this month's
Ink Pellet contains
A Final Haunt
After 33 extraordinary years, Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black will haunt the stage of the Fortune Theatre for the final time, as the production ends in the West End on Saturday 4th March 2023. PW Productions announce that after 33 extraordinary years in London’s West End, the theatrical sensation that is Susan Hill’s THE […]
Reaching for the Moon
Susan Elkin paid a visit to Half Moon theatre in London’s East End to chat with CEO Chris Elwell about their extensive education outreach and innovative theatre programmes. Half Moon Theatre sits in the heart of Limehouse in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, spitting distance from the DLR and mainline station. Formerly a pretty […]
National Youth Theatre Rep Company
The National Youth Theatre’s Rep Company is celebrating its first ten years and Susan Elkin paid a visit to learn more. Each year a group of fifteen or so talented NYT members, aged 18 to 25, are selected by audition to join this company. In just a few months they rehearse three shows, many of […]
Apprenticeships
An important and often overlooked route into the industry, especially for many non-performing roles. Susan Elkin has some suggestions. Theatre is like an iceberg. For every role on stage there are probably at least half a dozen technicians you can’t see. And the industry has been telling us for decades that there are skills shortages […]
School Shows
Never underestimate the power of a school production – for every single person involved. When you meet former students, sometimes from decades back in my case, it’s usually taking part in Oliver! or A Midsummer Night’s Dream that they reminisce about with shining eyes. Most importantly it’s a terrific bonding exercise. We hear a lot […]
New Perspectives
With three separate Lucian Freud exhibitions currently on, Graham Hooper took time to visit and here is his review of these contrasting shows. LLucian Freud would have been 100 this year, and that’s a good excuse to look back over his life and work, but especially his work, as the two have a rather nasty […]
Grandad Anansi – Half Moon Theatre
Predicated partly on Black History Month, Elayne Ogbeta’s muliti-layered play presents Grandad (Marcus Hercules) and his primary school age granddaughter, Abi (Jazmine Wilkinson) in his garden. Like everything else in this show, the garden designed by Sorcha Corcoran, is beautiful with lots of colour, light and plants that Grandad knows by name and talks to. […]
Theatre Review – The King of Nothing – Little Angel Theatre
Ben Glasstone’s charming, witty account of The Emperor Who Has No Clothes works well for two main reasons. First it is one of the most perceptive stories ever written, dealing as it does with vanity, self delusion, conformity and truth. It’s both topical and timeless. Second, we have a cost of living crisis and the […]
Book Review – Activist
by Louisa Reid Published by Guppy Books Cassandra, narrator of this powerful verse novel, is a reluctant sixth former in a prestigious mixed school, formerly all boys, where toxic culture simmers. Driven by her own experience, and by nature a feisty “shouter” she campaigns forcibly for acknowledgement that some of the boys at school treat […]
Book Review – A Poetry Pedagogy for Teachers: Reorienting Classroom Literacy Practice
by Maya Pindyck and Ruth Vinz, with Diana Liu and Ashlynn Wittchow The thrust of this detailed, well-researched, quite academic book about the poetry in classrooms is that we shouldn’t teach students to search for meaning so that “the poem becomes a specimen for examination under the microscope of interpretative practices”. Instead we should experience […]
Book Review
Ink Pellet’s book review section covers an eclectic selection of new fiction, teachers’ guides, audio books and classics.
Many of our reviews are written by teachers, so we have an expert eye on how texts will work in the classroom. We hope to create a useful archive of reviews so that you can use this as a reference.
If you would like to join our panel of reviewers, please join in or email the editor john@inkpellet.co.uk.
We hope the section inspires you to share new fiction with your pupils or to revisit old favorites yourself.
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by Daniel Hahn (second edition based on original 1984 edition by Humphrey Carpenter & Mari Pritchard) Published by Oxford University Press By anyone’s standards it’s an ambitious project to attempt to cram into a mere 500,000 words the whole of children’s literature, including that from other English speaking cultures and books translated into English. Children’s […]
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Published by Bloomsbury Niki Flacks is described as a director, actor, teacher and psychologist. The most pertinent role, it turns out, is the latter; for to be able to do any of the three requires knowledge of self and the human condition. A regular tutor at the Actors’ Centre, the testimonials speak warmly of her […]
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Published by Peripeteia Press There are times when a book lands on your desk and it’s akin to manna from heaven. For those of you who have read my Editor’s Letter on page 3, you will know that the Hopley household, like thousands of others, is in the grip of exam revision. So I left […]
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Published by Pogo Learning Nick Handel is a former BBC producer and has used this skill to write a fantastic, easy to use resource that uses film to develop creative writing. Today’s youngsters have a highly developed visual knowledge. Brought up on a diet of video films, games and animated learning techniques – something has […]
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Published by Hachette Mind Games is set in a future where almost everything is virtual. Everyone loves the way life is organised, except for a group of people – the refusers. Refusers don’t go into these virtual worlds because they don’t like it or don’t want to. And among these refusers is a girl called […]
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Published by Simon Pulse The world of literature usually mirrors the new trends and fashions, but there will always be places for the classic supernatural thriller and the timeless romance. For this reason, a book that is able to seamlessly combine both of these genres is instantly shaping up like a must-read, and Scott Westerfield’s […]
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This little tome should be kept in your drawer/briefcase pocket/tablet case for those moments of despair and frustration that hit all teachers at some time. Featuring 100 ‘meditations for teachers’ and a commentary on each, Jonti Mark’s self-published book brings together words from some of the most famous teachers, educators and historical figures to inspire, […]
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Published by Nick Hern Books An hour glass on the book’s front cover suggests encapsulating quintessential qualities in the slightest of vessels – and in this slim volume of reflections on Shakespeare the ground-breaking grandee of the stage sets out to do just that. In medieval times a monk would ponder mortality by keeping a […]
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In the dystopian world Pale is set in, dead people can go to work. Dead children can go to school. Dead people can even come back from the dead. All you need is to be given the Lazarus Serum quickly after you die and that’s it. But there is a catch – you become pale, […]
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Published by Luath Press Ltd Review by Robbie Dhillon (Year 10 Norton Knatchbull School, Ashford) In a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has been torn apart by oil wars and devastating fl oods, Last Days in Eden follows the story of sixteen year-old Flora Mandela, a survivor, spending her life selling goods at her home, Shell […]