Clare Azzopardi żżur San Anton

Clare Azzopardi, waħda mill-iktar awturi maħbubin, żaret San Anton fil-1 ta' Diċembru. Iltaqgħet l-ewwel mal-istudenti tal-Grade 10 u kellmithom dwar il-ktieb tagħha li ħareġ is-sena l-oħra, Il-Każ Kważi Kollu tal-Aħwa De Molizz. Il-ktieb jirrakkonta l-ġrajja ta' żewġt aħwa, Saver u Klawdjo De Molizz, li għandhom mibegħda kbira lejn tfal intelliġenti. Tant ma jistgħux għalihom li jiffurmaw aġenzija għat-twaqqigħ tal-iskejjel: kull m'għandhom bżonn huma l-firem ta' diversi studenti u l-iskola ssir frak. Pero' l-affarijiet ma jmorrux kif basru fil-bidu...

Clare qrat xi siltiet mill-ktieb u wara l-istudenti kellhom l-opportunita' li jistaqsuha domandi, dwar l-istorja tal-aħwa De Molizz, dwar il-karriera tagħha bħala kittieba u anki dwar xi xogħol li qed taħdem fuqu bħalissa.

Immedjatament wara ġew il-Grade 6. Clare ippreparat xi affarijiet fuq is-sensiela ta' Jake Cassar, it-tifel li flimkien m'oħtu Melanie, jivvjaġġa ta' sikwit fir-Renju tar-Re Pankrazju IV. Hawnhekk ikollhom diversi avventuri u jiltaqgħu ma' kreaturi bħall-furuni u s-sriek.

Wara li qratilhom xi siltiet mill-kotba u rrispondiet għall-mistoqsijiet li kellhom, Clare għamlitilhom eżerċizzju ċkejken. It-tfal kellhom stampa ta' sħabha li fiha kellhom ipinġu l-affarijiet li l-iktar jieħdu gost jaħsbu dwarhom. Meta lestew, il-librerija mtliet kollha sħab bil-ħolm tal-istudenti.

Fl-aħħarnett, Clare ġentilment iffirmat il-kotba tat-tfal u wegħdithom li la jkun hemm avventuri oħra ta' Jake Cassar, terġa' tiġi żżurhom!

Din iż-żjara ġiet organizzata minn MERLIN LIBRARY.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

The first part of the final Harry Potter film adaptation is finally out! Check the trailer of the film below!

Visit the Official HARRY POTTER site.

First pictures from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is surely one of the most eagerly awaited films. It is going to be in two parts and although everyone has read the book, the film production is being quite secretive about it. However a couple of pictures have been leaked from the set and they look mighty interesting! :)

Photos taken from the Oclumencia site.

World Book Week 2010 - Lauren St John

Lauren St John's visit was originally planned for World Book Week. However, seeing that Eyjafjallajokull (aka the Iceland volcano) decided otherwise, the visit had to be postponed by a couple of weeks.

In the meantime the students had much to keep them occupied. The school participated in a model competition aimed at raising awareness about endangered animals, an initiative coordinated by Lauren and Merlin Library. The Grade 8s took this task to heart and submitted three models: a panda, a tiger and a snow leopard. The models were then exhibited at St James Cavalier which at the time was hosting the first ever Children's Literature Festival. Some of the students, accompanied by the school librarian, attended this event in which they also got to meet, virtually (by means of a webcam), Lauren.

This did not mean that they were denied the opportunity to meet her in person. The children were really looking forward to her visit and, right enough, a fortnight later, Lauren visited the school. The students were in awe: you could hear a pin drop. They were completely absorbed by the tales of Lauren's youth spent in Africa surrounded by many exotic animals. She also told them of her work towards relocating zoo animals back to their natural habitat, and raising awareness about species that risk extinction.

Lauren also spoke about her books, four titles collectively known as the White Giraffe series. These were inspired by tales of her childhood, reworked and reshaped with heavy doses of imagination. They feature the adventures of Martine, who after the demise of her parents, goes to live with her grandmother in Africa. The books are spiced with drama and adventure, making them veritable page-turners.

Lauren St John is a truly inspiring person. Besides being an author, she also finds the time, energy and commitment to promote an extremely worthy cause. It was great getting to know her.

