Happy Anniversary Alice in Wonderland!

By Chelsea Klaasen

This year the literary world celebrates the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

The story, or at least a version of it, was once told to three little girls on a boating trip. After that Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll was his pseudonym) planned to expand and publish it. One of the first manuscripts was given to one of the girls (Alice Liddell) as a Christmas gift. For this little book, Carroll made his own illustrations and he called it Alice’s adventures underground. Later versions of the book have been illustrated by John Tenniel, he made the images we all know and love. The title of the book also changed slightly and now we know this story mainly as Alice in Wonderland.

Nowadays, many different publications of this book exist as well as films, musicals and plays. I have decided to celebrate this loved children’s book myself and that is why I made an Alice in Wonderland workbook for you to use in the classroom. It can be used as a whole, but you can also pick the activities that suit your age group best. Of course, I also encourage you to add your own activities.

For some of the exercises it is important that the children have read the story. For others they can use their knowledge of the book or films and for some they can just use their creativity.

I hope you like this workbook and please let me know what you think of it or how it went down with the children you teach.

I have not included the answers to any of the activities because I am sure most of you can figure it out. If you would like some help, or you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to leave a message.

Download Chelsea's Alice in Wonderland Workbook here

Enjoy!


After her teacher training Chelsea Klaassen studied Children's Literature at Reading University to learn more about the wonderful worlds of children's books. After her degree she decided to start a blog on which she posts creative reading and writing ideas and exercises for teachers, parents and carers to use. You can find her blog here. Follow Chelsea on Twitter at @Chelseamorag1.

The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book reviews, photos, poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.

How Stories Are 'Supposed' To Go

Miss Prince by Alicia L. Wright

By Alicia Wright

Miss Prince, my latest book wasn't supposed to be about vampires. And it isn't, really. But with all the arguing about how vampires are supposed to act in recent years, I got to thinking about it.

Who decides how stories go? You may argue that it is the writer, but is it really? Anyone and everyone can influence a story. It happens in real life all the time. People worry if they will get into trouble or if bad things will be said about them if they don't do what others expect.

In the Otherworlds, it's not much different. Things go according to how stories say they should. You might think you'd be lucky to be born a princess, yet it seems there's not a single princess who won't have to face being cursed or kidnapped, and the less we say about wicked step-mothers the better. And princes? They have a grand old time of it, fighting monsters and villains without even breaking a sweat – until they get married. All of sudden, they aren't allowed to rescue people any more. Kings just have to sit around while their daughters get kidnapped.

The Otherworlders argue that this how things should be and it stops the really bad things from happening - like the bad guys winning. But it's all very well to say that sort of thing if you're not a princess or a king or a vampire.

I always got very annoyed when I was child whenever anyone told me I couldn't do something because I was girl, for example. People would be very angry if we said characters had to act a certain way because of their gender, social status or race. So I thought... how would the vampires feel about it? And the princesses, and the princes and the witches and the villagers for that matter?

I feel very strongly that you shouldn't let other people decide who are.

And I hope that other people feel that way, too. Even about vampires.

Alicia L. Wright is the author of YA comic fantasies Eggs, Butter, Sugar and Disaster, published in 2011 and Miss Prince, published in 2014. You can download free samples of both books from her publisher's website. In her spare time Alicia also draws a webcomic based on Miss Prince and its sequels called Vampires Don't Belong in Fairytales. You can find her on: Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, deviantART and Tumblr. 

The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book reviews, photos, poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.

Relaxing With Books After Revision

Mia Poppy Lomax Mchale, Saffron Burrows and Niall Devine.

Mia, Saffron and Niall wind down with books after a SATS revision session at Fairfield Road Primary School in Manchester.

The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book reviews, photos, poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.

My Favourite Childhood Books

By Adam West

Such is the list of my childhood favourites it’s really quite tough choosing a winner from the pack. From early memories of my mum doing all the characters in different voices in Winnie The Pooh, to loving the beautifully detailed illustrations of Jill Barklem's Brambly Hedge series, I could happily write a whole book on the topic. But I think the books you treasure the most are the first ones you read by yourself. For me, like so many, they were written by Roald Dahl.

His genius, like that of his modern day contemporary, the equally revered J. K. Rowling, was to create worlds of sheer fantasy that suck the young reader in, completely immersing them in the tale. Where they differ is that Roald Dahl was able to abandon one world and reveal another time and again. Reeling some off in my mind now (Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, James & The Giant Peach, The Twits, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, Matilda, Danny - Champion of The World), I realise another similarity with Rowling; all these titles and more have been plundered by the film industry, thirsty for the kind of ready-made fantasy world only the fertile mind of a creative writer can bring to life.

Roald didn’t have the kind of happy childhood I was fortunate enough to enjoy, and his books are pure escapism; heaven for a young, over-active imagination. Perhaps he found it cathartic, perhaps his goal was to provide escape for kids having a tough time like he did. Whatever, he left behind an incredible body of work which is still loved internationally today and speaks to the child in all of us.


The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book reviews, photos, poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.

Ahoy There Me Hearties!

Louie McGlochlan, aged 4.

Louie enjoying How Pirates Really Work by Alan Snow.

The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book reviews, photos, poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.

Ella Rose and the Elephant

Ella Rose Lomax Mchale, aged 3.

Ella Rose reading THE slightly ANNOYING ELEPHANT by David Walliams.

The MCBF2015 team are looking for your blogs, stories, book reviews, photos, poems - simply anything and everything to do with your favourite children’s books! Email mcbf@mmu.ac.uk to get involved.

Curtis Jobling Presents Harrison Wilman with the Neville Johnson Comic Strip Competition Prize

Curtis Jobling awarded Year 8 pupil of Marple Hall School, Harrison Wilman, as the winner of the Manchester Children’s Book Festival 2014 Neville Johnson competition. Harrison entered the comic strip competition after Curtis’ inspirational visit to his school back in 2014, along with fellow class pupils.

Judging the competition, Curtis was blown away by the creativity and innovative ideas featured in the competition entries, but he had no doubt that Harrison’s entry deserved the prize. Harrison’s entry followed the theme of ‘what would you do if you were invisible for a day’, and featured a boy carrying out a series of mischievous adventures unbeknown to others involved.

As the winning entry, Harrison’s comic strip was designed by a professional comic book illustrator, and framed by bespoke furniture brand Neville Johnson, as well as a signed copy of Curtis’ new edition to the Haunt series: Dead Wrong. In addition to these wonderful prizes, Harrison had no idea he had won the competition, and was surprised by a visit from Curtis and the MCBF team, as were the rest of his class members.

The team took this surprise visit as an opportunity to announce this year’s Festival competition in association with Usborne Books, which invites children to design a comic strip based around time travel, inspired by Matt Brown’s series Compton Valance.

Have you ever dreamed about time travel? Ever imagined what it would be like to go wherever you wanted and do whatever you wanted? Well, we want to hear all about it! Imagine that you, or a fictional character, have the power to travel backwards or forwards in time. How would you use your superpower? Where would you go? What would you do? You don’t have to be an artist – just make your comic strip unique, fun and exciting. Print off a template and entry form from the MCBF website and when you’ve finished, send it to:

MCBF Comic Strip Competition

Room 123

Geoffrey Manton Building

Rosamond Street West

Manchester

M15 6LL

Or email your completed entry to: mcbf@mmu.ac.uk