Today's story is by Bethany Byrne who is also in Year 6 at Western Springs Commuity Primary School.

What I like about Bethany's story is that she wrote the story she wanted to write. When I visited the school we created fantasy settings. The class were divided into groups and each one came up with a different setting, we then introduced props around which the children created characters for their settings. I feel that Bethany was just desperate to tell this story and used the Mushroom World setting as a way of getting it out there. That so often happens as an author: you know the story you want to tell but you're never quite sure of the form it's going to take.

As before, I have typed the story here with orginal form and spelllings.

The Mushroom Mystery

The red tall mushroom shot through brown trees it looked like a magical world. But it really was a miracle. It was a place you have never seen before. It was red as the red cheeks.

There are lots of tiny people tiny enough to stand on. Blue Smith is having a baby girl today and she is calling her Little Red Tear. Letter that day she had little red tear she can walk now.

Tear is a funny little girl. But one day Blue Smith and Little Red Tear went to the shopping centre was packed of people mum turned around to look at something and when she looked back Little Red Tear was gone.

Blue Smith phoned the police they looked everywhere but they could not see her any were "Oh no" said Blue Smith. Letter that day Blue Smith had a knock on the door we have found Little Red Tear "Oh thank you" said Blue Smith.

Little Red Tear didn't ever wondered off again.

What I love about 'The Victory over Greedy Ghost'

As yesterday's post was quite a long one I thought I'd wait until today to tell you what I love about Ryan's writing. I think his use of language is just fab - lots of exciting descriptions which make the reader feel as though they're really there. Something else which I am thrilled about is that you can tell that Ryan has planned his story before writing. It is so easy to get carried away with an idea and not really know where it is going to go. Ryan's story really does have a beginning, a middle and an end. And of course it has some lovely funny bits as well, and I always love a funny bit!Top stuff Ryan.

And of course it is very appropriate that we started with a story about a ghost. I hope you all have a very happy Hallowe'en!

The Victory over Greedy Ghost by Ryan Webster

I've been lucky enough to lead quite a few school workshops lately, something I absolutely love because I come away feeling so inspired. Children have the most wonderful imaginations and have such fun running with ideas. One of the things which makes me a bit sad when I've been into a school is that I rarely see the writing which has resulted from my visit. I mentioned to the last schools I visited that I would try to find a way of putting some of the children's work on my website. As I am rather technically challenged this was a bit of a tall order, until I realised that I could revive my blog for just that purpose. So that is exactly what I'm going to do.

I am having trouble uploading photographs which is a pain but I will try to rectify that. I had intended the first of the new style postings to be a letter from Sam from Bowling Green School, Stainland, but as I wanted to show you the original that will have to come later. Instead I'm going to start with a story by RYAN WEBSTER  who is in Year 6 at Western Springs Community Primary School, Rugeley. Again I wanted to show you the photograph of the accompanying letter but instead I will type it:

Dear Fiona

Thank you ever so much for giving up your own time for us. You have inspired me to write my own storys. I think that the story I've written is my best because of you.

Yours sincerely, Ryan Webster

What more could I ever want - thank YOU Ryan.

I have typed out his story below, with the original spellings and layout, but sadly not the fantastic font!

The Victory over Greedy Ghost

'THE GRAND OPENING TODAY' was written in large print for all the Jelly Babies to see. Built for the kind-hearted Gummy Bear King was the newly built cupcake castle. With the marsh mellow pillows and the scrumptious icing curtains laid all about on the dazzling sparkling windows. It was officially a land mark.

As all the Jelly Babies crowded round to see Mayor Marsh Mellow cut the strawberry lace, there grew a huge silence...then, as sly as a fox, SNAP! There was the most deafening cheer ever made in the history of Cupcake World! But little did they know the dangers that awaited them...

Tick tock, tick tock. 00.01! Spring time was here. The time when the Greedy Ghost and his Fog Crew covered the crumby ground. But this time, after the cheer that had woke Greedy Ghost from his sleep, he was here for revenge..."What the Haribo's is going on!?" cried out the majestc Gummy Bear King.

"Squeak! We think the gullible Greedy...Squeak!...ghost is back!" squeaked the sugar mice. "Right then" exclaimed the King "Off with his head! All these 157 years of being in charge and we still haven't defeated that ruthless rebel!"

"But, Squeak! He hasn't got a head"  The King's face went as red as a strawberry with embarrassment. "Ok, we'll give him one more day and if he hasn't retreated by then, there will be no more of this madness".

