“Something followed me out of my dream.
No, not some thing. Some one. Someone followed me out of my dream. He’s watching me now from the end of the bed.
He’s called Scissors.”
I’ve just finished a short story for the National Literacy Trust for their Premier League Reading Stars programme. Scissors is a creepy story about a boy who finds he’s not alone after a vivid dream. The story is told in ten chapters, each of which is meant to be read out loud to a class of children (9-12 years old) and leave them wanting more! Each part can be read in under five minutes and can be used to stimulate discussion and creative writing. You can download and read it here. If you use it in your class please do let me know how it went down.
Premier League Reading Stars is a partnership between the National Literacy Trust and the Premier League. It is a reading intervention programme that captures the motivational power of football to inspire young people to read more and to improve their literacy skills. It delivers statutory requirements of the new national curriculum. Over the past three years, thousands of children have used Premier League Reading Stars to raise their attainment. In 2014, 3 out of 4 children made at least 6 months’ progress in reading in just 10 weeks; 1 child in 3 made a year’s progress, or more.
The programme includes lots of exclusive short stories by some of the UK’s most talented children’s authors. Take a look at some of the other stories here: Tom Palmer, Justin Somper, Tommy Donbavand, Neil Arksey, Helena Pielichaty, David Bedford, Alan Gibbons, Jonny Zucker, Barry Hutchison, Paul Cookson, Sam Gayton, Dan Freedman and me [PDFs]
