World Book and Copyright Day - 23rd April

23rd April

WORLD BOOK DAY

The connection between 23 April and books was first made in 1923 by booksellers in Catalonia, Spain as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes who died on that day. This became a part of the celebrations of the Saint George's Day (also 23 April) in the region, where it has been traditional since the medieval era for men to give roses to their lovers and since 1925 for the woman to give a book in exchange. Half the yearly sales of books in Catalonia are at this time with over 400,000 sold and exchanged for over 4 million roses.
In 1995, UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on this date because of the Catalonian festival and because the date is also the anniversary of the birth and death of William Shakespeare, the death of Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Josep Pla, the birth of Maurice Druon, Vladimir Nabokov, Manuel Mejía Vallejo and Halldór Laxness.
Although 23 April is often stated as the anniversary of the deaths of both Shakespeare and Cervantes, this is not strictly correct. Cervantes died on 23 April according the Gregorian calendar; however, at this time England still used the Julian calendar. Whilst Shakespeare died on 23 April by the Julian calendar in use in his own country at the time, actually he died ten days after Cervantes, because of the discrepancy between the two date systems. (Source: Wikipedia)

Isabel's Links
Shakespeare's webquest
Playhouse- Home of the Shakespeare Games
The Playwright game
A Shakespeare Murder Mystery (BBC)
Interactive Globe Theater

Sylvia Plath

Nicholas Hughes, Sylvia Plath’s son commits suicide

The son of the poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath has taken his own life, 46 years after his mother gassed herself while he slept. He was only a baby when his mother died but she had already sketched out what he meant to her in one of her late poems. (In Nick and the Candlestick, published in her posthumous collection Ariel)

For further information: Times Online

Nick And The Candlestick I am a miner. The light burns blue. Waxy stalactites Drip and thicken, tears The earthen womb Exudes from its dead boredom. Black bat airs Wrap me, raggy shawls, Cold homicides. They weld to me like plums. Old cave of calcium Icicles, old echoer. Even the newts are white, Those holy Joes. And the fish, the fish---- Christ! They are panes of ice, A vice of knives, A piranha Religion, drinking

Its first communion out of my live toes. The candle Gulps and recovers its small altitude, Its yellows hearten. O love, how did you get here? O embryo Remembering, even in sleep, Your crossed position. The blood blooms clean In you, ruby. The pain You wake to is not yours. Love, love, I have hung our cave with roses. With soft rugs---- The last of Victoriana. Let the stars Plummet to their dark address, Let the mercuric Atoms that cripple drip Into the terrible well, You are the one Solid the spaces lean on, envious. You are the baby in the barn.

The Gift of the Magi

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI By O. Henry

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

The Gift of the Magi is one of O. Henry's most famous short stories. Christmas has become too commercial and it is a good example of how people forget the true spiritual meaning of special occasions. Read the story and remember that "love is the greatest gift of all".
- Text
- Text in PDF
- In Spanish: PDF, text and audio
- Listen and read at the same time
- Audio in mp3

"Elementary, my dear Watson"

Sherlock Holmes appears first in print on the 1st December 1887. He is the creation of Scottish-born author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A brilliant London-based consulting detective, Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess, and is renowned for his skillful use of "deductive reasoning" while using abductive reasoning and astute observation to solve difficult cases.

Many people believed that the famous detective, lived and worked at22B Baker Street, London. The fictional character was in fact created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the 1880s, and the address doesn’t exist.

FACT OR FICTION? (Adapted from IT's Magazine)

Films include many action heroes – Iron Man, Speed Racer, Indiana Jones, The Incredible Hulk and Batman. But did any of these heroes actually exist, or are they all fictional?
Earlier this year, a television station in Britain asked 3,000 young people a series of questions about famous factual and fictional people. They wanted to find out ifanyone knew which of the people existed in real life and which were fictional characters.
Which names do you think are real people and which are fictional characters?
King Arthur, Winston Churchill, Cleopatra, Robinson Crusoe, Charles Dickens, Gandhi, Lady Godiva, Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, Michael Jackson, Indiana Jones, Mona Lisa, Iron Man, Florence Nightingale, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Three Musketeers, Sir Walter Raleigh, Eleanor Rigby, The Duke of Wellington.
According to UKTV, the TV station that carried out the survey, King Arthur is the fictional figure that most people in Britain (65%) believe existed and had a round table in Camelot. Half of those surveyed (51%) also believed that Robin Hood lived in Sherwood Forest during the 14th century, robbing the rich to give to the poor. Eleanor Rigby was the name of a fictional character in a Beatles song, but 47% of young people believed she was a real person. People were also confused when they tried to identify real historical figures. A surprising 21% thought that Winston Churchill, possibly Britain’s most famous Prime Minister, was a fictional character. And over a quarter (27%) thought pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale was fictional.Paul Moreton of UKTV said, “Stories like Robin Hood are so inspiring that it’s not surprising people like to believe these characters truly existed.”

