Floodland

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Zoe's family is last to leave their flooded town in England, and she is sadly separated from her parents as they get on the last boats. This book takes a look at one of the possible futures in our path if we continue on the destructive route humans are currently on. The Raven Mysteries are full of humour and mad-cap action, which is quite different from your novels for older readers. This is essential reading for it paints a vivid picture of what life may well be like in the not too distant future if we don’t do something NOW about global warming.

An easy and quick read that is set in the near future where global warming causes sea levels to rise, which then causes floods. 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.For example, at one point children stopped me reading to point out the repetitive use of the verb 'said', and there were other times grammatical choices jarred a little as it didn't feel the writing did the story justice. The lead character, Zoe, was strong and independent child who was able to deal with the challenges of survival. When I first saw Floodland on the shelf, I was intrigued by a storyline from the climate fiction genre. A middle-grade short novel about a post-global-warming world in which much of what was England is now under water. Set in the near future on the east coast of England that has been reclaimed by the sea it tells the story of a girl who, having been mistakenly left behind by her parents escaping from the flood, she heads off to find them but ends up in the hands of a mob of nasty men on a small island.

The idea behind this post apocalyptic world was fascinating and it wasn't too preachy seeing as it is a possible eventuality of global warming. Along the way she ends up at another Island where she gets herself into a tricky situation and well I won't spoil any more. The class enjoyed the developing plot which moves quickly and includes several very anguished and dark moments which kept them engrossed in the story. I love Marcus Sedgwick and his writing style and this being his debut novel was clearly a stepping stone for his future work to come.

Put this together with the feral survival of the children on the Island of Eels and you have Floodland. I love dystopian fiction and the setting of a flooded, sinking England in despair is a brilliant premise for a story and very relevant today with climate change and global warming. The language in the book is simple but very descriptive, with interesting discussion points too, making it a good choice of book to read/study as a class. If it was to make people aware of the dangers of global warming it didn't touch on what had actually happened to bring about this world with any clarity. Zoe discovers a small rowboat and keeps it a secret until she can set out alone on the great sea to find her parents.

The Kiss of Death was published in paperback in April 2009, and picked up a thread from his highly acclaimed My Swordhand is Singing (winner of the 2007 Booktrust Teenage Book Award). Reading this during the coronavirus pandemic, there are a lot of parallels: fear, concern for the future and one's own survival, who you can trust or be close to. He is also the most noted author in the history of the Printz Award, with one win and two honour books,for Revolver, The Ghosts of Heaven and Midwinter Blood. She is left alone in the ruins of Norwich but escapes to Eels Island ( Ely Cathedral) where she discovers a sinister society run by a strange boy named Dooby.

I anticipated a more sadder ending, but, unfortunately I didn't get that😭But it's a good book overall especially for children to understand climate change and that. The adventure are not fantasy like Alice in wonderland or The wonderful wizard of oz it has a lot of sorrow inside. Half way to what’s left of the mainland she comes across another small isle that is dominated by huge Cathedral.

I am teaching this to my year 6 class and it has been a great success as it totally engages its readers and is topical and relevant.I enjoyed listening to the children's interesting discussions about how we can reduce the effects by changing our behavior.