takes his Pick-Up sled along the beach with his friend Tawny, looking for Special Finds. One morning, they receive some worrying news from their friend the Laughing Traveller that Scary Mary and her pirate crew are looking for a new island to call home. The pirates have burnt down the trees on their old base and turned it into a dump. Monty and Tawny certainly don't want Scary Mary, a cruel and greedy pirate with sharp gold teeth taking over their island home! 

What can Monty and his friends do? When Bunchy accidentally turns the whole island stripey with her new magic wand, they have nowhere to hide. Monty will need to come with up one of his best ideas to save them!

Listen to Emily Rodda read the beginning of Scary Mary and the Striped Spell...

Emily Rodda has created some unusual creatures that live on Monty's Island. Argue Birds that begin each day arguing loudly, Jinglebees that sound like a million bells ringing as they prepare to fly and will chew anything in sight and the Hairy Horrible that only hunts at night and doesn't like to get sand between its hairy toes.

At the end of the video, Emily invites you to invent your own creature. Draw your creature first. Is your creature scary or friendly? What makes it unique?

Lucinda Gifford is the talented illustrator whose fun and lively illustrations have brought Emily Rodda's characters and story to life.

Learn about Lucinda's drawing process for illustrating Scary Mary and the Stripe Spell...

Have fun drawing Clink the Shipwrecked Pirate with Lucinda...

There are more drawing videos with Lucinda Gifford and activities to download on the Allen & Unwin website HERE.

If you're looking for a fun new fantasy adventure to read then the Monty's Island series is perfect for you!

Happy reading!

The Grandest Hotel on Earth is perched high on the snowy slopes of the Mabombo Ranges. It's wilder than any African savanna, more fantastical than Disneyland and more magical than Shangri-la.

Warning: This book contains cute Pocket Dogs, travelling by llama or jet pack, chocolate fountains and flashing boots that play Bach!

Eleven year old Vincent lives a life that is not very grand in the ordinary town of Barry with his parents, seven year old sister, Rose who wants to be an actress and little brother, Thom who won't stop screaming and only eats eggs. When his grandfather leaves him his magical shoe-shine kit, Vincent's life changes forever in THAT MOMENT when Florence spots him and offers Vincent a job shining shoes at The Grandest Hotel on Earth

The Grandest Hotel on Earth is a fantastical and wondrous place beyond Vincent's wildest dreams. It is more beautiful, more majestic and more splendid than Vincent could have imagined. It has sixteen storeys of the most amazing themed rooms. Would you choose to stay in the Baby Memories Room, the Roller coaster Room, Sparkles Room, the Edible Room (with a never-melting chocolate couch), the Room of the Unexpected or maybe the Virtuoso Room where you can pick up any instrument and play it like a master? I think I would have chosen the Puppy Room so I could snuggle with all the Pocket Dogs! 

Vincent loves his new job and takes great pride blending the exact shoe polish colour for each customer's shoes and inventing ways to make them more comfortable. Vincent notices there is more to The Grand than meets the eye as he sees the behaviour of guests like the D'Silva family transforming during their stay. Vincent's friendship with Florence grows as he helps her run the hotel while her parents are away working on their projects. However, Vincent's dream life comes crashing down when he can't resist the Mirrors of the Future Room. As Vincent desperately tries to save Florence from a tragedy, he learns the value of friendship and family, to hold on to his dreams and that good things can come from bad. You never know what the future has in store...

The Grandest Hotel on Earth will sweep you up from the first page and transport you to a fantabulous destination! If you're looking for a grand adventure...this is it!

At the end of the book Lisa Nicol reveals her mysterious co-narrator who is at the heart of this story and whose wonderful imagination contributed to many of the fantastical rooms in The Grandest Hotel on Earth.

If you haven't read Lisa's other fabulous book Dr Boogaloo and the Girl Who Lost Her Laughter, make sure you do!

Everybody needs a little 'grand' in their life...and a Pocket Dog!

Pexels / Pixabay

Happy reading!

The Search for the Silver Witch is the final book in the Polly and Buster trilogy by much loved author and illustrator Sally Rippin.

Polly has put the gorvan back to sleep and its purple mist is no longer infecting Blackmoon Coven. Life should be peaceful in the town once again…shouldn’t it?

Things have become worse between the witches and monsters at Blackmoon Coven and a war is looming. Miss Spinnaker has been dismissed from the Miss Madden's Academy and Polly’s magical stones have told her to find a Silver Witch to save the town. It isn’t until she finds her Aunt Hilda that Polly finally accepts that she is the Silver Witch that Black Coven needs. It is not going to be easy….