Visit LAUREN ST JOHN's site

World Book Week 2010 - Rita Antoinette Borġ

Local author and story-teller Rita Antoinette Borġ visited the school and had a session with the Grade 4s and 5s. Ms Borġ started off by introducing Pepito, a cheerful and colourful parrot who lives in South America, and who loves to share his knowledge of geography and animals with children.

Next came a story session, during which Ms Borġ read one of her stories, Taqsamx it-Triq Fuxa! The children were engrossed as Ms Borġ narrated the adventures of little Fuxa who discovered that crossing a busy road is far from easy! The students loved the particular format of the flip-over books, where the same story is told in both Maltese and in English.

Ms Borġ also spoke to the students about the importance of reading. Besides it being a great past time, it also helps with getting ideas for stories and learning new words.

Click HERE to visit Ms Borġ's website.

World Book Week 2010 - Marianne Tabone

This year's World Book Week kicked off with a visit by Marianne Tabone, a local author whose books chronicling the adventures of Anġlu Piżellu are quite popular among the students. Ms Tabone started her session by talking about herself, what inspires her and how important it is for writers to keep on reading as much as possible. She also mentioned some characters from her childhood who, with a bit of tweak here and there, found themselves sharing the lively angel's adventures.

After her talk, Ms Tabone allowed a few minutes for questions, an opportunity upon which the students pounced. They asked a myriad of questions but the one which seemed to interest them most regarded the ever elusive issue of ideas: where do these come from? Ms Tabone answered that one can find ideas anywhere, you just have to look around. A quirky gesture or a random comment from a stranger can be enough to spark off an idea for a character or a story.

Ms Tabone concluded her session by reading one of her stories to the students.

Awesome Film based on Awesome Book

The Guardians of Ga'Hoole is an epic fantasy about owls who live during a time when humans have gone extinct. Owls can read, write and do other things that were previously done by humans. It is the tale of Soren who, together with other owls, is captured by the evil Skench and forced to do things against his will. He manages to escape and on his journey he makes new friends. Together they are looking for a mythical tree and once they find it new enemies emerge...

It is an awesome series of books and a must-read for fantasy lovers. It is coming out as a film (based on the first three books) on September 24th 2010...

Review by Ariane

Official Site for the Books

TRAILER:

Percy Jackson Film Preview

Merlin Library were kind enough to supply the school with 15 free tickets for the Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief film preview. The lucky winners, whose name was pulled out of a hat (or rather, a box) had a whale of a time. These are some of their comments:

I really enjoyed the film. Percy Jackson was my favourite character. I loved it when he fought against the hydra and then when he went to Las Vegas. The scene of Camp Half-Blood is very cool too. I really enjoyed this film and wouldn't mind watching it again.

Timothy

I liked the movie because there are two worlds and one of them is full of Greek gods. Many people don't know about it. Percy Jackson is the son of Poseidon and he goes on a quest to bring back his mother and to bring back Zeus' lightning bolt. It was a very exciting story.

Matthew

Percy Jackson is a teenager who goes on a quest with his friends. They have special powers and they need to save Percy's mother from an evil Greek god. But the gods think that Percy is the lightning thief. It turns out he's not.

Max

I think that Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief had amazing graphics! Also I think that if I was in the movie I would have loved to try and throw Poseidon's trident. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief was such a good movie that I want to read all the books and watch the next movie!

Paul

The film is adventurous and based on Greek mythology. Zeus' lightning bolt is stolen and Percy Jackson blamed for the theft. In the meantime his mother is kidnapped and Percy has to go to the underworld to save her. He needs to find three objects to get out of the underworld.

Rebecca

I really liked the film because it was adventurous. My favourite part was when Percy Jackson fought against Medusa. It was funny when Medusa's head was cut off but her eyes kept turning people to stone!

Christian

Percy Jackson is a very interesting and adventurous movie. It is one of the best films I have seen so far. Percy Jackson is a boy who is half human and half god as he is the son of Poseidon. This is what I found really interesting.

Emma

Percy Jackson books and film official site.

The Grand Prix Final (Story)

Fifteen years ago, my brother had gone to hospital because he was in a bad car crash!

It was the Grand Prix Final and he was the driver with the best chance to win. But in the last few seconds, someone crashed into his car from behind.

Now, it is my turn to take his place in the Grand Prix Final. I have a chance of winning, just like he had.

