Alphabet Soup

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Happy International Book Giving Day 2013!

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Alphabet Soup

Today (14 February 2013) is International Book Giving Day. And you thought it was Valentine’s Day, didn’t you?

Since today was a SPECIAL day for book giving, I donated a book to my daughter’s classroom this morning. (I also bought a book to give away to another young friend but I’m leaving it for her secretly, so I can’t talk about it here. Don’t tell her, OK?)

Today’s giving-away book was from the magazine’s review pile. We’ll be posting a review up soon! It was Stories for 6 Year Olds—a collection of short stories by fabulous writers, and illustrated by Tom Jellet. (There is a series published by Random House Australia. So, you can also read Stories for 5 Year Olds, Stories for 7 Year Olds, and Stories for 8 year Olds. If you click on the titles I just listed, you can read a free sample on the publisher’s website. Excellent! *)

Here is the book on my kitchen table, just before it was released into the wild:

You can take part in International Book Giving Day, too! Check out the International Book Giving Day site for lots of info about the day, or quietly give a book (new or second hand) to someone who could do with a good read. Maybe you could just recommend a school library book for your friend to borrow if you don’t have a book to give away.

Tell us the titles of books you give! Unless you give it secretly. Sometimes it’s more fun to do it secretly …

* Oh, and don’t forget you can still read Stories for 6 Year Olds if you are 7. Or Stories for 5 Year Olds if you are 8. Just because you had a few extra birthdays doesn’t mean the stories stop being fabulous! Look at me, I’m waaaaaaay older than 6 now, but I still enjoyed reading all the books in the series. (If you’re still too embarrassed to read a book with the ‘wrong’ number on the cover, find a young friend that age and read it to them. Then you both get to read it. Everyone wins!)

~Rebecca, Alphabet Soup‘s editor

Book Review: Maximum Maxx!

Posted on February 6, 2013January 6, 2015 by Alphabet Soup

Maxx Rumble Cricket: Maximum Maxx! by Michael Wagner, ill. Terry Denton, ISBN 9781922077806, Black Dog Books

Reviewed by Joseph, 9, WA*

This is about Maxx’s cricket days—it’s all 8 of the cricket books in one book. Maxx has to captain the team to victory against some teams that cheat.

My favourite book in the collection is Tricked. It’s a lot different from the other stories. (Maxx and Rexx find a way to stop The Outhouse Rodents team from cheating at all.)

The illustrations definitely go well with the stories. They make me laugh and I already like Terry Denton’s illustrations from The 13-Storey Treehouse so I knew I would like them here, too.

I think 5 to 9 year olds would like this book because they sometimes have quite big words but in short chapters.

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* Joseph is a member of our Undercover Readers Club. (Download information about the club on the magazine’s website.) A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.

Book reviews by kids

Book Review: Show Day

Posted on February 1, 2013March 22, 2013 by Alphabet Soup

Show Day by Penny Matthews, ill. Andrew McLean, ISBN 9781862916890, Scholastic Australia

Reviewed by Jin Xiang Wilson, 7, VIC*

This story is about Lil and her family going to a show. Dad was in the wood-chopping contest and entered his orange marmalade in the Craft and Cookery contest. Mum entered her pumpkin, jam, cheese scones and an iced birthday cake in the show. Henry, Lil’s brother, entered his guinea pig in the Best Pet contest. Lil has a special entry for the Most Unusual Pet but it’s a secret.

I enjoyed reading this book.

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* Jin Xiang Wilson is a member of our Undercover Readers Club. (Download information about the club on the magazine’s website.) A review copy of this picture book was provided by the publisher.

Book reviews by kids

Book review: Eric Vale Epic Fail

Posted on January 29, 2013March 22, 2013 by Alphabet Soup

Eric Vale Epic Fail by Michael Gerard Bauer, illustrated by Joe Bauer, ISBN 9781862919221, Scholastic Australia

Reviewed by Dalong Xing, 9, NSW*

This book is a comedy fiction book. It is about a boy called Eric Vale who got a nickname—Eric Vale Epic Fail. He got it because he was always doing things wrong. Then one day a new girl named Aasha Alsufi from Africa came to Eric’s class. But the new girl wouldn’t talk to people, so the whole class tried to make her talk or laugh. The class was so excited about the new girl that they all forgot about Eric’s nickname.

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Then one day they had a swimming carnival and Eric wanted to beat Martin Fassbender so he could get a nickname called Eric Vale Epic Win but instead he made it worse. At last someone made the new girl speak and guess who that is?

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I liked the whole book because it was funny and long. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like about the book. My favourite part was when Eric got a nickname. I liked all the pictures because they were very interesting. I think the book would suit mostly boys because there might be some rude parts. It will suit ages 7 to 12 and my friends will like it.