“The time has come for you to decide what kind of Silver Witch you will become. Every time you do a spell from a place of fear or anger, it will take you in one direction. And the further you go along in this direction, the harder it will be for you to return…You, Polly can choose to find power in love and kindness.” (Aunt Hilda)

Deidre Holloway has returned with Buster in her sights and forces Polly to make the hardest of decisions, but she hasn’t reckoned on the power of true friendship and kindness. It's a heart-racing 'Broomstick 500s' ride with Polly and Buster as they bravely try to help the witches and monsters work together to defeat a beastly menace and save Blackmoon Coven before it is too late. 

Thank you Sally for creating Polly and Buster who have touched our hearts and reminded us of the power of kindness, friendship, empathy and acceptance.

Kindness is the most powerful spell of all.

Happy reading!

When you return to school shortly, consider yourself lucky you're not orphan, Stella Montgomery whose horrid aunts have sent her to the grimly strict boarding school, Wakestone Hall so she can learn how to be obedient. The school has rules for everything such as  'No Girl Shall Traverse the Main Staircase under any Circumstance' which  poor Stella broke in the first ten minutes of arriving and had to copy the rule fifty times in her best handwriting. Girls who misbehave are sent to the mysterious Headmistress, Miss Garnet who has a cruel secret.

                                   Wakestone Girls, so straight and true,
                                   Always do as we should do.
                                   Marching on with main and might,
                                   Always Righteous, Always Right.

When Stella's new friend Ottilie goes missing, Stella and fellow student, Agapanthus are determined to find her. With help from Joe, a young scrapper, the girls track down the evil Gabbro brothers, but there are more mysteries to unravel. Why did the Gabbro brothers kidnap Ottilie and who are they working for? How is their cruel Headmistress, Miss Garnet and her greedy brother, Thaddeus involved? In their search for answers, Stella and her friends journey deep underground to The Wake where Stella bravely faces her nightmare, the King of the Mountain and makes a discovery that will both give her answers and change her life forever.

Wakestone Hall is the third and final book in Judith Rossell's Stella Montgomery series. I enjoyed being transported once again to the world of Victorian England and sharing another  adventure solving mysteries with Stella and her friends with an ending that is also a happy new beginning for Stella...

Being a big fan of the colour purple, I loved the purple text and illustrations, stunning purple endpapers and purple ribbon bookmark! Judith has a magnificent colour illustration of Wakestone Hall on the front cover and the book is filled with Judith's intricately detailed illustrations of characters, places and objects of the Victorian time.

Happy reading!

Today I had the absolute delight of meeting Sally Rippin. Sally's passion for creating books for children shines as brightly as her infectious smile.  

Sally loves reading, writing and drawing and says that she is lucky to do what she loves every day. Sally has been writing since she was very young. When she was about 15 years old Sally was a babysitter and would made books like this one for the children she looked after. Sally was destined to become a book creator!

Sally explained that stories come from two places - your imagination and your experience (things that happen to you). Books are a combination of both. When you write a story it needs good characters and a problem.

Sally wanted to write a series with two new characters and use lots of imagination. She likes witches and thought a monster for a best friend for her witch would let her use her imagination. The next step was to create a problem for her characters and after filling her notebook with lots of ideas, Sally decided her problem would be that her friends were not allowed to be friends any more and they would have to fight for their friendship.

Next step was to decide what her characters would look like. Sally's first picture was in pen and the start of her ideas. Someone told her that Buster looked like a 'hairy potato'!!

Sally did lots of research about different types of monsters and witches before she created her final pictures of Polly Proggett and Buster Grewclaw using charcoal.

Once Sally knew her characters then she began to create their world of Blackmoon Coven that we enter when we read the Polly and Buster series.

Me and you,
You and me,
That's the way it
will always be ... (Buster)

Polly the witch and Buster the Feelings Monster have the sort of friendship that makes your heart squeeze with happiness. In a world where witches can never be friends with monsters, Polly and Buster have managed to keep their friendship a secret. Until one day when everything changes...

What would you do
if everyone thought
your best friend was
dangerous?

In this book, Polly and Buster are on the run from nearly everyone in town. Who is sending Polly messages through the magical stones and will Polly follow the messages? Polly and Buster have big decisions to make. Will they stay safe and hidden or risk it all to save the day? 

At the end of her session, Sally gave one of the best gifts an author can give their readers and read some of her new Polly and Buster book. It is such a privilege to hear an author read the words they have carefully chosen to write their story.

If you haven't met Polly and Buster yet, then it's time you did! Polly and Buster's friendship is warm, funny and magical and together as friends they can face whatever comes their way...they would love you to join them on their adventures!

If you ever have the chance to go along and meet Sally, please make sure you do because you will will be in for a wonderful treat!

Happy reading!

Teacher notes

 

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