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Educational and fun audiobooks for children and families. A variety of genres await and each podcast comes with podcast specific questions assessing retrieval, sequencing, SPaG, prediction, inference and note taking skills. Ideal as an independent classroom activity, intervention exercise OR homework task.
Episodes
Saturday Apr 24, 2021
BB: The Purple Lady part 3
Saturday Apr 24, 2021
Saturday Apr 24, 2021
Do you know any other stories which feature brothers and sisters?
Do you know other stories where animals guide and help the protagonists?
How is the setting for The Purple Lady different from a classic fairy story?
Why do you think Jamlia Gavin chose to use a more up-to-date setting?
Which are about a character seeking eternal life or remaining young forever?
Do you think it would be good to live forever? Why/why not?
Find out about the Hindu goddess, Shasti. What does she have in common with the old woman in The Purple Lady?
How important is Miskouri to the story?
What would have happened to Abu if he didn’t have Miskouri with him?
Why do you think Shasti demands an eye for helping Abu to rescue Leyla?
Saturday Apr 17, 2021
BB: The Purple Lady part2
Saturday Apr 17, 2021
Saturday Apr 17, 2021
How do you feel about the main characters?
Do you think they are making good decisions?
How might you have dealt with these decisions?
Do you think the characters' relationships with each other has changed?
Might they change again before the end of the story?
What do you think will happen next?
Do you think this will have a happy or sad ending?
Does this tale still remind you of any fairy tales and does this help you think about where the story might go next?
Saturday Apr 10, 2021
BB: The Purple Lady part 1
Saturday Apr 10, 2021
Saturday Apr 10, 2021
"The Purple Lady" is the second story in the Blackberry Blue collection of short stories by Jamila Gavin.
In this tale, Abu is willed to find his long lost sister but has to endure physical and emotion turmoil to get to the end of his quest. He also has the dilemma of wondering who he should really trust on his journey and if those people guiding him have other ulterior motives.
This story is cut up into 3 parts, so today's questions are rather more vague as I don't want to give away too much about what is to come in the rest of the story... Enjoy !
PRE READING QUESTIONS
Have you ever lost something that was very precious to you?
Were you able to retrieve the thing that you had lost?
How did if feel (not) to get it back?
Visualise the main character and draw what you see.
Compare with the original illustration if you can.
How detailed are descriptions of people/places? Why might this be?
Saturday Apr 03, 2021
Blackberry Blue
Saturday Apr 03, 2021
Saturday Apr 03, 2021
The next book on the reading list is "Blackberry Blue: And Other Fairy Tales" written by Jamila Gavin.
There are six amazing stories in the book and "Blackberry Blue is the first - a heart-warming story about love and kindness that follows foundling Blackberry Blue as she battles the forces of evil to save the boy she loves.
The other stories are slightly longer so will be released in parts every Saturday over the next couple of months. The comprehension questions for this book will focus on the relationships between the characters as well as the story's relationships to other well known tales.
Enjoy!
Is the forest a safe or a threatening place in this story?
How does Jamila Gavin make you feel that?
Does this story have a message?
If so, what do you think it is?
Do you know any other tales where characters transform into animals?
What does this make you think or feel?
Do you know any fairy stories where a character has to wear a special item of clothing?
Who needs the special clothes and why are they needed?
Is it for the same reason in the different stories?
Perhaps investigate the stories/characters of Donkeyskin, Catskin, Cap of Rushes, Mossycoat and Tatterskins.