Art & History

Historical Fiction for Kids – A Book Review

What better way to #jumpintohistory, than to immerse yourself in historical fiction for kids… but where to start?
With so many great titles to chose from, you might find it difficult to plump for one of them. Louise is a life-long bookworm, and lover of historical fiction, and has some great tips.

I have always loved reading fiction books about history, especially books about girls.

I grew up reading fiction books about the lives of girls: Johanna Spyri’s Heidi, L.M Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon and Anne of Green Gables, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, and Susan Coolidge’s What Katy Did series. I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods series, which is the story of Laura’s life growing in 19th century America. I always wanted to be Laura and have adventures living in the middle of nowhere surrounded by woods, although I am still not very keen about the lack of indoor plumbing.

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Food and Recipes

What is Spaghetti Ice?

Spaghettieis (as they call it in Germany) belongs to German summers like sunshine and open-air swimming pools! In almost every town in the country, you will find an ice cream parlour that sells this delicacy. But what is Spaghetti Ice?

You may think that combining spaghetti and ice [cream], that it must have been invented in Italy, and you are almost right. It was invented by a man called Dario Fontanella, the son of Italian immigrants in Germany.

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Language & Literature, Popular

The Great Vowel Shift

If you have learnt a foreign language, or if you are bilingual in another European language, you may have noticed that there are a number of words that are similar to words in English. Perhaps you may even have been told that some of them are derived from Latin or Greek, or that they have Germanic roots. But why is the pronunciation so often so different in English?

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Written By You

When I Met Mary Robinson – Written By You

Me and my mum went to hear this lady talk, her name is Mary Robinson, Mary was the President of Ireland, but she was not just any kind of President of Ireland,she was the first woman President of Ireland. She got a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in 2009. And was the first President of Ireland to visit  the Queen.

 

Growing up 

Mary grew up in a small town in Ireland, her mum and dad where doctors and  her gran died when she was about 10 years old… When Mary was 17 she went to a finishing school in Paris while deciding if she wanted to become a nun…   In that finishing school  she was the only non-French speaking student there.

 

little light 

Mary Robinson famously put a light in her kitchen window to guide the people that have left Ireland to live a country abroad back home.

 

my question

If you had a chance of asking Mary Robinson a question in front of 600 people, would you do it? I would, and I did. Here’s what I said and what Mary replied:

 

 

 

 

Afterwards Mary signed a copy of her book for me

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