Toppling

Toppling by Sally Murphy 

Reviewed by Tilly 10yr. old Book Reviewer and Sometimes Writer

Toppling is about a boy named John who is addicted to dominos. His best friend in the story, Dom, gets cancer. 

This story is about friendship. John gets sad and worried for his friend Dominick. We've been reading this novel in my classroom, and a lot of John's story happens at his school and in his year 6 classroom.

John says the best thing about his school is his mates. The next best thing? Lilly, a girl he likes. School becomes less fun for John when Dom stops coming because he's too sick. John goes to visit Dom in the hospital but doesn't recognise his friend at first because he looked so pale and thin... and he was bald! This is the first time in John's life he had to deal with a possibility of a death.

This novel gets serious in parts but does have some funny and happy moments.

I thought it was an okay book. My favourite part was the ending, I thought it was really funny but I won't spoil it for you. Some parts of the book were a bit slow.

I rate this book out of 5 paper dolls...

Imagination Sparks - Dream Exercise

Writing Exercise by Milly 13yrs. old - Book Reviewer and Sometimes Baker

Imagination Sparks is an awesome blogfest to share your favourite creativity exercise and I have decided to join.

The creativity task I chose is called dream + pen + paper = story.

What you will need for this exercise is a pen, paper and a dream or nightmare (I know you don't like having nightmares, but they make the best stories!).

Before you go to sleep make sure you have a pen and paper right next to your bed. If it's not close you won't feel like looking for it in the dark.

I'm going to try other bloggers ideas from the blogfest, and I'll post about what story ideas I get.

I sometimes fall asleep listening to an audiobook, and this seems to help me dream. But keep in mind if you dream about being a young girl getting sent off to games where you have to fight the death - this might not be your own original idea (Hunger Games). There are also some hypnosis recordings that can help you think imaginatively if you listen to them right before you go to sleep.

If you wake during the night, after a brilliant dream/nightmare, force yourself to write down some notes or even just key words. If you don't, chances are you'll forget it in the morning.

Even the weirdest dreams can be used for a story. If your dream makes no sense to you (people merging into rabbits and flying off), still write it down. You might be able to separate each idea for an element towards a story - or you may have the next Alice in Wonderland!

When you're ready to write your story. Try doing a couple of minutes of just free-writing or brainstorming to see how many story ideas you can get from your dream.

If you have some fun creativity exercises, it's not to late to join just go to Wagging Tales and sign on!