London, 1799. Dora Blake has aspirations far out reaching what society deems fit for a lady such as herself; jewellery that befits those of high society and elegance that will be talked about by everyone and Dora wants nothing more than to be an artist to make this happen but sadly she must be under the constant scrutiny of her uncle who has taken ownership of her parents’ once famed shop of the rarest antiques. This was a superb debut, easy to read and not overtly historical-heavy. Dora the explorer (look someone had to say it) made for great reading and I’d jump on another release from this author. Updated guidance from the Department for Education on phonics is covered in The Reading Framework (updated July 2023) and will be important to review when updating your resources.

She also captured the class system and the different varied characters of London in a realistic way- you could easily imagine the setting and the people. When I read about jewelry design in the first chapter, I immediately thought that there should be female solidarity towards the end. In such books, the heroine's ally suddenly becomes the most unpleasant female person. So, this will also happen: Uncle's lover, the maid Lottie, who has been treating her for twelve years, suddenly becomes inflamed with friendly feelings. And one duchess there, literally from the first hour of acquaintance, will become on a short leg with our cutie. As far as the ending goes, that was rather less polished. Some things happen fairly randomly and others were not clearly explained, giving a minor impression that the author was making some of it up as she went along. There were some good twists and revelations along the way, but one or two others did not feel quite right in the context of the story. The historical time period and the Georgian London setting are reflected really well by the atmosphere that prevails throughout and the meticulous attention to detail. The attention given to the study of antiquities and the descriptions of things such as Dora's jewellery, the objects at Blake's Emporium, and Lady Latimer's soiree, all help to give the story even more depth. For confident and super-confident readers it is important that books are matched appropriately to their emotional maturity. For thisreasonPandora Books collate specific book collections for confident readerswhereextraemphasis is put on the contentbeingabsolutely spot on and not inappropriate for their chronological age whilst the book band level is higher.A book about archelogy and greek mythology? Yes, please. I was intrigued by the blurb about a mysterious greek vase (could this be the famed Pandora's vase?) and the book was ok. I did find the story to drag now and then and it was a bit predictable with the romance and who's good and who's bad. Actually, my favourite character was Cornelis, Edwards's best friend. I found his story to be most tragic and I would have loved him to take a more central place instead of the usual pairing of a young woman meets a dashing young man and the usual cliché romance. Not that I disliked Dora and Edward, but it's the usual pairing and I do like more memorable characters. Our team has many years of experience levelling ‘real’ books — when we talk about ‘real’ books, we mean books that have not been developed specifically for a reading scheme and have been written for the pure enjoyment of reading. Reading scheme books are written to exacting levels but the value of ascribing book bands to books written freely by exciting authors to absorb and captivate readers has been appreciated by our schools for 15 years. That is just one example of how the writing is simply outstanding. The author's prose is a delight to behold, as sentences are weaved together with such beautiful refinement and lyricism, including lots of similes and personification. It is this more than anything that makes you want to keep reading, and for a debut author that is seriously impressive. I loved this book, historical fiction woven with mystery and Greek mythology? What's not to love?! Dora was a gorgeous character, with heart and a passion for her art and jewellery, but who was living with her awful uncle after the death of her parents. And Edward, lovely Edward. A man who wanted recognition for his work on antiques, but was struggling to get it.

Banded books ultimately provide children with a pathway of progression in reading but also support teachers who are making book-buying decisions to meet the needs of individual pupils, bringing variety and breadth to children’s reading diets. Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised – Large Grapheme Cards for Reception: Phases 2 and 3 I loved the fact that I couldn’t decide whether or not there was a touch of magical realism to this book. Much like The Essex Serpent, it straddles that divide in such a way that you’re never entirely certain. Though, in this case, I’m leaning strongly in the direction of there being just a touch of the supernatural housed within the story. Especially when it comes to the pithos itself. It’s beautiful and somehow disturbing in its perfection, magnetic and repellant. I loved the undercurrent of similarities between Dora and her Grecian namesake. And the identity hinted at for one particular side character near the end of novel was a very fun touch. Indeed, Cornelius is an entertaining character to read and it was a shame that he did not receive a happy ending. He is sharp-witted and in front of an oblivious Edward, never makes any attempt to hide his jealousy towards Dora, creating many of book's lighter moments. Lady Latimer was also highly memorable; haughty in the extreme and with an enormous sense of entitlement, yet not without the occasional hint of generosity.There’s a sense that Pandora holds the moral high ground in this novel, not because she does good things but because she is suffering under her uncle’s tyranny. Virtue via suffering is apt for this time period, but it’s also a device that sometimes makes her bland. Meanwhile, her uncle is purely despicable – he too tends to be flat.

