Twin Trouble, Tramps and Warrior Sheep, Don Valley and Primaries Do the DBA Longlist!

On a cold and drab Monday and Tuesday this November, Don Valley Library in contrast was a hothouse of creativity, as our students celebrated this year’s DBA long-list with students from three local primary schools, Bentley High Street, Owston Park and Toll Bar. We had two fantastic days of reading, discussion and drama which inspired both the young people and the staff involved.

As ever, the list of books this year is really varied and interesting, with comedy, tragedy, mystery and horror all playing a part, so there was plenty of great material for our activities. Dave Cryer, the workshop leader had chosen eight books from the 20 on the list to work on. They were, ‘The Thornthwaite Inheritance’, ‘Mr Stink’, ‘Jack Slater and the Whisper of Doom’, ‘The Quest of the Warrior Sheep’ (What a title!!), ‘Dark Summer’, ‘Wolven’, ‘Revolver’ and ‘Mortlock’. All of the books are very different, but all have their own appeal, and the students, as will be seen from their comments later in this report, loved the variety on offer.

Each of the two workshop days began with Dave talking to the group about writers and writing. It seems we have a lot of budding authors in this part of Doncaster, as, on Tuesday in particular, this group discussion could have gone on for much, much longer! He then moved on to the first activity, where students had a choice of two activities, one based on the murderous twins of ‘The Thornthwite Inheritance’ and the other on an early scene from ‘Mr Stink’ Dave read short extracts from the books aloud, and the group as a whole briefly discussed the plot of each story. The students then split up into smaller mixed groups, each working with students from other schools, and spread out around the Library to put together and practice their short drama pieces. The groups on both days ‘gelled’ almost immediately, and when the time came to perform their pieces to the group as a whole, we had no shortage of volunteers! We saw many memorable performances at this point, but a couple which stood out were a great ‘split stage’ approach to the ‘Thornthwaite Inheritance piece by Marlie, Toni, James and Harrison, Brandon’s excellent impression of a scared cat, and Bobbie-Jo, Jessica and Adele’s version of Mr Stink, complete with a great ‘posh’ voice and extra dialogue!

The second activity, with slightly larger groups this time, was based on scenes from ‘Jack Slater and the Whisper of Doom’, and ‘The Quest of the Warrior Sheep’. These two books on both days produced some really funny pieces, with excellent sheep ‘voices’ (one, oddly with a transatlantic twang!) and movements, and also some good classroom scene set-ups. Abby M and Coral made good teachers, while Aaron was excellent as a figure from Jack Slater’s nightmare. The students were able to work together well, allocate roles, add in extra dialogue and even invent extra characters totally in keeping with the books.

The next activity, based on ‘Dark Summer’, was a largely improvised piece of work, which focused on author Ali Sparkes’ use of the effect of place on the five senses to enhance her descriptive passages in the story. This led to great physical drama and improvised sound effects. It was fascinating to see the different approaches of each group to creating the effect of the awe and wonder of the physical environment of the Wookey Hole caves on Eddie, the story’s central character.

The nature of the activities undertaken were ideally suited to foster co-operation and help build positive relationships between students of different ages and abilities. Creating a reading ‘community’ in Doncaster is one of the main aims of the Book Award. Many of the students commented later on how much they’d enjoyed mixing with students from other schools:

Ryan, Y5, from Toll Bar enjoyed ‘working with older ones’ and Adele from the same class said that the ‘best part of the day was meeting some of the Don Valley people’

Keeley, Y9, Don Valley ‘I enjoyed meeting and making friends with the primary kids’ and Alfie, Y7 said ‘it was great working with the younger kids and Dave’.

Abigail from Owston Park said that the ‘most fun part was that we mixed schools’

Elizabeth from Bentley High Street said ‘I achieved working with different people from different schools and working in the middle in front of other people’.

The great group work continued in the afternoon. The first activities after lunch were based on ‘Wolven’ and’ Revolver’, and again we saw great co-operation and confidence. It is difficult to pick out individual performances when they were all so good, but Brandon was excellent as a dog, Sammer played the part of Einar very well and Zack was a good barman, with his group of Ronan, Jordan, Ryan and Keeley adding dialogue and a fight scene to their extract from ‘Revolver’. Kirsty, Charlie, Jessica and Elizabeth also showed great acting skills in their piece from ‘Wolven’.

The final piece on each day was from the wonderfully gothic ‘Mortlock’, and the students approached the task of becoming the creepy ‘aunties’ with real relish! We had some very intimidating body language, really sinister voices and great manic cackles during this activity, their presentations were a pleasure to watch! Aaron really stood out in this piece, I feel sure that a career on the stage beckons! However, by the end of each day, all of the students had voluntarily got up to perform, and their work had given them a real confidence boost:

Jessica, Y5, Owston Park summed this up when she said that ‘This morning I was nervous about performing in front of people I didn’t know but now you have helped me build up my confidence’

Maia, Y6, Bentley High Street felt that ‘I have achieved many acting skills’

Kimberley, Y7 Don Valley said, ‘I have built up my confidence’

One of the major aims of the Doncaster Book Award is to encourage students to try new books and authors and so extend their reading choices and reading stamina. These workshops contribute massively to achieving this. At the end of these two days, each student had a particular book that they were keen to start reading;

Paige, Y8 Don Valley, talking about ‘Dark Summer’ ‘I wasn’t going to read it, but when we all were acting it out I thought ‘oh it looks like a good book’.

Kallan, Y5 Owston Park ‘I really want to read the Thornthwaite Inheritance because I think it would be funny because the brother and sister always fight’

Brooke, Y6 Bentley High Street, ‘I haven’t read Mr Stink but I would really like to now because I think it is funny’. Jamie –Leigh from Toll Bar also wrote about Mr Stink – ‘it made me want to read it’. Megan and Caitlin from Don Valley and Ellie from Owston Park also now want to read this book.

Lucy from Y5, Toll Bar wants to read ‘Revolver and Dark Summer, they look really good and interesting. When you read a first page it constantly draws you into the book.’

Abby S from Don Valley also mentioned Revolver, saying ‘I now want to read Revolver because it sounds really interesting and I want to find out who the mysterious man is’, and many other students mentioned it as their next choice, including; James and Bethany from Bentley High Street, Bobbie-Jo, Sammer and Daniel from Don Valley, and Ethan from Owston Park.

To sum up then, as well as being great fun, the workshops have definitely helped to promote books and reading, facilitate social interaction and build confidence. They certainly deliver an extremely positive message that books are fun! As ever, the last word should go to the students;

Chloe, Y5, Toll Bar, ‘I really enjoyed the day at Don Valley’

Charlie, Y6 Bentley High Street, ‘I really, really enjoyed today, I would love to come again.’

Ellie, Y5 Owston Park, ‘I can’t wait to tell my friends back at school what I did’.

Elisha, Y7 Don Valley, ‘I have enjoyed today an awful lot’

And finally, my favourite comment,

Kirsty, Y5 Owston Park ‘I have enjoyed today very much and I would never like it to end’.

Lyn Hopson,
Librarian, Don Valley School
Secretary, Doncaster Book Award

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