stories written by Phoebe

At school I have recently joined a new club called Director's Cut where we are making a film with the help of Vito Rocco (director fo the new film Faintheart). It is called Where is Victoria Nickelson?  and we just finished filming it with the help of Palm Tree Films. I didn't act but I was clapperboard loader so I clacked the clapperboard and did the takes etc. It was very fun and exciting.

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens is the story of a boy who has lived all his life in the country and now his indebted  father has died must find work to support his mother and sister. He goes to his uncle for help and is given a place in the infamous Dotheboy's Hall, run by Squeers. 

This book is funny, including men throwing cucumbers and vegetable marrows over the wall and an overly imaginitive mother. 

Stars/5: ***

A Little History of the World  by E.H. Gombrich is easy-to-read and informative. It goes round most of the world giving you the most important happenings in each place. These happenings are placed roughly chronologically with the rest of the world. it is simple to understand and told in the manner of  a storybook.

Stars/5: ****

Both the film, directed by Lasse Halstrom and the book written by Joanne Harris are amazing. The film, starring Juliette Binoche as Vianne and Judi Dench as Amande Voizin, is told from Vianne and her daughter Anouk's pint of view whereas the book tells from both their view and the priest, Reynaud's view.

It is the story of Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk moving to a small extremely Catholic village in France and setting up a chocolate shop, on the first day of Lent. They learn to overcome the difficulties with the villagers and to help them with their problems.

Star(film)/5: ***

Star(book)/5: ****

The film, Young Victoria, is supposedly based on this book by Kate Williams. The first half of the book is about Princess Charlotte and her mother- Caroline. We learn how the death of Charlotte shaped Victoria's reign and England. It is well written, cleverly informative and filled with quotes, without being boring or overly researched. It also has several pages of colour pictures which are well-captioned and useful.

Stars/5: ****

Every time I walked past those bushes, I heard it- the rustling.

Mother just says "You're imagining it,you are an excitable young girl." Sometimes she would add  "What kind of a wife will you make?"

Now I can see a face, a starving, lonely face.

I told Mother but she said  "You should live more in the real world, how will you bring up children?"

One day I saw a man, a strong man, a tall man. A man with a sack. One day the girl didn't come home.

Now there are two lonely, starving faces in the hedge.

On Tuesday 24 Feb, Meg Rosoff came into our school to talk to us. She had had a perfect life till she was 20. She was and A* student and was always perfect. When she was 20 however she began to have her teenage years, she went to Harvard and hated so she stayed out all night. She went into advertizing and just kept getting fired. So she began to write, her first novel was called How I Live Now, which is about a girl who leaves from NYC and goes to live in England with her cousins. While she is there the 3rd world war started. Stars/5***. Her second book, Just in Case, is about a boy who tries ot evade death stars/5: ***. Her third book is called What I Was.

A picture of Meg Rosoff:

Labels: book, Case, cattle, how i, i, in, Just, live, Meg, now, prattle, review, Rosoff, was, what

The great, sometimes scary film pulled at the heartstrings and the fears. It was terrific. 

Made: Better version was made in 1968, not so good was made in 2001.

Stars/5: *****

This comedy written in 1902 by J.M. Barrie is funny but also an analysis of Edwardian society. It's most important charcterss are: Crichton, Lord Loam, Lady Mary, Lady Catherine, Lady Agatha, Tweeny and Treherne. All these carachters get wrecked on a desert island with Lord Loam and it is about what happens to society there.

Stars/5:****

For our English homework we had to make or write something in response to the book. I chose to make clothes that they might have worn on the island so here are some pictures.