Review: The Thirteenth by G. L. Twynham

The Thirteenth by G. L. Twynham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this story. It was fast paced from the start and I liked the characters, who were interesting and developed as the story did. If I had to complain about it at all, I would say that the spelling mistakes drove me mad. I like to really get into a story and it was easy with this book as it was so exciting, but the numerous errors were irritating as I think they could so easily have been avoided.

Personally, I think each book in a trilogy or series should stand alone so that it can be read completely and with a satisfactory story resolution and no obligation to read the next in the series. This book does not fit into that category. However, it is a great story and if you can forgive the spelling errors, it is a series that will keep you turning the pages until you have finished. Well worth a read.

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Molly Gumnut Rescues a Bandicoot by Patricia Puddle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a story about cheeky 8 year old, Molly Gumnut as she sets out with her father's camera to take a wildlife photo for the school calendar. In her attempts to find something interesting to photograph, she comes across the neighbour's cat, Tiddles, playing with a ball, which actually turns out to be baby bandicoot, a protected native marsupial. So begins the rescue of the injured animal and the adventures and mischief Molly Gumnut gets up to on the way.

I am a mum and a primary school teacher, so I read quite a few children's books and I'm afraid this isn't among my favourites.

First of all, I felt that the overall structure of the story was weak. It would have been better if there were fewer events so there could be more build up to them, creating excitement and anticipation of the smaller events throughout the story. The calendar photograph was the underlying story thread which nicely linked the beginning with the end and coincided well with her finding and releasing the Bandicoot. I felt the other events dragged the story out too much and detracted too much from the plot. Children's books need to model good structure of stories as well as interesting language. This story was too repetitive and the plot was too 'untidy' with lots of extra events which could have been left out to create a clearer and more easily readable story.

I found it hard to warm to Molly. She was annoying in the way she acted quite selfishly and in the way she spoke to others. This behaviour seemed to contradict the fact that coming from a nice family, better behaviour would have been modelled and expected. It infuriated me at times that the adults around her, who were caring and seemed to have good values, were not consistent in managing Molly's increasingly challenging behaviour. She simply seemed to get away with being 'impudent' and doing as she pleased, although at other times they suddenly became strict and imposed sanctions. There were times that I thought Molly was an intelligent girl, especially when talking about how to care for animals, but her actions didn't generally reflect that. Children do act erratically at times and frequently do things without thinking of the consequences, but Molly repeatedly got into that kind of trouble, which didn't seem realistic.

Similarly, I found the other characters in the story inconsistent or unbelieveable. Grandma was sometimes strict and got cross and at other times she was easy going and gentle natured; dad sometimes laughed off Molly's antics and at other times got angry at her; mum often let her get her own way, yet also put her foot down and imposed strict consequences. The sisters could have been introduced at the beginning, but we are suddenly introduced to them when they have a role to play. Again, if the author had focussed on fewer acts of Molly's mischief, she could have made more of Gretchen, developing her character more and therefore making her more believeable and adding another layer to the story.

During the story, I was left with questions about things that just didn't make sense. Why did people keep trusting Molly to be left alone when she clearly couldn't be trusted? Why didn't anyone call Gran to tell her that Molly had been found? Why would Mrs Wilson blame herself for Molly going missing, especially after Molly was so rude to her.

I like the idea of using photographs to illustrate a story, but I think it has to be done very carefully and I'm not sure that's the case here. I'm afraid I didn't really like the pictures in this book; somehow they didn't quite fit the story. They either looked like the story had been conveniently changed to fit the picture or the photo was staged to fit the story.

I'm sorry to play the teacher here, but there were a large number of errors in this book, which I think could have been avoided. There were many spelling mistakes, even in Molly's name on one occasion, and some words missing here and there. It was quite repetitive, using the same language over and over again (eyes popped wide; tears clouded her eyes) and sometimes repeating the same phrase almost as though the author had forgotten she had already included that particular thought or idea.

