Tuesday 3 January 2012

Great Idea? Or Shameless Plug?

Santa came early this week for the 165 pupils of St Mary's Primary in Battersea. Addressing a buzzing assembly, headteacher Jared Brading pointed to five large boxes placed under the tree and asked: "What do you want for Christmas?"

Hands shot up. "iPod Nano," yelled one, "Nintendo 3DS," replied another. But a surprising number plumped for "books", with "Roald Dahl", "science books" and former children's laureate Michael Morpurgo among the favourites.

Mr Brading, whose school has been adopted by our Get London Reading campaign, said: "I don't want you to be like the children in the rest of the country, where one in three do not have books of their own."
Hmmmm, OK. So far so good.
"We want to make sure you all leave St Mary's brilliant readers," Mr Brading added, "and thanks to the Evening Standard we have a wonderful surprise for each of you."
Hey, does this count as 'Big Society' stuff?
For the 80 older children, it was a beautiful £10.99 hardback edition of Roald Dahl's The BFG or Alice In Wonderland, generously donated by Everyman publisher David Campbell.
Oooh, now, that's actually worth having! I wonder what the younger ones get? Obviously, Enid Blyton will be out, so perhaps 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' or...

Oh.
For the under-sevens, it was Michael Morpurgo's Meet Wenlock And Mandeville, a book about two imaginary characters who get involved in the London Olympics and donated by parenting website Daddybegood.com and Carlton Books.
I...

I just...

Still, mustn't be cynical. What matters is how the kiddiewinks are receiving this box of delights, surely?

Do they understand why reading is important?
Born in Italy to Nigerian parents, Divine came to the UK two years ago hardly speaking English and is one of 75 pupils at St Mary's who have been assigned an Evening Standard reading volunteer.

"He is a bright lad, extremely conscientious and desperate to do well - the sort who will benefit hugely from improving his comprehension with the help of a reading volunteer," said associate headteacher Nicola Byrne.

Clutching his copy of The BFG, Divine said: "My mum keeps telling me that books, not TV, can help my future - that even footballers need to read because they've got to know the rules of the game."
OK, that's it. We're doomed...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you say Enid Blyton? I thought she was on a non-white list as she was a racist, fascist and a horrible mummy. As for the rest of that post....I'm not surprised one bit..innit.

Twit said...

And footballers need to read their tweets, cos sumfink may be on about them having an affair, innit?

Captain Haddock said...

"Born in Italy to Nigerian parents, Divine came to the UK two years ago hardly speaking English ... "

I fail to detect even an oblique connection with the UK in any of the above ..

Which begs the question .. What's the pathetic excuse for him & his family being here at all then ????

Macheath said...

I'm amazed that white, middle-class Alice got past the censors - unless, of course, they decided that Dodgson's grooming makes her a victim and thus beyond reporach.

Still, what they lose on the ideological swings, they make up for on the roundabout of Wenlock and Mandeville (do they make anyone else think of the sinister perfumed villains in 'Diamonds are Forever'?).

It's a convenient way of shifting the hundreds of unsold copies there must be out there - after all, would you buy it? - so we can probably expect more of the same in future.

Here come the hordes said...

Cap'n H: "What's the pathetic excuse for him & his family being here at all then ????"

Easy answer: We hand out free money. Is there any other reason for coming from a warmer place to a cold, wet climate like this?

And no language problems either: We provide the necessary interpreters at no expense!

Anonymous said...

Radio $'s Book of the Week - Looking for transwonderland

Noo Saro-Wiwa was brought up in England, but every summer she was dragged back to Nigeria - a country she viewed as an annoying parallel universe where she had to relinquish all her creature comforts and sense of individuality. Then her father, activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, was executed there by the military government causing international outrage, and she didn't return for 10 years. Recently, she decided to rediscover and come to terms with the country her father loved. Today's episode takes her to Transwonderland, a bizarre deserted amusement park, and to a tranquil sacred shrine.

Again?

Captain Haddock said...

@ Here come the hordes ..

Yes, upon reflection, I suppose it was something of a redundant question ..

andy said...

I`m far more annoyed about the fact that a Nigerian born in Italy is living in Britain.

Mark said...

"Born in Italy to Nigerian parents, Divine came to the UK two years ago hardly speaking English ... "

I fail to detect even an oblique connection with the UK in any of the above ..

Which begs the question .. What's the pathetic excuse for him & his family being here at all then ????

Captain H- his family may well have taken a similar route to that which was probably taken by the gangsta stabbed to death in Oxford St on Boxing Day. His parents were from Ivory Coast, and I bet the family came here after obtaining carte de sejours in France. One of the peculiarities of our relationship to Schengen is that third party nationals with residency rights in a Schengen state seem to be able to access the UK (and its benefits system)with some ease- but no corresponding right seems to devolve to immigrants from third countries here, who may wish to chance their arm in France, Belgium, Italy etc.

Remember this the next time you hear Damian Green prattling on about how our non membership of Schengen is an essential element to our 'strict' border controls.

JuliaM said...

"I thought she was on a non-white list as she was a racist, fascist and a horrible mummy."

Yup, that's why I said she'd be out of the running... ;)

"And footballers need to read their tweets, cos sumfink may be on about them having an affair, innit?"

:D

"I fail to detect even an oblique connection with the UK in any of the above .."

As Mark points out, we can probably thank Schengen for that.

"...do they make anyone else think of the sinister perfumed villains in 'Diamonds are Forever'?..."

Well, now that you mention it.. ;)

Anonymous said...

Yup, that's why I said she'd be out of the running...

Doh, but I just have to see THAT name and I ...I...well...I fill up with righteous indignation and outrage!