The new school year here in Australia is about to begin. I wish you all a very enjoyable and rewarding year. I always thought it a privilege to support school beginners on their learning journeys, especially in reading and writing. Of course, it wasn’t without its challenges too, but they are what kept life interesting.
On the website you will find many resources for your literacy, maths and classroom management programs, especially friendship skills, designed for the first three years of school. I hope you find them useful.
In today’s post, however, I am going to tell you a book that I read over the Christmas holidays. Charlie and the Christmas Factory and Other Stories is a collection of twelve stories inspired by the characters in Roald Dahl’s books. I have always enjoyed Roald Dahl’s stories, especially The BFG and The Twits which are my favourites. Each of the stories is written by a different author, one of whom is Australia’s own Sally Rippin.
Being a fan of Dahl, I was excited to see the book published by Puffin in 2024 (my edition in 2025) but also a little fearful of whether the writers would do justice to Dahl’s original stories and characters. I was not disappointed. Each story extends the original either with another episode or, more often, another generation. The adventures, the language, the humour are all totally in line with the originals and I found myself surprised by the escapades and chuckling along with them at the same time.
While you may not wish to read Christmas stories throughout the year, I urge you to put this one in your diary now to ensure you read it as part of your Christmas celebrations at the end of the year. However, I cannot see any reason why you shouldn’t feel comfortable dipping into it at any time of the year. I’m sure you and your children won’t be disappointed.
Happy Reading!