Sources: Wikipedia, IT'S Magazine

- The Sherlock Holmes Museum

- Adventure Games

Harry Potter

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

July 2009

- Official site

- Wikipedia

- Activities and links (Isabel Pérez)

- Games

- Listening (BBC)

- Pronunciation

Michael Crichton dies

Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park, dies of cancer

Michael Crichton, the author behind the fictional world of Jurassic Park, died yesterday at the age of 66 after a battle with cancer that he hid from the public eye. Crichton, the author of more than a dozen bestselling novels and creator of the medical drama series ER, died unexpectedly in Los Angeles, his family said.

A statement from Mr Crichton’s family posted on the writer’s website described his fight with cancer as “courageous and private” and added: “While the world knew him as a great storyteller that challenged our preconceived notions about the world around us . . . his family and friends knew Michael Crichton as a devoted husband, loving father and generous friend who inspired each of us to strive to see the wonders of our world through new eyes. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University before tutoring at Cambridge University in anthropology and later registering at Harvard Medical School.

Crichton, whose books have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide, was heavily influenced by his scientific training, and often conjured up visions of dystopian worlds that bore the brunt of botched attempts at scientific advancement. His first bestseller, The Andromeda Strain, which speculated upon the devastating effects of an extraterrestrial microorganism on the human race, was published while he was still a medical student.
Thirteen of his books were turned into films, including Jurassic Park, which told of recreating dinosaurs via DNA contained in the blood of mosquitoes preserved in amber. The film, released in 1993, took nearly $1 billion (£630 million) worldwide, and in 2002 Mr Crichton had a newly discovered ankylosaur named after him: Crichtonsaurus bohlini.
The family statement added: “Through his books, Michael Crichton served as an inspiration to students of all ages, challenged scientists in many fields and illuminated the mysteries of the world in a way we could all understand.”

Working knowledge
—Legend has it that at his peak Michael Crichton could write up to 10,000 words a day. He described the process as excruciating, however, and for an agonising period in the 1980s he was struck by writer’s block. He “cured” himself by consulting all manner of New Age gurus
—Crichton’s writing regime was eccentric. He wrote seven days a week and would hide himself away in a sparsely furnished room to minimise distraction, eating the same thing for lunch every day
—He would break off from his labours only to take exercise or to see his family. As each work progressed, he would wake up earlier and earlier until towards the end of each book he would be at his computer at 2am
—To ensure that his works were as accurate as possible he became an expert in all manner of subjects, from genetic engineering to international economics, taking in Nordic myths, primatology, medieval European history and even airline deregulation
—Crichton used two pen names when he was at medical school – John Lange and Jeffrey Hudson – to knock out pulp fiction. Both included a play on his lankiness, Lange meaning “tall one” in German, Dutch and Danish, while Sir Jeffrey Hudson was a famous dwarf who mixed in 17th-century court circles

Sources: timesonline.co.uk and bbc.co.uk

Children's Book Week

Children’s Book Week (6 –12 October)

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Dr. Seuss was an American children's author. He wrote popular books, such as The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. When he wrote The Cat in the Hat, he could use only 225 words from a word list.

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Activity 1: Can you write six sentences using only the following words? (You can repeat the same word more than once)

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and - mouse - do - house - he - him - in - did - looked - was - on - said - saw - sit - that - the - there - to - I - me - what - you - at - why

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Activity 2: complete the text: http://www.its-english.com/artsmedia/books/ex7.asp

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

For further information:

- Wikipedia

- Biography (pdf)

- Seussville

- The Cat in the Hat (excerpt by Amazon Online Reader)

- 10 Facts about Dr Seuss

Image from creativityforkids.com

Elvira's contribution (IT'S Magazine)

Colours

LEMONS ARE NOT RED

AND TO NAME BUT JUST A FEW