Pandora: The instant no.1 Sunday Times bestseller

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Pandora: The instant no.1 Sunday Times bestseller

Pandora: The instant no.1 Sunday Times bestseller

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Steeped in mystery and rich in imagination, an exhilarating historical novel set in Georgian London where the discovery of a mysterious ancient Greek vase sets in motion conspiracies, revelations, and romance. Dora discovers that her uncle is hiding a mysterious Greek vase in the basement of the shop & sets out to find out why he is keeping it a secret. The vase appears to have many hidden secrets & it’s discovery by Dora leads her to unravel more about her past & what happened to her parents. Each month we receive sample copies and manuscripts from all the leading children’s publishers to review. We read all of the books that we find suitable for our collections and level the texts. It is only by reading the books that we can be sure that the text level is consistent and that the content is appropriate for a school library. It is at this point that we would weed out any books that include language that is inappropriate for the classroom; which contain themes or scenes that children reading at this age may have difficulty with; or which do not significantly meet our ideal criteria for primary school reading books. We are looking for books which are not only at the right text level but which also promote reading for pleasure, use language well or introduce interesting vocabulary and ensure that as many different styles, text types, themes and genre are included in each collection as possible to broaden children’s reading.

This was pretty intriguing for me and nicely finished up the threads of the storyline till the end. I am recommending it. Then the pithos comes into play, and I am desperate to see this in a film. The descriptions in the book just scream 'stunning' and I am certain my imagination comes nowhere near its beauty.The story is pretty interesting and engaging, i love the Georgian atmospheric vibe and the mystery element in the book but in my opinion the characters are pretty bland and the plot is slow… there are also a lot of unnecessary conversation and I think the book can be shorter, however I’m pretty much enjoyed this book and think this is such a great debut from the author Hezekiah comes across as brutish for the most part and is generally a very unpleasant person, but he is also quite scheming and becomes more dangerous as the story goes on. His maid Lottie is a similarly unlikable character to begin with, but she is given an excellent arc and is more or less fully redeemed by the end. Even though I went into this novel hopeful, I have to confess that I didn’t have very high expectations. I have a serious weakness for anything inspired by Greek mythology, but I also can’t seem to help but judge said inspired stories a bit harshly, as well. And I’m just starting to get into historical fiction, which has always been a very hit-or-miss genre for me. But Pandora was recommended for fans of The Essex Serpent, which made me even more hopeful. My expectations were not only met, but exceeded. I can’t definitely see why it was compared to Sarah Perry’s work, and I can’t wait to get a physical copy to shelf next to The Essex Serpent. While not quite as philosophically profound, Pandora definitely scratched the same itch.

Having finished school Dora now focuses her ambitions in designing jewellery, so when an ornate vase arrives at the shop, her interested is piqued immediately. Not because this treasure is a thing of beauty and mysterious, but she is able to take inspiration from its rare qualities and designs, when designing her own jewellery range. However, her interest only grows in a different direction when the secrecy, value and historical reference attributed to this piece of antique comes to light. What she was not expecting was the number of revelations and questions that the pithos and its discovery brings up.The table below displays each book band level and their equivalent reading age. Most children will work through the levels during the year, so for example, in most schools, a reception child, working at expected levels would end the year on yellow. I loved this book, historical fiction woven with mystery and Greek mythology? What's not to love?! Dora was a gorgeous character, with heart and a passion for her art and jewellery, but who was living with her awful uncle after the death of her parents. And Edward, lovely Edward. A man who wanted recognition for his work on antiques, but was struggling to get it. We read all our books, have a strong understanding of how children develop as readers and have an unparalleled knowledge of children’s publishing to draw upon to meet their needs. For all our levelling we are constantly reading, comparing and contrasting our 'real' books with scheme books and with each other to ensure that they represent a true progression in reading and in our range. It is a team effort and we regularly discuss which features we feel push a book up or down a band, perhaps the vocabulary is representative of Dark Blue but the narrative complex enough to make a book really only accessible to the most confident readers in Year 5 reading at Dark Red. We take into account many factors depending upon the text; perhaps the reader would be required to have unexpected knowledge or insight to fully access the language or the narrative; and themes, like time travel, or devices, like parallel narratives, can render a book inaccessible to all but the most fluent reader; perhaps the text level is just right but the story unlikely to engage readers reading at this level. With each book we are asking would a child reading at that level be able to access this text and what would their challenges be, the answers to these questions are unique to each book. Choosing Book Bands for confident and gifted readers This is a story set in Georgian era London, where the discovery of a mysterious ancient Greek Vase sets in motion conspiracies and revelations. Dora Blake is an aspiring jewellery artist and an orphan, she live together with her uncle and they run an antiquities shop. When a mysterious Greek vase is delivered, Dora is intrigues by her uncle suspicious behavior and enlists the help of Edward Lawrence, a young antuarian scholar to find out the story about this mysterious vase Dora is a character made more interesting by her family history, but is likeable and over the course of the book develops a strong level of independence. That, and the growing success of her jewellery designs, make you really start to root for her as she emerges from her uncle's oppression. The fact she has a pet magpie also adds that little bit of quirkiness.

