December Picks
Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
In 1950s England, young Danny lives in a motor home with his father, William, just outside a small village. Local businessman Victor Hazell has quietly been buying up the woods surrounding their home to develop into a housing estate, but William refuses to sell. When Hazell organizes a pheasant shoot to woo the local upper class in aid of his plans, Danny and his father plot their revenge.
Famous Five by Enid Blyton
The Famous Five are a group of children who have the sort of adventures most kids dream about, in a world where ginger beer flows and ham rolls are a staple diet. Julian, Dick and Anne get together with their cousin George in the first adventure, Five On A Treasure Island.
The Comedy of Errors (abridged) by William Shakespeare (abridged by Charles and Mary Lamb)
The Comedy of Errors is probably the most complicated of all Shakespeare's plays, involving two sets of identical twins with multiple identity confusions. It begins with a Syracuse merchant, Egeon, being led to his execution for defying the ban against travel between Syracuse and Ephesus. The overarching plot is also a recurring one that you will see in many movies and books, such as The Parent Trap.
Malory Towers by Enid Blyton
Malory Towers is a boarding school for girls in Cornwall. Enid Blyton wrote six books for this series between 1946 and 1951. The heroine is Darrell Rivers, who enters the school in the first form and becomes head girl when she is in the sixth. But of course it's not all plain sailing for Darrell and her friends!
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Frankenstein tells the story of gifted scientist Victor Frankenstein who succeeds in giving life to a being of his own creation. However, this is not the perfect specimen he imagines that it will be, but rather a hideous creature who is rejected by Victor and mankind in general.
