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Patrons of Reading

Red Shoes launch at Northfield Academy

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Northfield-Launch1.jpg
    Last week for Book Week Scotland, Northfield Academy, where we are Patrons of Reading, organised a special Red Shoes book launch. 
    280 kids from local schools gathered in the assembly hall and we talked about the book, the creative process and fairy tales. 

    Waterstones were also there and sold lots of books. 

    Afterwards we took our turn to participate in Book Fit, Mandy Wilson ‘s great initiative: read The Red Shoes on the exercise bike! Neil Hendry the head teacher took the lead! Yesterday the pupils pedaled a total of 600km! 

    Huge thanks to Mandy, Neil and Karen Shaw for organising all this and making the day so special!

Patrons of Reading Activities: Great Scottish Scientists Project

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This year, as Patrons of Reading at Northfield Academy, we had the pleasure of working on an exciting project, organised by librarian extraordinaire Mandy Wilson.

The project involved art and science teachers, and S1 pupils were set the task of creating comics about Great Scottish Scientists. Scotland has a rich history of invention and, for a small country, a surprisingly large number of famous discoveries to its name.

Allan Burnett (author of “Invented in Scotland”) delivered a talk to inspire the pupils, who then each gathered information on a scientist, engineer or mathematician of their choice.

We then delivered sessions with groups of pupils to help them get started on researching and developing their own comic, which they later finished working with the art department.

The pupils were encouraged to use photographs as reference or even for use as part of a collage, mixed in with their own drawings.

Mandy has created this excellent film about the project.

We then selected three of the best comics which where photographed to create the three short videos below. The soundtracks were produced by S1 pupils.

The whole project was made possible thanks to the Scottish Book Trust Live Literature Fund.

Metaphrog Recommends 12 Graphic Novels for Young Readers

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Metaphrog Recommends 12 Graphic Novels for Young Readers
In our capacity as Patrons of Reading, we recently had the pleasure of returning to Northfield Academy for a follow up visit, doing an in-depth workshop with S1 pupils and also introductory comic workshops with P7s.

We promised to compile a list of recommended graphic novels for the school, and indeed, any library interested in extending their graphic novel section (or in starting one) is welcome to use it too.

Pupils of Northfield Academy busy reading their class set of Louis – Red Letter Day

Metaphrog recommends 12 Graphic Novels for Young Readers:

1. The Arrival by Shaun Tan
2. Coraline by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell
3. The Rainbow Orchid by Garen Ewing  
4. Adolf by Osamu Tezuka
5. Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi
6. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and Michel Plessix
7. Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz, Antony Johnston, Kanako and Yuzuru
8. Bone by Jeff Smith
9. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Conan Doyle, Ian Edginton and Ian Culbard
10. Silverfin by Charlie Higson and Kev Walker
11. Smile by Raina Telgemeier
12. The Phoenix Comic magazine by various
We compiled this list with 10-14 year olds in mind, but these titles are suitable for older readers too. 
 
Pupils of Northfield Academy
reading Louis – Night Salad
 
John in a chess duel in between sessions
at Northfield Academy

Patrons of Reading at Northfield Academy

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Patrons of Reading at Northfield Academy

Last year we were made Patrons of Reading at Northfield Academy in Aberdeen and, as the first ever graphic novelists to fill such a role, we were honoured and delighted. We’ll be working closely with the school for the next three years to encourage reading and creativity.

 

Our first author visits in this new capacity took place at the end of January and were great fun. We had the opportunity to work with the whole of the school’s first year, in class-sized groups, as well as meet with the teachers for an informal lunch where we talked about our hopes and about the patronage.

Northfield Academy have adopted us and we have adopted the school.

Everyone made us feel extremely welcome and it was exciting to see so much interest and receive so much support from the school. The head teacher, librarians and teaching staff in general were all really enthusiastic and engaged.


To start our patronage, we sent the school a class set of Louis – Red Letter Day graphic novels and some signed posters, along with an activity sheet for the classroom.

We’re looking forward to returning for a follow up session with S1 pupils and for sessions with Primary pupils too!

A huge thank you to Mandy Wilson for choosing us as patrons, to Mr Watt and the art department, and to head teacher Neil Hendry.


Patrons of Reading Announcement and Graphic Novel Workshop Tour

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Patrons of Reading Announcement and Graphic Novel Workshop Tour
We are delighted to have been named Patrons of Reading at Northfield Academy. It’s the first time that graphic novelists have been selected for such a role, and we’re really pleased that Northfield Academy chose us.
 
Over the next three years, we’ll be encouraging pupils to read more graphic novels, which in turn, we feel, will encourage them to read more in general. We’ll be starting our patronage with a series of workshops in January 2014.
 
Here’s an article from The Evening Express announcing the news.
 
Evening Express article 28/11/2013
The partnership even received a mention in the Scottish Parliament!
 


Scottish Parliament mention of our partnership with
Northfield Academy as Patrons of Reading


Neil Hendry, head teacher of Northfield Academy said: “We are delighted that the talented duo from Metaphrog has agreed to work with the school in this special reading initiative.  By working in partnership with Metaphrog over the next three years we hope pupils will be inspired and encouraged to read and be creative through the style and illustrations of graphic novels.”

School Librarian Mandy Wilson added: “Metaphrog’s first visit to the school will be in January [2014] and pupils and staff can’t wait to start working with them in what will be a very exciting project.” 

 

Many thanks to Mandy for thinking of us for this exciting role! The brilliant children’s authors who are already Patrons of Reading in Scotland are Barry Hutchison, Linda Strachan, Cathy MacPhail, Nicola Morgan, Victoria Campbell and Lynne Rickards. Delighted to be joining such great company.

In other news, we have just returned from a two week event tour. Firstly, we were in the Netherlands, at the Eindhoven International School, where we delivered a series of workshops and also an in-depth lecture on Persepolis. The school has one of the best libraries we have ever seen – including a fabulous graphic novel section – and International Human Rights Declaration #19 imprinted on its wall.



The library at the Eindhoven International School

Secondly we were busy for Book Week Scotland 2013. Now in its second year Book Week Scotland has hundreds of fantastic events all over Scotland, and we delivered nine graphic novel workshops in schools and libraries in Glasgow, Wester Hailes, MacDuff, Dyce and Dundee in the space of six days.

 
Metaphrog workshop session in Aberdeenshire

We always love travelling and had a fantastic time – and returned inspired and ready to write and draw new stories!