Twenty-one-year-old Pandora “Dora” Blake lives and works in her late parents' antiquities shop in Georgian London. Her parents had been renowned antiquarians specializing in Grecian artifacts and had made their living excavating tombs in South-Eastern Europe. Their untimely death in a mishap during an excavation twelve years ago left Dora orphaned and under the care of her unscrupulous and corrupt uncle Hezekiah Blake who promptly took over the shop and is responsible for its present state of disrepute, dealing mostly in forgeries and objects with not much historical significance. Dora aspires to be a jewelry designer and spends time honing her craft with her faithful pet magpie Hermes by her side, despite the constant beratement and ridicule of her uncle who would rather be rid of her.It is primarily a historical fiction, but with rather enticing elements of Greek mythology that give it that little bit of extra intrigue. These transpire to be more akin to magical realism than fantasy and along with the double meaning of the title, bring a lot of promise that something mesmerising awaits at the end. There is certainly lots to enjoy, only the mythology merely exists within the narrative rather than being the thing around which it is based. Each month we receive sample copies and manuscripts from all the leading children’s publishers to review. We read all of the books that we find suitable for our collections and level the texts. It is only by reading the books that we can be sure that the text level is consistent and that the content is appropriate for a school library. It is at this point that we would weed out any books that include language that is inappropriate for the classroom; which contain themes or scenes that children reading at this age may have difficulty with; or which do not significantly meet our ideal criteria for primary school reading books. We are looking for books which are not only at the right text level but which also promote reading for pleasure, use language well or introduce interesting vocabulary and ensure that as many different styles, text types, themes and genre are included in each collection as possible to broaden children’s reading. The story is pretty interesting and engaging, i love the Georgian atmospheric vibe and the mystery element in the book but in my opinion the characters are pretty bland and the plot is slow… there are also a lot of unnecessary conversation and I think the book can be shorter, however I’m pretty much enjoyed this book and think this is such a great debut from the author Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised books and resources support the DfE Validated Little Wandle Systematic Synthetic Phonics Teaching Programme that has been developed in collaboration with two English Hubs, Wandle Learning Trust and Little Sutton Primary School. Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised – Keep-up Teacher’s Guide for Reception

Created by Hephaestus and released into the world of men to bring both misery and hope, Pandora is a figure whose name conjures an expectation of mythic drama; but Susan Stokes-Chapman’s bestselling debut novel only hints gently at those possibilities. Her Pandora is a young woman living in an attic above her uncle’s shop of fake antiquities in 18th-century London, training herself to become a designer of fine jewellery. Pandora” is a historical fiction gem, the debut novel by author Susan Stokes-Chapman. Set in London in 1799, Chapman’s novel manages to merge Greek mythology and Georgian England in a creative and realistic way. The story is told from three POV’s; Dora, Edward (a historian with a passion for antiquities and Dora’s love interest) and Hezekiah himself. I loved how Chapman brought all three characters alternatively into the limelight, as it served to deepen the plot and character development.

This is a story set in Georgian era London, where the discovery of a mysterious ancient Greek Vase sets in motion conspiracies and revelations. Dora Blake is an aspiring jewellery artist and an orphan, she live together with her uncle and they run an antiquities shop. When a mysterious Greek vase is delivered, Dora is intrigues by her uncle suspicious behavior and enlists the help of Edward Lawrence, a young antuarian scholar to find out the story about this mysterious vase I obviously especially LOVED all of the Greek myth and Greek history references throughout this book. This book satisfied my un-dying love for them. The author does well to capture the villainy of some of the characters too: I definitely saw one of the characters as a Vernon Dursley type from HP and it was so easy to despise him! Then the pithos comes into play, and I am desperate to see this in a film. The descriptions in the book just scream 'stunning' and I am certain my imagination comes nowhere near its beauty. Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised – Picture Cards for Reception: Phase 2