My Swordhand is Singing

Product Information

I love music, both listening to it and playing it (I'm a drummer). A day without music is not a proper day... I also love travel and try to travel as much as I can manage. Alex trained at the VGIK institute of cinematography (Moscow), with Elen Bowman, Irina Brown, Lab Ky Mo and at The Video College. Alex is currently the Children’s assistant on Sam Mendes Charlie and the Chocolate factory in the West End, where he is also creating and leading the CHARLIE school. Recent productions include The Crocodile (riverside studios), OUTED (Park Theatre) and Merri England (Finborough Thetare). He has assisted Melly Still, Tom Morris, Braham Murray, Mike Longurst and most recently Simon McBurney and Complicite for a new work at the National Thetare.

I have a pet raven called Edgar, though he doesn’t say much, eat much, or indeed, move much. There’s a possibility that he’s stuffed, I guess. Some lessons make reference to worksheets - these were avaliable on www.teachit.co.uk (I belive they still are.)I knew right from the first chapter that this was going to be my eerie-fest of the month. I mean honestly, the story starts with… well. You’ll just have to find out. During a fierce winter, young Peter and his father Tomas, itinerant woodcutters, settle in the forest outside the tiny village of Chust. Strange doings have disturbed the sleepy town: mutilated cattle, bloodied sheep, and unexplained deaths. The villagers react in superstitious ways Peter doesn’t fully understand: They paint their doors with tar, smear their windowsills with garlic, sing a nonsensical folksong at funerals, and perform weddings between young maidens and the recently dead. As the murders multiply, Peter begins to realize that his own father—tormented by a past he will not share with his son—is one of the few who fully understand what is happening. Furthermore, Tomas may hold the key to stopping the horrors, if only he can find the courage to fight. Marcus is the winner of many book prizes, most notably the Printz Award (Midwinterblood), the Booktrust Teenage Prize (My Swordhand Is Singing), and the Blue Peter Book Award. His books have been shortlisted for over thirty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (five times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize (four times). In 2011 Revolver was awarded a Printz Honor. This was an unexpected outcome for this novel, but I’m glad to finally be able to say that I’ve read it, and I can sell the duo to someone who may enjoy them more. I am reading this book right now for the carnegie award and i have a feeling it is the best book out of all of the different ones ot read.

I read this years ago when I borrowed it from a library. I can remember thinking what a brilliant book it was, and I can also remember going the next day to get the sequel from the library. I decided to read it again to see if I thought it was still as good. The book's dark and brooding pace suits the story's mood. Written in third person, the tale oversees the life of Peter whose secretive father hides a tragic past and whose distant and offhanded demeanour makes growing up in the cold wild of 17th century Romania difficult. After moving from place to place we find father and son beginning to settle on the fringes of the village of Chust. Here, Peter tries to forge relationships with the guarded locals, but all is not as it seems as the nights are plagued by vampires. Peter finds himself not only entangled a web of deceit within the village but also in the grip of his father's past which will not leave them alone.Great question, impossible to answer. So many amazing things to go and see – the building of the pyramids, a Viking boat putting out to sea, Man Utd winning the European Championship in 1968… In the bitterly cold Transylvanian forest Tomas and his son, Peter, arrive in Chust and despite the hostility of the villagers, settle there as woodcutters. Tomas digs a channel of fast-flowing waters around their hut so they have their own little island kingdom. saw Marcus turn his attention to books for younger readers with the launch of a humorous new series: The Raven Mysteries, narrated by a grumpy raven, Edgar. Definitely a recommendation, although I kind of have the feeling this is the sort of book you love or hate. Just make sure you have time to read it all in one night. Preferably while not alone in the Transylvanian forest. 6.7 out of 7 Epic Magical Swords! Plus. Awesome cover.

Thank you , this is great. We usually send this novel off with children to read over summer but this year we will use these novel-study activities and read it alongside them (it will be that sort of year!) on their return. Useful PEE, show-not-tell, character work to enable the children to use their reading to inform writing. He is currently working on film projects and graphic novels with his brother, Julian. He has judged numerous books awards, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the Costa Book Awards. I cannot say this is the creepiest book I've read in my life, but I admit it gave me many chills up my spine. The atmosphere and the writing were factors that contributed to it: Both were dark and gothic. Come. Come away.” She pulled Peter’s hands, dragging him deeper into the wood, and he knew she was right. He shook himself. “This way,” he said. “I’ve got Sultan with me.” They ran.Drawing on extensive research of the vampire legend which permeates traditions throughout the world and set in the forbidding and remote landscapes of the 17th century, this is the story of a father and his son, of loss, redemption, salvation, and the acceptance of death. It was a single line, the first line in the book in fact. I'd had it for ages but didn't know where I was going to use it until the character of Edgar came along: "I suspect I may have fleas again". As the book progresses Peter learns more about the undead and about the real reason he and his father have moved around a lot. Whenever I read a vampire book, I am suspicious. Modern vampire books tend to romanticize them - to portray vampires as gentle creatures. I hate those versions of vampires. I love them bloodthirsty, evil and soulless. My Swordhand is Singing is a book with that kind of vampires.