I was very careful so the same thing wouldn't happen to me. I kept checking my rear view mirror. There was this driver who was coming closer to me. I recognised that he was the brother of that other driver that crashed into my own brother!

I made sure that I wouldn't fall for the same trick so I swerved to the right and put him off track.

It paid off cause I won the race! I dedicated this victory to my brother.

Paul - 7.1

Hetty Feather

Despite her being a very prolific author, Jacqueline Wilson still manages to elicit a sense of excitement whenever one of her books is due to be released. Hetty Feather proved to be no exception.

This time round, Jacqueline Wilson's story takes us to London during the year 1876. Hetty is still a baby when her mother leaves her on the doorstep of an orphanage. However she must first live with a foster family before she is old enough to go to school. Hetty goes to live in the countryside where she spends a large amount of time with her 'brothers' Gem and Gideon. One day a travelling circus passes by and Hetty is mesmerised by the show.

The time comes when Hetty has to go back to the orphanage and she finds it really difficult to adapt to this kind of new life, involving school and terrible lunches. There is one positive side to this - now she can start looking for her real mum.

Jacqueline Wilson official site

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Author Rick Riordan's series of books featuring Percy Jackson are amongst the most popular titles with children. The thrilling adventures of this young boy as he tests his wits and courage against mythological creatures, have captured the imagination of many.

The story is as follows: Percy Jackson is always up to mischief and trouble, and in fact has been expelled from several schools. One fine day, during an outing, one of his teachers turns into a monster and tries to kill him. However he manages to stay alive thanks to a pen that magically transforms into a sword. Understandably, this disconcerts Percy quite a lot and a string of similarly odd occurrences does nothing to dispel his nervous mood. Going back home offers no solace either as his mother is at the moment living with this despicable man known as 'Smelly Gabe'. Some time later she is kidnapped by a minotaur. Percy does not know what to do but one of his friends, Grover, who turns out to be a satyr, takes him to Camp Half-Blood, which is a training ground for demigods. And the adventure continues.

As you can see, Percy Jackson's stories are breathtaking and leave one craving for what's coming next. Once you start reading a story, you simply MUST keep on at it till the very end. So imagine the reaction of many at the news of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief being turned into a movie! The trailer has been released and it looks awesome. The director, Chris Columbus, is the same one behind the first two Harry Potter installments. So this should be extremely good. :)

Percy Jackson Official Site

Rick Riordan

Author Visit

Ms Faye Cukier visited San Anton School to promote and talk about the book she's written called Fleeing the Swastika, a gripping true tale of her youth spent travelling all over war-torn Europe.

World War Two was a gruesome chapter in the history of the Twentieth Century. There was the rise to power of the Third Reich which eventually led to the beginning of a terrible war that embroiled all the countries of the world. However, as time goes by, events tend to move farther and farther away from memory. Sometimes this is beneficial, at other times it's not. Very few persons who lived through this terrible ordeal are still alive, and therefore it was quite a privilege to have the author of Fleeing the Swastika coming to school.

Ms Cukier is a charming and elegant lady of Jewish origin, whose gentle manners belie a difficult past replete with adventure and hardship. She remembers vividly the hasty moving from one city to another in order not to be discovered by Nazis during World War Two. But things had not always been like this.

Ms Cukier's life started full of promise. Her father was a successful businessman who could afford to raise his family in relative comfort. However, as the Nazi government gained in popularity, the Cukiers found it more and more difficult to get by. This forced Ms Cukier and her mother to leave Germany for Brussels. They made their move just in time as a few months later saw The Night of Broken Glass, in which Jewish homes, shops and synagogues were demolished.

Life in Belgium wasn't easy either. First of all Ms Cukier was told that she had to wear the Jewish yellow star, something she refused to do. However, acting upon the suggestion of a friendly policeman, she dyed her hair blonde so as not to look Jewish. During this time she also got involved in the diamond trade in order to help her family survive. It was an arduous period in which Ms Cukier had to be constantly on the alert.

But with the end of the war, her family was liberated and eventually got her lifelong dream of going to America. Still, some sad moments persisted as Ms Cukier had friends who had perished in the streets and in concentration camps. And this was one of the reasons why she ventured to write this book - as a tribute to all those who suffered during such a terrible war.