By Paul Dowswell (author) , Paul Hoppe (illustrator) Part of the Write Your Own series
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Kids who enjoy writing will find lots of practical and inspiring ideas in this excellent book, while those whose hearts sink at being asked to write a story will see just how much fun it can be. There are pages of activities to get you started, exercises to help you polish your writing skills with tips on everything from characters and dialogue to titles, and a great writing section with story ideas from prize-winning children’s author Paul Dowswell . The illustrations and very attractive layout make the neat lined write-in pages for your story look very tempting indeed, and are certain to get young imaginations flowing. ~ Andrea Reece
A write-in book which will allow children to pen their very own adventure story. With lots of hints and tips on how to create characters, plan plots, write dialogue and stage all-important action scenes, this book will start budding writers off with simple exercises, and build them up until they are racing through their own short stories.
'A fantastic write-in book for children to pen their own adventure story. With hints and tips on how to create characters, plan plots, write dialogue and stage action scenes.' - The Guardian
'Kids who enjoy writing will find lots of practical and inspiring ideas in this excellent book, while those whose hearts sink at being asked to write a story will see just how much fun it can be.' - Lovereading4kids
'A fantastically presented story-dreamer's bible, a completely essential purchase for you and your kids if you're starting out writing your own stories.' Read it Daddy
'Budding authors who fancy writing an adventure story will love this. Full of ideas and tips on story planning, character, action and dialogue, there's also space to write your own story' - The Sunday Express
Paul Dowswell cemented his position as one-to-watch in the world of children’s historical fiction with his much-acclaimed WWII novel, Ausländer . Throughout all of his fiction, Paul weaves meticulous research into thrilling narrative that will engage young readers.
A former senior editor with Usborne Publishing, Paul Dowswell is now a full-time author. He has written many non-fiction titles, two of which were shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Award. Powder Monkey, his first novel, was published to huge critical acclaim. Ausländer was shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize and the Red House Children’s Book Award. He currently lives in Wolverhampton with his family.
The Cabinet of Curiosities is set in 16th Century Prague, during the reign of Rudolph II. Lukas Declercq, fleeing the Inquisition in his native Ghent, arrives in the city in 1598 to be apprentice to his Uncle, court physician Anselmus Declercq.
Seeking company away from the staid confines of the castle, Lukas is drawn to the excitement of the city’s darker side. He becomes an unwitting pawn in the battle to control what people are permitted to say and think. (Here the story shares some ground with my previous book Ausländer about a teenager in Berlin during the Second World War.) Ultimately, Lukas learns how to make his own choices between right and wrong, and that the answer is rarely clear-cut.
The idea behind the story was inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s fruit ’n’ veg portrait Vertumnus, of Rudolph II. A culture which produced something so magnificently strange and original sparked further investigation.
I visited Prague and the Castle whilst researching the book. Woodcuts and engravings from the era show that much of the city remains from Rudolph’s time. The contents of his Cabinet of Curiosities – an extraordinary collection of mechanical and scientific instruments, specimens, paintings, and relics – are well documented. Four huge rooms contained everything from astrolabes and orrerys to Dürer’s famous watercolour of a young hare, and, supposedly, nails from Noah’s Ark and feathers from a phoenix. Much of the Cabinet was scattered to the four corners of Europe when the Castle was looted by Swedish Troops in 1648 during the 30 Years War. A fraction remains in Prague. The rest can be found in museums and art galleries around the world.
Rudolph was plagued throughout his life by severe depression – all the more reason to admire his open mindedness, tolerance, and passion for art and science. In a Europe haunted by the Inquisition, his Prague was an oasis of free-thinking where Catholics, Protestants and Jews lived side by side. Here, natural philosophers could investigate and share their knowledge of the newly-emerging sciences without fear of being executed as heretics. This was an age, after all, where an astronomer could be burned at the stake for stating that the Sun was at the centre of the Solar System rather than the Earth. In his patronage of alchemy and fascination with the world, Rudolph was an early champion of the Scientific Revolution of the 17th Century.
Photo credit David Rann
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The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Write Your Own Adventure Stories and determined it is suitable for children aged 7-10 years old
Write Your Own Adventure Stories features in the following genres: Featured Books for 9+ readers, Recommendations, Featured Books for 7+ readers
Paperback. £8.09, down from the £8.99 cover price. In Stock.
Write Your Own Adventure Stories was written by Paul Dowswell and published by Usborne Publishing Ltd
Write Your Own Adventure Stories has 96 pages
Yes it is part of Write Your Own series
£8.09, reduced from £8.99. In Stock.
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