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* Dalong Xing is a member of our Undercover Readers Club. (Download information about the club on the magazine’s website.) A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.

authors

Meet the author of the Dragonkeeper series (NSW)

Posted on January 23, 2013January 23, 2013 by Alphabet Soup

If you love the Dragonkeeper series* and you live in NSW—here’s your chance to meet the author, Carole Wilkinson over afternoon tea!

Where: The Children’s Bookshop, 6 Hannah St, Beecroft NSW

When: Monday 11 February 2013

Time: 4-30 to 5-30pm (Afternoon tea provided!)

Cost: FREE but bookings are essential!

RSVP Essential: phone 9481 8811 or email staff@thechildrensbookshop.com.au

* One of our Undercover Readers Club members reviewed Blood Brothers from the series. You can read the review here.

Book reviews by Rebecca

Book review – Saurus Street 2: A Pterodactyl Stole my Homework

Posted on January 10, 2013January 6, 2015 by Alphabet Soup

A Pterodactyl Stole my Homework by Nick Falk, ill. Tony Flowers, ISBN 9781742756561, Random House Australia

A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.

Sam and his older brother, Nathan, are Team Dinosaur. Nathan is the Captain and he knows everything about dinosaurs. Sam is Second-in-Charge.

But Team Dinosaur might be broken up—Sam’s mum is so mad when his fifth lot of homework goes missing (stolen by a pterodactyl, but she doesn’t believe that) that she threatens to send Sam to a school for naughty boys instead.

Sam and Nathan have to find a way to get that homework back. They have to find a way to get up Saurus Hill to find the homework-stealing pterodactyl.

This is a funny chapter book for younger readers who love dinosaurs—and who doesn’t love dinosaurs? There are also cool black and white illustrations on almost every page and the adventures are chock-a-block full of pterosaur facts.

You can download the first few pages of the book for free on the Random House Australia website. And best of all, this is book two in the Saurus Street series—there are more Saurus Street adventures to read. Excellent!

© January 2013 “Review of A Pterodactyl Stole my Homework by Nick Falk & Tony Flowers” by Rebecca Newman (Alphabet Soup magazine)

info, teachers' resources

Free back issues (just ask!)

Posted on January 3, 2013January 19, 2014 by Alphabet Soup

UPDATE (20 January 2014). APOLOGIES – following the closure of Alphabet Soup’s print magazine, this offer is no longer available.

We’re giving away free back issues!

HERE’S WHY:

Alphabet Soup magazine is run as a small business—and our only income is from the sale of subscriptions and single copies. We’d love to continue to keep the magazine free of advertisements, but advertising would certainly help us financially.

So—can you help us to keep the magazine ad-free?

If you love Alphabet Soup, please spread the word for us. (Most of our subscribers say they first heard about the magazine from another subscriber.) To help you spread the word, from 4 January until the 4 February 2013, we will give away a back issue to the first 200 people who request it. You don’t even need to pay for the postage. We just ask that you show it to your favourite book-loving teacher, friend or family member!

HOW TO REQUEST A FREE BACK ISSUE:

Just email our editor and remember to include your postal address.

Fine print:

Due to the cost of postage, we can only post free back issues to Australian addresses.
The back issue we send will be selected at random from the back issues we have in stock. (You won’t be able to request a particular back issue, and it may not be one of the back issues pictured above.)
The offer of a free back issue is only available to the first 200 people who request it.**
The offer of a free back issue is only available until 4 February 2013 or until 200 copies have been requested, whichever comes first.
We will not use your postal address for any reason other than to post you a free back issue. We will not pass your details on to any other party, except where required by law.
We will post out back issues every few days. Thanks for being patient!

**Please note: There is no expiry date for requests from Australian schools.

Thank you. (And Happy New Year to all our readers, writers and artists … and subscribers!)

~ Rebecca
Editor
Alphabet Soup magazine

Christmas, National Year of Reading

Winner of The Twelve Days of Aussie Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2012December 24, 2012 by Alphabet Soup

Thank you to everyone who entered our picture book + CD giveaway.

We put all the names in a basket and drew the winner this morning. And the winner is … spog 777. We’ve emailed you, so please check your inbox and email us a postal address so we can post your prize!

Merry Christmas everyone! We’ll be back in 2013. (In the meantime, if you know any young writers or artists who would like work published in the kids’ work section of the magazine, you can download the guidelines from our website.)