Overall, I think the idea for the story is a good one, but it needs to be developed more carefully. I think it would make a lovely short story and could imagine children enjoying watching it as a series on TV.

As it is, I'm afraid I would not read it to a class of children or give it to my own children to read.


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What a week! (2?)

Hmmm, not exactly the most explanatory title I've ever written, but nevertheless quite appropriate. Why the (2?)? Well, it's the sort of title I have probably used before and short of looking through everything to check, I have just called it '2' in the hope that no one will question it. In fact, I probably would have got away without anyone questioning it, had I not just drawn attention to it. Anyway, enough about the title...

One of my new year's resolutions this year was to get a job.That might sound pretty straight forward, after all, "There's plenty of work out there for people who really want it," [northern accent essential for this to be effective]  I hear echoes from my dad's voice from when I was looking for a Summer job while I was at Uni. He's quite right of course, but that relies on the 'job seeker' being willing to do just about anything. We all have our excuses. Here's mine:

I spent 4 years at Uni and another two-years-crammed-in-to-one-year doing my PGCE having left a well paid job I was successful at. Why would I want to work hard to complete my training only to go on to do a job which pays even less than I was earning before? It would make no sense. I trained as a teacher and that's the job I want.

Many people who read my blog have followed my quest to find a permanent teaching post since completing my PGCE in 2006. By my own admission I have been neccessarily fussy when it comes to applying to schools. I need a school which will be understanding about the fact that I have a family; a school where the staff are supportive and help each other instead of talking about each other behind their backs; a school where I fit in and don't have to pretend to be someone or something I am not, and a school whose head has high expectations, yet also has respect for the staff and remembers what it was like to be on the frontline, appreciates how many extra hours teachers put in and frequently shows that appreciation. That's not unreasonable, I think, but it's astonishing how few and far between those kinds of schools seem to be.

Over the years I've had my fair share of interviews. Of course, interviews for teachers are not simply about turning up and answering questions. There is invariably a teaching observation and often other activities such as assessment of work. Some of the interviews have gone well and some not so well. It almost always comes down to who you are up against, so although a few of my interviews have resulted in me being offered a job, many have not. It's sometimes been because there was someone who performed better, less frequently because the other candidates and I were not what they were looking for and so they simply didn't appoint anyone, but most infuriating, it has often come down the the fact that I have been competing with hundreds of NQTs who are cheaper and usually younger with fewer home commitments.

The supply teaching work has been fantastic. It's flexible, pays well and I've met some great people and seen all sorts of things done in many different ways. It's been a different kind of experience to what I'd have had if I'd taken a permanent teaching job after qualifying. Unfortunately it has made me fussy about the type of school I wanted to work at, which I had begun to doubt I would ever get to work at, so recently I made a few decisions, fuelled by the lack of supply and therefore the lack of income. I began to look elsewhere.

It was not easy to decide to stop teaching. As I said above, why would I train so hard for so long simply to take a job outside of teaching, but having carefully considered the pros and cons and finally decided to give something else a try, within a short space of time I had 2 interviews lined up for this week. One paid considerably more than the other and I spent a lot of time deliberating about what to do if one offered a position before I had heard about the other etc. Finally thinking I had a firm plan of what to do, everything took an unusual turn.

Out of the blue, I had a phone call from a headteacher saying she had a position she thought I might be interested in and, having interviewed me last year, she would like me to go in for an informal chat. The following day after having another look around the school while chatting about the job, I sat in her officeand accepted the job. That was it. No further interview; no observation. Why can't everything be that easy?

Oh, did I say 'Easy'? I start after half term, which means I have two weeks to get up to speed and ready to go. Hmmm, 'Easy' was probably not the most appropriate word. It does seems to have happened quite suddenly, but also quite smoothly. So, what's the catch? Well, nothing. Oh, except the one thing I have come to expect now whenever I move schools (which has been quite a regular occurrence)... Ofsted are due any time. Oh well, it makes it interesting and 6 Ofsteds in 6 years is something not many teachers can say they've done.