Twenty-one-year-old Pandora “Dora” Blake lives and works in her late parents' antiquities shop in Georgian London. Her parents had been renowned antiquarians specializing in Grecian artifacts and had made their living excavating tombs in South-Eastern Europe. Their untimely death in a mishap during an excavation twelve years ago left Dora orphaned and under the care of her unscrupulous and corrupt uncle Hezekiah Blake who promptly took over the shop and is responsible for its present state of disrepute, dealing mostly in forgeries and objects with not much historical significance. Dora aspires to be a jewelry designer and spends time honing her craft with her faithful pet magpie Hermes by her side, despite the constant beratement and ridicule of her uncle who would rather be rid of her.I could keep going on but this book just had everything: it had the mystery, the atmosphere, the intrigue and just the right amount of romance. I enjoyed the history and myth telling, and the talk of “curses”. When a highly anticipated Greek pithos is delivered to the shop, Dora wonders why her Uncles behaviour is so suspicious and wants to find out the mystery for herself. Dora enlists the help of Edward Lawrence, a bookbinder looking for acceptance into the Society of Antiquities, for help on information of the pithos. Dora sees the pithos as a chance to escape her life and restore her parents shop to its former glory. For confident and super-confident readers it is important that books are matched appropriately to their emotional maturity. For thisreasonPandora Books collate specific book collections for confident readerswhereextraemphasis is put on the contentbeingabsolutely spot on and not inappropriate for their chronological age whilst the book band level is higher.

One thing I will say is that the author has left me with some interesting questions that I need answering! After the tragic death of her parents during an archaeological excavation, Dora Blake is now living with her uncle, Hezekiah, in her parents’ antiquities shop. But Hezekiah does not have the interest in antiquities her parents had and he is slowly destroying her parents’ once loved business. Dora is desperate to escape from her uncles’ care, and is hoping to turn her love of drawing and jewelry making into a career, giving her the independence she craves. When her uncle imports a Grecian vase, one so old that it predates time itself, Dora feels an immediate connection. While anyone else who touches it or means it harm is instantly cursed, Dora continues to be the only one to open it and she uses its Greek inscriptions and drawings as inspiration for her jewellery. But Hezekiah has darker plans for the vase, and even darker plans for Dora, and when Dora realizes the true importance of the urn, her life is put at greater risk.Pandora” is a historical fiction gem, the debut novel by author Susan Stokes-Chapman. Set in London in 1799, Chapman’s novel manages to merge Greek mythology and Georgian England in a creative and realistic way. The story is told from three POV’s; Dora, Edward (a historian with a passion for antiquities and Dora’s love interest) and Hezekiah himself. I loved how Chapman brought all three characters alternatively into the limelight, as it served to deepen the plot and character development.



  • Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
  • EAN: 764486781913
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