‘The universe is made of stories’ (Muriel Rukeyer). That’s like weird quantum science but I mean that I am made of stories. I’m blogging about the stories in my life, to my hometown Christchurch, this month.
Five years old, terrified, my first day at school. I sat on the hard grey mat and the teacher read Horton Hatches the Egg to the class. I became so engrossed I didn’t notice my mother slip out. My hero, Horton the elephant, who suffered so much on his mission, helped me get through that day. I’m still a Dr Seuss fan. Favourite story: The Pale Green Pants one. Favourite character: the Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz. Dr Seuss was a genius – in Green Eggs and Ham he used a 50 word vocabulary list to create a classic.
Six years old, loving Calico the Wonder Horse, by Virgina Lee Burton, a comic-book style cowboy adventure, mainly because of the bad guy. Stewy Stinker is really nasty but in the end he’s given a choice to change. This pic of him crying always fascinated me – creepy and sad. Now when writing my stories I always give the villains an opportunity for a change of heart.
Seven years old, terrified again, but this time in a good way. The stories of another doctor now gripped me. Dr Who (1960s, black and white, and the doc was a grumpy old man) had a huge impact on my imagination. At school I wrote about time travel, Daleks, and Zarbi (giant ants) – and today my novels still have giant bugs in them.
Want something to do in the school holidays? Have you always wanted to be on TV? The Erin Simpson Show wants you to be part of their live studio audience on Tuesday 19 July.
It’s for ages 10 – 18 only and there are five different times available:
19July – 8:45am – 10:30am
19 July – 10:30am – 12pm
19July – 12:15pm – 1:30pm
19July – 2:45pm – 4:15pm
19July – 4:30pm – 6:15pm
Time slots are limited so head 0ver to www.erinsimpson.tv and book your space!
It’s great to have the chance to join you on the Christchurch City Libraries Kids’ Blog. I used to work at the library so that makes it doubly nice to be back, even though it’s in a ‘virtual’ sort of way.
I’ve been writing stories for a long time now. I sometimes get asked why I write stories. One of the answers is that I’ve always loved reading and to be a writer I think you need to be a reader, too.
I borrowed books from the library and bought my own books, too. I seemed to have kept a lot of them. Here are some of the books (and one comic) I enjoyed reading when I was younger.
I’d be interested to know what books you’ve been buying and borrowing recently. A recent book I borrowed from the library, and then had to go and buy a copy of for myself, was Philip Reeve’s A web of air. This is the second volume in the prequel to his Mortal Engines series. Fabulously inventive!
Hello everybody and welcome to the bad movie awards page! Firstly, if movies are mentioned on this page it means that we advise you NOT to watch them. I am making this page because I have seen lots of terrible movies that nobody has warned me about. So if there’s a movie you want to see but you’re not sure if it’s any good, check this page to see it’s not on here.
My least favourite movies ever are:
The Bands Visit: Barely anything can be said about this movie because barely anything happens!
The Sting: Frankly, I’m not surprised this movie is here because it was made in 1973, which means its old and slow-paced. It is also a bit like real life (in some ways). But real life is not the best thing in movies because most of the time in real life there is no fast music when you’re being chased, or there are just days where nothing happens and you get no closer to finishing whatever task you are trying to accomplish.
If you know of any other films that might be worth warning people about, comment about them on this post and say why they are so badare so boringare so outrageously stupid make you want to throw a brick at the T.V.
Now you can watch your favourite horrible boy, Horrid Henry, create havoc on your TV screen in Horrid Henry’s Underpants and Horrid Henry’s Horrid Revenge. Each DVD has 6 episodes plus heaps of extras, including a quiz, games and other cool activities.
Before Avatar: The Last Airbender was a movie, or a cartoon series it was a graphic novel about a brother and sister who rescue a mysterious boy named Aang, who has been trapped in a glacier. He is one of the Airbenders, a race of people not seen in a century, and the long-lost avatar whose destiny is to save the world from war with the Fire Nation. You can now get all the volumes out on DVD from the library and discover the story behind the movie.
Now you can watch some of history’s most gruesome and funny moments take place in Series 1 of the Horrible Histories TV show. There are 12 episodes of foul facts, rotten rulers, beastly battles and evil inventions, along with horribly hilarious sketches, songs, cartoons and quizzes. Reserve a copy at the library today and prepare to be grossed out!
Dre Parker has just moved from Detroit to China with his mother. Though he isn’t very good at speaking Mandarin. When he arrives, he finds it very hard to settle in. To make it even harder, he finds a new enemy on the first day of school, Cheng. After a few minutes Dre and Cheng find themselves in a fight, and Dre soon realises that his opponent is no ordinary boy, but a professional at Kung Fu. After days of hiding from Cheng and even more days of getting beaten up, a maintenence man assists Dre and fought away the pack of bullies chasing the innocent boy. Finally he gets up the courage to ask the cleaner to teach him some moves. But then Dre finds himself in alot of trouble and danger. Will Dre become the ultimate “Karate Kid”?
I saw this movie today and its awesome! It keeps you on the edge of your seat and wondering what will happen next. Overall I think its a great movie and I’d give it 9/10 and its suitable for everyone 8 years or over.
today st michaels went to the big bang concert at the town hall Christchurch we walked there and back it was cool because we got too see so many wonderful instrumants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another one of my favourite TV shows is Doctor Who. I’ve watched the last 4 seasons, seen 2 different Doctors, 3 companions and lots of weird planets and monsters along the way. Season 5 has just started on Sunday nights with a new Doctor, a new companion, and even weirder stories. I’m still not sure if I like the new Doctor (played by Matt Smith) as much as the last Doctor (played by David Tennant) but the stories are interesting and the monsters are pretty creepy. One of my favourite monsters, the Weeping Angels, made an appearance at the start of the season, along with the Daleks, and I’m sure we’ll see others returning to wreak havoc on the world.
The Doctor has some interesting gadgets to help him in his travels including his Sonic Screwdriver, Psychic Paper, and his trusty Tardis to help him travel through time and space. He can travel back in time, forwards in time or even to other dimensions, and he’s been to Pompeii, Victorian England, Venice and right to the end of time.
Friday is my favourite day of the week and not just because it’s nearly the weekend. Every Friday night I sit down and watch my favourite TV show – Glee. The characters are awesome, the songs are catchy, and they’re great dancers (especially on stilts like last week!). It always makes me laugh and I sing the songs for the rest of the week. I was in choirs when I was at school but we never sung songs this cool.
My favourite character is the Cherios’ coach, Sue Silvester. She always has the funniest lines and she’s always so mean, especially to Mr. Shu.
mother slip out. My hero, Horton the elephant, who suffered so much on his mission, helped me get through that day. I’m still a Dr Seuss fan. Favourite story: The Pale Green Pants one. Favourite character: the Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz. Dr Seuss was a genius – in Green Eggs and Ham he used a 50 word vocabulary list to create a classic.
