Chellaston Academy Reading: Recent Episodes
Chellaston Academy
You will find lots of different extracts here being read by staff from across the school. See if you can guess who is reading!
12.07. There’s a monster at Conor’s window. It’s not the one from his nightmare. But it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth.
Eve of Man by Giovanna and Tom Fletcher.
Against all odds, she survived. The first girl born in fifty years.
They called her Eve.
Eve lives alone in the Tower under the strict gaze of the Mothers. She is prized and protected, because she is the last girl on earth.
Eve has always understood that the survival of the human race is in her hands. Now she's sixteen, and three males have been selected. Eve knows it's time to face her fate.
Until she meets Bram.
Eve sees a chance for something she never thought could be hers.
But how do you choose between love and the future of humanity?
Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in Otera, where a woman's worth is tied to her purity. When Deka bleeds gold - the colour of impurity, of a demon - she faces eternal torture. She is saved by a mysterious woman who reveals the truth - Deka is an Alaki, a near-immortal with exceptional gifts. Her choice: fight for the Emperor with her kin, or be destroyed.
This is a fast-paced fantasy adventure with some scenes of violence, injury and death which some readers may find distressing. However, it is also the story of discovery and of the deep bonds of friendship and belonging. A great story for questioning how we can ever know someone's true gifts, if the rituals and routines of a society do not encourage them to flourish.
Truly, Wildly, Deeply by Jenny McLaclan
The blurb: "Annie is starting college. She can’t wait. No more school, no more uniform, and no one telling her what to do. It’s the start of a new adventure and Annie’s not going to let anyone or anything get in the way of that. Freedom matters to Annie. She has cerebral palsy and she’s had to fight hard to get the world to see her for who she truly is. Then she meets Fab. He’s six foot two, Polish and a passionate believer in…well, just about everything, but most of all Annie and good old fashioned romance. The moment Fab sees Annie, he’s wildly drawn to her and declares she must be his girl. Annie’s horrified. She doesn’t want to be anyone’s anything, especially if it means losing her independence. But then Annie finds herself falling for Fab. As things go deeply wrong, Annie realises that love can make you do wild, crazy things, and so she sets out to win his heart with a romantic gesture of truly epic proportions!"
Jenny McLachlan writes the best kind of real-life fiction – with big themes and characters you’ll love, her books go straight to your heart.
This short story from 1915 starts with the bold opening of a man waking up to find out he is now a giant cockroach! No explanation is given of how this happened, but Gregor Samsa has to come to terms with his new existence and the impact it will have upon his confused family.
Want to know how it ends? This is a short story and is also out of copyright. You can read the rest of the story here.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5200/5200-h/5200-h.htm
Extract from 'The Birds' a short story taken from 'The Birds and other Stories' by Daphne du Maurier (this was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock) Daphne du Maurier also wrote Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel and many other stories that have been made into both TV Series and Films.
An extract from 'Diary of a Young Naturalist' by Dara McAnulty.
Dara is conservationist and activist from Northern Ireland. He is 16 years old and autistic. This is his first book.
This is the start of 'The girl you left behind' by JoJo Moyes. She is most known for writing 'Me before You' that was made into a film (another fab book!)