In our review of it, we said it “pays huge attention to detail in the light and shadows of the canal and its surroundings”, this makes it an “atmospheric tale” and a “good page-turning thriller”. We would like to give out book marks with reading question prompts to support them with reading at home. These resources are fantastic- definitely going to use these extensively in my teaching of reading next year. It is designed (hopefully) to make readers more 'active' when they are discussing and reading their own books and may prevent them from using the reading corner as a resting place!

These VIPERS objective have really transformed our teaching of reading in the Junior School I work in.

A well-composed family drama, The Party Crasher is centred around Effie, while also allowing each character to have their own story. A prequel to the original DI Laidlaw stories, The Dark Remains is set against the backdrop of Glasgow in the Seventies – where poverty, high unemployment, alcohol and domestic abuse, and violence are rife. So I set about thinking about a mnemonic that could be used by teachers, other adults who read with children and also the children themselves.

Effie gatecrashes a family party, and the novel is said to serve as a reminder that everyone around us has things bubbling under the surface. The 6 domains focus on the comprehension aspect of reading and not the mechanics: decoding, fluency, prosody etc. It tells the lives of five characters – that each form a sub-story to the main plot – and how they are each connected by a copy of a mysterious ancient text.Not only has this tome landed itself a spot in the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist, but it also took the top spot in our guide to the best new books to read in 2020. So, if your reading pile is looking a little low on the ground, the announcement of the shortlist should provide all the inspiration you need. Viper’s Daughter is set in the Stone Age, in the forests of the northern hemisphere, about Torak, a boy, Renn, a girl, and Wolf – a Wolf! The requirements when working on a gas installation when there has been air introduced and when air has not been introduced. Caroline’s excitement at the prospect of the ongoing story has been palpable ever since; Michelle Paver’s writing really does have this effect.