Then there was the sad moment in the book, I was heart broken when I read that Ioana had simply died, in one way it was predictable, but at the same time I did not expect it. I have mixed feelings on how the book dealt with it, from a child's point of view it felt like a good explanation of what happened. However for older readers it felt almost glossed over, it happened and then it was forgotten.

Sky Hawk is set in a small farming village in Scotland. It starts with a meeting between three boys who seem, at first, to be quite irritating and childish, especially Rob who is a bit of a show-off, and Iona, a girl who has returned to the village to live with her grandfather who is almost an outcast in the village. This book was a good read. It's main focusses are on nature and birds, in particular osprey's, and friendships and how they can change and be adapted. The story also touches on emotions and death and therefore the story pulls on the reader's heart strings as they can become attached to characters once they have got to know a bit about them. There is also an interest in Nature in the book which can be connected to Science. Activities such as, creating a fact-file of Osprey’s or getting children to explore their local environment through researching what birds they have near them could be influential in expanding their knowledge of living things and their habitats which is of significance in the Science National Curriculum. It dealt with implying that there were problems with Iona's home life, this meant that more mature readers would understand the implications of what was said but not younger.

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We could play a fun prediction game when we finish a chapter of the book, for example in chapter four Iona and Callum’s secret is finally revealed to us, and so after reading the previous chapter we could all think about what the secret could be and draw a picture or write about what each child thinks it is. The courage of the author in killing off a quirky lead character early in the book. Meningitis is a very abrupt death. The author's choice to end a prominent character's role without much warning is tribute to the fact that this is a dangerous disease that strikes fast and invokes fear in the community when it occurs. I happen to know a beautiful, genuinely good, healthy young college graduate who died suddenly overnight after falling asleep with a fever as Iona did, and there is no foreshadowing possible. The truth can be painful. That the author chose to include this very rare occurrence in a child's life, while having a fragile, wounded migrating bird survive against all odds, is a risky decision as an author, but one that had a huge impact on Callum's character development. A good activity that could develop the children’s knowledge of the book may be to ask the children to illustrate the front cover and consider the main themes that they think are important in the book. While I usually find book reading uncomfortable and difficult, due to dyslexia and visual stress, the short chapters and widely spaced text made for an easy flow of reading. This book is full of beautiful imagery describing the hawk and nature. I loved the important messages that were portrayed in the book: kindness, friendships and love.

I disliked the fact that Iona died in the book as I felt that it wasn’t necessary to the book and it made the book a little sad. This could affect children if the book was being read to key stage 1. However, the rest of the story is lovely to read with a happy ending. It didn’t feel like there was a clear link to the story for Iona to die therefore it didn’t feel as if it was needed. The novel is written as a fiction genre. The book is full of continuous themes linking to nature: the hawk, landscapes, bird nest, deserts and mountains The way that love of animals often seems to bring out the best in people, e.g. Callum and his friends. Callum and Iona form a deep bond of friendship. Callum has the strength of mind to stand up to his friend to defend Iona and she then shares an amazing secret with him about a wild creature that is living on his father's farm. Callum and Iona become very close friends and together they will do anything to protect the beautiful creature.In the novel Gill Lewis has given the reader clues about what the story will be about; introducing one of the main characters: the girl Iona and it also introduces the dark rivers and forests. This landscape is introduced to give the reader an idea of where the novel will be set. The teacher could also read certain phrases with a good use of adjectives, the teacher could read the adjectives to the children and then encourage them to come up with their own adjectives for the actions and looks of the hawk. I have very mixed feelings about this book, i would say it is very much a book of two halves. To begin with it was absolutely captivating, the slow buildup to actually finding out about the Ospreys was great. It really felt as if I was reading the imagination of a child discovering such a unique thing and keeping it a secret. The truth that the internet can forge long distance friendships that are real (some people argue/ worry that time spent on the internet deprives children of "real" friendships) If I were to use this text in my future classroom, I would create a receptive context by creating a display based on the book so that the children can imagine themselves inside the book as they are reading it. I would get some toy osprey and some pictures to put in the classroom so that the children can see what they look like. I may also get them to draw their own osprey pictures just like Iona did in the story. Another way in which I might create a receptive context for this story is by using drama and hot seating. I would choose some children to be the main characters in the book and then get the rest of the class to ask them questions so that they can understand the characters emotions and actions more clearly. This activity also gets all of the children involved in the story and keeps them interested. Before reading the story I would ask the children if any of them knew what an osprey is and also if any of them are from Scotland as this can create a bond between the children and the story.

Due to Skyhawk being an enjoyable story, the book would also be suitable to read as a class story with any KS2 class. The chapters aren’t too long so at least one could be read at a time. The book had a few patterns of pain and sadness: when the bird hurt her foot, when Iona got ill and passed away and when Jeneba was ill and hurt her leg. Therefore, I think this gives the reader an important message that life is not always happy and joyful, but there can be moments of pain and sadness. The reader may then understand that sometimes pain and sadness can be sorted out and resolved but sometimes it can leave people with despair. For example, the main characters may have felt loss of hope when the bird cut her leg, they may have been worried and lost hope that the hawk would not be able to look after her eggs. This book took me two days to read as I just couldn’t put it down. It was just such an easy journey to follow and be a part of. There is so much you can do with characterisation: Callum is such an interesting character as he is incredibly subtle and reserved in his speech but as a narrator, you can really connect with him and understand his internal thoughts and feelings towards Iona and the ospreys. Callum and Iona dedicate themselves to such a heartwarming and resilient journey to ensure the safety of the ospreys and even without Iona, Callum remains strong and determined to fight for Iris until the very end. I liked the emphasis on emotions and friendships in this story and how it also touches on bullying, especially when Iona joins the class and is called a weirdo by her new classmates. This is effective as it can relate the character to the readers life, especially if they have been bullied in the past and can also create sympathy for the character due to the way in which she is treated. I liked how Callum went against his friends who were mean to Iona and decided to be her friend. I also liked how Callum's soft side came out as the strong went on and the character developed. The beginning of this was shown when he became friends with Iona through the osprey and then how he decided to create a fundraiser to help a girl in the Gambia that he had been messaging over losing his osprey (Iris) so that she could have a life-changing operation.From this point on I enjoyed the book less and less, it was a quaint story but it didn't feel as believable. The Africa side of the story felt like a sequel to the book instead of a second half. It felt much more aimed at younger children from chapter 28 or so onward. There is also the opportunity for the inclusion of drama, role-play and art as children could create their own tree house/den like Iona’s and Callum’s which could be filled with drawings the pupils have created of birds from their local area. In the novel there was a continuous pattern of love and friendship: Callum developed a loving and caring friendship with Iona and Jeneba. There is also patterns of kindness and care: Callum continues to care and look after the bird and he cares for his family and friends. The way that Gill Lewis portrayed each of the characters relationships with one another was also fantastic. The group dynamic between Callum, Euan and Rob was so well constructed, it felt very relatable as well, where two friends are closer than the third for some reason.