Christmas

Giveaway: The Twelve Days of Aussie Christmas

Posted on December 20, 2012December 20, 2012 by Alphabet Soup

The Twelve Days of Aussie Christmas by Colin Buchanan ill. Glen Singleton, Scholastic Australia, ISBN 9781742833675

This picture book is an Aussie take on well-known Christmas song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’—and all set in the Australian summer with illustrations jam-packed with Australian flora and fauna. The picture book comes with a bonus CD of Colin Buchanan singing the familiar tune. (Of course, it gets stuck in your head, but that’s what makes it so sing-along-able.)

FIVE RUSTY UTES! FourfootyfansThreemeattraysTwojackaroosAndaplatypusupagumtreeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

A fun Aussie Christmas book that family members of all ages will enjoy (and possibly groan about) together. (There’s a page at the back of the book with a list of things to look out for, too.)

Merry Christmas!

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THE GIVEAWAY (IT’S EASY TO ENTER!)

We have one review copy of The Twelve Days of Aussie Christmas to give away. (The twelve days of Christmas start with Christmas Day, so you’ll still have plenty of days to belt out the tune and read the book even if the copy doesn’t arrive before Christmas Day!)

Just leave us a comment with the name of your favourite Christmas carol in the comments section of this post. (Make sure your email address is in the details section when you leave your comment—or email us after you’ve commented so we can contact you if you’re the winner). Entrants outside Australia welcome—but we will only post the book to an Australian address, so you’ll need to nominate an Australian address for us to post it to if you win.

The giveaway ends 6am WST (that’s when it’s 6am in Perth, Western Australia) on 24 December 2012. We will announce the winner here on Soup Blog by noon on 24th and attempt to get it in the mail to the winner on the same day. Immediate family members of Alphabet Soup magazine employees are not eligible to enter. This is a random draw.

teachers' resources

Cost-free gifts for young writers (and old ones!)

Posted on December 19, 2012December 19, 2012 by Alphabet Soup

So—you have a friend who likes to write. And you’d like to give them a gift befitting a writer but you’ve checked your money box and there’s only 25c rattling around in there.

Here are some low-cost or even cost-free gift ideas.

JAR O’ PROMPTS (for writer’s block)

Cut out pictures of funny/cranky/worried (or nice-looking) people or creatures from magazines or the newspaper. Or draw your own.
Write interesting words or scenarios on little slips of paper.
Write down weird things that you’ve seen or overheard at the shopping centre, on the bus or at soccer training.

Put all these things in a jar or small box. Next time your writer friend is a bit stuck, they can pull one item out of your jar and write about that to get the creative juices flowing again. (Ask your parents if you can have a pasta or jam jar when they’ve finished with it, or there might even be a few covered in cobwebs at the back of the shed. Or use an empty cocoa box and decorate with the comics page from the newspaper … )

A READING LIST

All writers need to read LOTS of books to keep those booky ideas cooking. Write them a list of cool books you think they should definitely read. List the books and their authors, and a sentence or two about why you think they’d love each one. Roll it into a scroll and secure with a bit of string, ribbon or a rubber band. Your writer friend can take the list to the library and work their way through the books. Brilliant!

AN APP LIST

If your writer friend has an iPad or iPod, write them a list of cool apps, websites, e-books or comic-creators you think they would love and should try out. (Know of any free ones? Even better!)

A COMPETITION LIST

Some writers love to enter writing competitions. If your friend is like this, they might like a list of current competitions they can enter. (You can start by checking out the Alphabet Soup ‘Comps for Kids‘ page right here on Soup Blog. You can thank us later!)

A LISTENING EAR

Create your own gift voucher—good for one (or three) sessions of listening to their story or poems read out—and giving an honest opinion if they’d like one. (If you have some suggestions about things that might need fixing, make sure you comment on some parts you did like, too. It’s hard to read your work out to someone.)

A GAME

Create another gift voucher—promise to play one (or three) games of Scrabble or Boggle or any of their other favourite Word games even if you know they consistently win. You know they’ll love it!

BOOKMARKS

As we said before, writers are readers … why not make a bookmark gift? You can use your own artistic skills to decorate a rectangular piece of card. Personalise it with their name or their favourite word or poem. Or try making these simple bookmarks below. (Ask your parents’ permission before checking out these other websites—and while you’re there asking permission, check about using a cutting blade because some of these involve cutting and you’ll need a parent to help if you are little.)

Owl bookmark (scroll down the page halfway for instructions in English)

Kimono Doll Bookmarks

Monster Bookmark using an old envelope

BOOKPLATES

We might have mentioned that writers like to read. And readers don’t like their favourite books to go missing. On the State Library of WA website, you’ll find bookplates you can download for free with artwork by some fabulous Australian illustrators, like Shaun Tan, Rebecca Cool and more! You just download them, cut them out and your writer can glue them into the covers of their favourite books. Excellent!

Got any other low-cost gift ideas for writers? Let us know in the comments below!

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Author: Alphabet Soup