So, the next day, King Gummy Bear sent out his sugar mice troops to collect the King's best friend, Candy Candice. As soon as she heard of her friend's trouble, Candice slotted in one of her special ltd edition Toxic sprays, and put it into her Bubble Gum handbag. Meanwhile, the courageous King put his filthy, flour covered cloak onto the shoelace washing line!

Greedy Ghost was watching in the Candyfloss bushes. As soon as the King had closed the door, he pounced at the opportunity to take control of the cloak. It took 2 hours to walk to and back to the King's and Candice's house because Mount Fudge was in the middle and also along with the famous hot chocolate volcano.

Now, on top of Mt. Fudge, candice and the sugar mice had a great view of what was happening. Soon, instead of walking, they were literally running! Now, halfway down the Mountain, they could just about see the King putting the cloak on!
"Stop! No! He will control you!" they shouted together. But, the loud shouting was nothing but the noise of...nothing.

Once at the house, they saw that the King was eating his castle down! The leader of the sugar mice whistled out Raging Rover out of his cupcake kennel. He came racing out and tore of the cloak. Then, Candy candice sprayed her Toxic spray on the cloak. Immediately, the ghost leapt out of the pockets. Now everyone in Cupcake World carry's a spray and Candy Candice is now called Queen Candice as she got married to the almighty King Gummy Bear! You never know if there is more danger around the corner...

Murderous goings on!

It's all go on the work front at the moment, which is fab! The thing which has been taking up most of my time (because I absolutely want to get it right) is work on The Bankfield Chronicles, in connection with 'Discover' the Calderdale Museum and Library service. It's an exciting project which involves children from Years 5 and 6 (and in a few cases 7) from local schools coming to Bankfield Museum and getting involved in a murder mystery.

There have been 2 pilot sessions so far and the response has been brilliant. When the children were asked what they thought about it there were more 'awesomes' than anything and one boy said 'I could do it again and again and again!' Praise indeed!

What's my involvement? Well, as the saying goes, 'I could tell you, but ......'

It's not called a 'murder mystery' for nothing you know!

Living the dream!

I have a confession to make: I had totally forgotten that I have a profile on Authors Hotline! It is a fantastic website where you get to learn all sorts about your favourite authors. I must have written it ages ago so  I thought I'd better check to see what I'd written. In answer to the question :
"What do you day dream about?"
I've written:
" Having a little place in the country with a couple of cows, a few sheep and a donkey..."

And guess what? I now live in a little cottage surrounded by fields of sheep and cows and I can usually see the two rather gorgeous donkeys - Nelly and Cocoa - from my office window. I truly am living my dream! How lucky am I?
Check out http://www.authorhotline.com/ It's a brilliant resource and I check on it all the time now to find out more about MY favourite authors!

Go on, read something different today!

There's always that moment of trepidation when you hear that one of your favourite books has been turned into a film or TV production, isn't there? You think 'please don't spoil it for me!' And that was just how I felt when I heard about the BBC adaptation of 'Birdsong' - how to capture that unbelievable yearning erotica of the love story as well as the total gut-wrenching horror of the World War I trenches. But on the strength of last night's episode at least, justice has been fully done.
In truth I probably would never have chosen to read 'Birdsong' thinking it wasn't really 'my kind of thing'. It was a Christmas present, and I think it's great when people say 'I chose this for your Fiona because I know you'll really enjoy it'. I love having my eyes opened up to new things. As I say, 'Birdsong' is now one of my favourite novels and I have recommended it to so many other people.
A very good friend recently recommended the 'Shardlake' series of books by C J Sansom, and again I didn't think they would be my kind of thing at all. But I find myself lost in a world of intrigue in the time of King Henry VIII; the stench and the strife of every day life, the power struggles of the courts and the political and religious intrigue. The books have opened my eyes to a period of history about which I was shockingly ignorant. And they're a mighty find read on a cold winter's night!
So go on, let someone recommend a book which you'd never have chosen yourself, you never know where it can take you!

New year, new focus!

I have been shamed into kick-starting the blog by a letter I received from Alice a pupil at New Mills Primary school which I visited last year. To say I enjoyed my time there would be an understatement - I had a BRILLIANT morning at the school and came away feeling completely energised. There is nothing to beat thinking on your feet with a class full of excited 10/11 year-olds creating a story about a bunch of rock star sheep in search of new hairdos!

When I received Alice's lovely letter (along with the fab one from Chloe) I realised that I was letting down people who I would love to stay connected with by not updating my blog very frequently. So here we are - along with the usual new year's resolutions involving diet and exercise, I promise to keep up to date with this!