Junior Book Club: Tales of Mystery and Magic

Tales of Mystery and Magic proved to be a hit for our recent book club sessions, as we hosted a storytelling spectacular. The book, a collection of short stories, was a nice little change from our standard independent reader books. The group was tasked with reading the collection, choosing their favourite short story and planning to bring the story to life during our session.

So off we stepped into a bewitching world of mystery and magic that awaited us. We met singing elves with magical feet; skeletons that move of their own accord; and a heroic blackbird who outwits a powerful king. Inspired by Master storyteller Hugh Lupton, with his exceptional storytelling we had a fun filled session, full of noise and laughter.

Tales of Mystery and magic is a great book to inspire children to read aloud and understand how they can enhance their storytelling skills and it would also make a great session for parents who are looking to keep older children interested in reading. Our session kicked off with a quick brainstorm on what makes good storytelling and how we can best engage with our audience.

After listening to one tale told by Hugh, on the accompanying audio CD the group were inspired to tell their favourite tales. Everybody had brought their own props but we helped out with a selection of drums, bells, audio clips, plastic bags and general bits and bobs to help create some of the spooky sound effects that the stories conjure up. It was wonderful to see the children getting so involved with their chosen stories and brilliant to see the support given to one and other, as the different reading levels  in the group are embraced. The session ended with the group coming together to share the story of ' The Strange Visitor ', with great repetition and just the right level of scary, it was fun way to bring the group together and end the session. We love book club!