Beverley Birch – författare

Build your child’s reading confidence at home with books at the right levelInspired by three traditional African tales, follow the crafty spider Anansi, and find out how his greed and cunning don’t always get him what he wants. Topaz/Band 13 books offer longer and more demanding reads for children to investigate and evaluate.Text type: A retelling of a traditional taleCurriculum links: CitizenshipThis book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.

Turtle wanted to go to the party in the clouds, but how would she get there without wings? She had an idea, but, unfortunately, things didn’t go quite according to plan. Orange/ Band 6 books offer varied text and characters, with action sustained over several pages.Text type – A traditional tale.A story map on pages 22-23 allows children to look back at Turtle’s changing emotions along her journey.

Build your child’s reading confidence at home with books at the right levelWhen Frankenstein creates a monster, he never expects it to be such a huge threat to society, what will he have to do to stop it, and can he succeed before any more damage is done? Explore the fascinating dilemma of nature versus nurture in Mary Shelley’s unforgettably dark thriller.Pearl/Band 18 books offer fluent readers a complex, substantial text with challenging themes to facilitate sustained comprehension, bridging the gap between a reading programme and longer chapter books.Text type: Fiction from our literary heritageCurriculum links: English: fiction from the English literary heritage

Build your child’s reading confidence at home with books at the right levelTwo beautifully told traditional tales by Beverley Birch. ‘The Water Thief’ is about the mischievous antics of Hyena and how crafty Tortoise plays him at his own game. ‘Lumbwi and the Gazelle’ is about a moving friendship, but when Lumbwi embarks on a new life he seems to forget about his old friend, to dreadful consequences.Emerald/Band 15 books provide a widening range of genres including science fiction and biography, prompting more ways to respond to texts.Text type: Traditional tales from another cultureCurriculum links: English: fairy stories, myths and legendsThis book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.

An edge-of-your-seat mystery-thriller from Beverley Birch.In a vast African landscape four teenagers and a journalist vanish without a trace from a camp below a steep rock ridge, 'Chomlaya'. As Ella, the sister of one of the missing girls, helps Inspector Murothi piece together what happened, she realises there are terrifying possibilities for her sister and the four others. There has been sinister behaviour and bullying in the camp where the missing were staying. Has there been foul play? Then one of the missing turns up – but with no memory of what has happened … As the search helicopters continue their constant hum over the rock ridge, Ella and the Inspector begin to wonder whether they are already too late …Fans of Julia Golding’s Girl on the Run series will love Rift.‘Rift is that delightful thing, a book which holds you from the first page’ – Marcus Sedgwick, Guardian

Set in Africa, the story of Kisiri, a sacred island holding terrible secrets from the past which impact on to the two teenagerss of the present, interweaving into a layered and evocative thriller.

Ally arrives from England with her brothers to stay for a month in Africa - weeks of running wild on an unspoiled, untamed coast amid mangrove creeks, vast white sandy beaches, coral reefs and warm seas. But on their first walk through the forest to the beach, Ally is swamped by a sense of an unseen presence close to her – of being spoken to. The feeling increases as a local teenager, Leli enthusiastically sweeps her into the world of his village and their offshore island (Kisiri - the place of secrets). It’s the beginning of a friendship that swiftly becomes an intense, overwhelming bond between them. Kisiri is a place of local legend, protected and feared: village youngsters dare each other to go there. Village elders forbid it. Ally and Leli feel drawn to it, and land on its shores. At once Ally feels again that invisible presence, a whispered voice. But fear can change things, divide people. The bond between Ally and Leli feels unbreakable. But suddenly everything, everyone, conspires to drive a wedge between them. She is, after all, an outsider – a visitor, no more. Only weeks away, she will leave for England, simply walk away, never to return, how can she possibly share, or help?