Friday 10 July 2009

Birthday Post 5 by Gregory Jensen and Lucy Philip

What I Read
by Gregory Jensen
I grew up without a TV so I had no choice but to read.
I was still reading early readers at 7. When I wanted my mum to read me Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and she said I was too young for it, I took it and read it by myself. Although I was frightened by the ghosts and snakes, I finished it. Once I’d read that first book, things snowballed and (oh, hang on, Disney moment coming up) I discovered ‘a world of magic’.
Soon I was reading so many books so fast, my mum thought it was time I visited a library. My favourite authors are Anthony Horowitz (no. 1), Cathy Cassidy (because her books are such real life), Robert Muchamore (I’ve read the Cherub series three times), Steve Voake (awesome, just awesome), Alan Gibbons (tense), Malorie Blackman (The Stuff of Nightmares was especially brilliant) and Eoin Colfer, who is hilarious.
Oh and I do read Marie-Louise Jensen, but only because she’s my mum, so don’t tell anyone.
Greg is 15 and lives in Bath with his family and a lot of books.


My Books
by Lucy Philip

I love to read and I get ideas from my books to write my own stories on the computer.
My favourite books are Magic Kitten, Magic Puppy, Magic Pony and Animal Ark, because they have animals and magic in them. I also like excitement and adventure, like the Famous Five. I always know there’s going to be a happy ending when I read my book. But my favourite author is Michael Morpurgo. I read his book The Butterfly Lion and I felt excited and sad but I loved the characters, especially Bertie. It was hard reading one chapter a night because I wanted to read it all at once. Next I’d like to read The Dancing Bear, and I’d love to see War Horse in the theatre.
I don’t want to ever read just one kind of book. It’s fun to read different kinds of stories. And when I grow up I want to be an author. When I’m writing my books, I’ll write about animals and magic too.
Maybe I’ll write Magic Rabbit or Magic Otter.
Lucy Philip is 8 years old and lives in Scotland.

10 comments:

John Dougherty said...

Thanks, Greg & Lucy - great posts and a terrific addition to our birthday celebrations. Maybe we should have a few more "what I reads" through the year?

Oh, and Greg - your secret is safe with us...

Anne Cassidy said...

This is a comment for Greg. Good for you for reading your mum's books. When my son, Jack, was a teenager he never read my books. He said they were too boring. I eventually got him to read LOOKING FOR JJ and his only resonse was, Oh yeah. I see what you're trying to do! I have two nieces who are keen to read my books but they're too young just yet.

Elen C said...

I second that!
Lucy, good luck with the writing ambition. I began exactly as you are, taking favourite characters and writing new stories about them!

Stroppy Author said...

This is a comment for Lucy. Who is the tyrant who lets you read only one chapter a night? Rebel! Some books demand to be read all in one go, and you can't tell a book what to do.

You might have to start your reading a bit earlier in the evening if you want to read the whole book, though :-)

Lucy Coats said...

Greg--excellent choices, but I think you've missed a trick with your mum (!). I pay my teenagers (in books of their choice) to critique my books at every stage and make suggestions. This has to be done properly with no 'Oh Mum, it's brilliant' type of comments (as if). Just a thought...now ML will possibly hate me!

Lucy--I WANT to read the Magic Otter. Not nearly enough otter books around in my opinion. And I agree with the Stroppy Author. Rebel. Read as many chapters as you want per night--unless you like that suspense of waiting to know the end. I know I don't but you may be different. :-)

Gillian Philip said...

Drat! I have been outed as a despotic mother. All right, I dare not argue with Lucy C and the Stroppy Author - I give in. Lucy P - you may read more than one chapter. But you have to start before 9pm, young lady!

Anne Roooney said...

Oooh, look - we've managed to get 'despotic' and 'tyrant' into the conversation: perhaps that should feed into the 'despotic tyranny' debate.

Sorry, that was off-topic. Slapped wrists. Despotic tyrants are not usually welcome at birthday celebrations.

Greg, you are a Very Good Son to read your mothers books. My children rarely read my books. But maybe that is because they are not as good as ML's books ;-)

Anonymous said...

A reply to Lucy Coats:
My mum doesn't want my critque. I tell her they'd be good books if only she'd take out the kissing. yeuch. ick. bleugh. huuuurl.
Greg.

Jon M said...

Some good choices! I see that teenage sons are tough on their author parents the world over. Mine shows no mercy!

Unknown said...

Gregory and Lucy, its great to hear your thoughts on books and stuff. Fantastic!