Tom Gates

What is it all about:

This book is about a young boy called Tom Gates. He has a grumpy sister called Delia and a boy in his class called Marcus Meldrew who he thinks is an idiot. There's a teacher called Mrs Worthington (tash). He has a best friend called Derek and they're in a band called Dog Zombies.

Who are the main characters:

The main characters are Tom Gates, Derek, Delia and Marcus.


Why/why not I liked the story:
I liked the story because it is really funny and enjoyable to read.


I have read 4/8 of the books in 1 week.

I'm not going to tell you the funniest bit because I don't want to spoil it for you but I will give you a clue in the word mummy.

If you want more of Tom Gates click  
HERE to visit his blog



Please tell me how much you enjoy reading Tom Gates in the comments.

spelt oaties

 These are really fun, quick to make and they taste great.

ingredients:
110g (4oz butter)
110g (4oz) soft brown sugar
175g (6oz) white spelt flour
175g (6oz) oats
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons milk

Before you start, ask an adult to turn the oven on to warm up to 150c/130f/gas2

1. First you need to cream the butter and sugar together. I would recommend using a wooden spoon.
2. Then add the oats and mix together.

3. Now sieve the bicarbonate of soda with the flour.
4.Then add the milk to it.

5. Now squidge it together into one big lump.
6. Some people use a rolling pin and cut neat shapes, but we make little balls then squoosh them flat. 

They might look bit like this:

Cook them for 20 minutes..

Then you can eat them when they've cooled down.
I prefer them with fruit but my paraents like cheese and chutney.

If you have any recipes you'd like me to try, please let me know in the comments!

BON APPETIT!

liz earle halloween

In October I did a shoot for liz earle skincare for halloween and it has been posted on youtube here and the video is at the top of this page. It was definitely an unusual day for me.

 I went on the train to London with my dad, the studio was near a river in East London.

When I first got there I felt very nervous and scared but when I saw what they were going to do I felt excited and happy.

The studio was really plain, just plain white. There were cameras everywhere, it was really cool. There was a make-up artist that did the face paint and a lady that did the cleanse and polish to take the make-up off. It was a really good day. There were other children having it done, but with other halloween characters and they are on youtube too. All the people at the studio were really nice.

Have you done  any weird and wonderful adventures or just a fun day out?

Please tell me in the comments :-)

michael morpurgo book review.

I have just finished the book Kaspar prince of cats by Michael Morpurgo. I like the fact that Michael Morpurgo is really descriptive (but not as descriptive as David Walliams my favorite author.)

Whats the story about? 

The story is about a boy called Johnny Trott - an orphan. He works a bell boy in the savoy hotel. He really wants to find his mum and thinks an extremely rich lady (a Russian Countess) who looks after Kaspar the Prince of Cats is his mum. Sadly she gets killed by a bus and Johnny Trott has to look after Kaspar. Then he makes friends with Lizziebeth.. The story follows the exciting adventures of Johnny, Lizziebeth and Kaspar have together.

Who are the main characters?

The main characters are Johnny Trott, Lizziebeth and Kaspar.

Why/why not I liked the book?
I liked it because it had bits about the sinking of the Titanic and I find the Titanic really interesting.

I am not going to tell you the best bits because that will spoil it for you.

Please give me ideas of what book to read next in the comments because I am looking for more books to read.

I love clothes!!

I love clothes! My parents have always let me choose.

I like comfy clothes, I think it's fun choosing different things and I like dressing up.

When I was very young I liked black and grey clothes, then I liked pink, now I like all sorts of things.

I wish I could buy Vogue magazine to read! I might save up, I've always wanted to buy it actually.

Last summer I got this pink hat from H&M: 

Recently I got these shoes from Mango. I like chunky shoes at the moment.

I wore them like this - lots of dots:

Last summer I wore these short Zara kids dungarees a lot. They were cool, comfy to play in and fun when I wore them together with lots of other stripey things. In that photo I'm at a festival:

I like putting toys in my hair, do you?

I love this sparkly jumper from Next and these leggings from H&M which have cats on them:

These pictures are from when I just turned seven. I liked specs and had lots of different coloured pairs:

 I think this picture looks a bit flashy but I'm actually very quiet. It just looks that way in this photo!:

I really like blues and purples together:

I also like princess dresses but I don't have photos of any at the moment.

Do you like clothes too? What sort of things do you like?

shel silverstein

Where the sidewalk ends is a wonderful poem book. I haven't even finshed it yet and I think it's amazing. I've stopped reading Harry Potter and EVEN David Walliams (my favourite) it is like my favourite book this month.

Dirty Dan is an extremely dirty man and he is lonely. So he makes friends with all the bugs that live in his hair and buzz around him.
He likes to 'joke with the bats and have intimate chats with the cooties who crawl through my hair'.
I don't think I'd like that, would you? But it's lovely that he makes them his friends.
He would like to meet a wife - one who is gentle, kind, with a sensitive mind and a beautiful face.
BUT who is almost as dirty as him! That might be tricky!

I like Shel Silverstein's poems because they are fun and sometimes are hard to work out the meanings and they are all different topics. He plays with words and sometimes it makes me want to talk backwards! sdrawkcab

He was a very talented man because he actually did all the illustrations himself as well as the writing. It must have taken a long time and been really hard work but they are fun and realistic.

His website is good for schools that are learning about his books and adults that are thinking of buying a child a book. It has animation and fun and games I think it is really cool.

click anywhere here to go to the shel silverstein website

gingerbread biscuits

It's feeling Christmassy now and we decided to make some gingerbread men, trees and stars. They smell delicious and were really good fun to make.

Here is the recipe:

ingredients:

350g/12oz plain flour (and a little extra for rolling out)

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

125g/4.4oz butter

175g/6oz light soft brown sugar

1 free range egg

4 tbsp golden syrup

1.  You need to put the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon in a bowl, using a sieve.

 

(mmm mmmmm smells good!)

2. Crack two eggs into a different bowl and mix in the golden syrup.

 

3. Mix all of it together and use a mixer to make it crumbly and sticky.

4. Then put cling film over it and leave it in the fridge for 15 minutes.

5. Try and keep any pets away from it!

Then 'knead' it and roll it out.

6. Cut your shapes.

7. Bake them for 10-12 minutes
then have fun decorating them.

 

8. Yay! This is the fun bit!

9. Yummy.
They make really good presents or you can eat them yourself!
I hope you like them.

for the full bbc recipe we used, click here

tie dye apron

What you need:

dye

salt

fabric

string or elastic bands

First you get the fabric and pleat it:

Then put an elastic band or string on it tightly.

 Keep putting elastic bands or string on tightly  until it looks like this.

You mix your dye and salt with water in a bucket  until it looks like this.

You put your fabric in for about a few hours (wear rubber gloves).

When you take it out and you've taken off the string or elastic bands off and it has been in the washing machine and it is dry it would have a pattern on it. Where it had elastic bands or string it is the colour of the fabric underneath.

I hope your dog doesn't lay on it!

Then you cut around an old apron.

So it looks like this:

This is what it looks like when it's finished. My mum made mine for me.

I hope you like it. Have you done any tie dye before?