Are you taking part in the brilliant Summer Reading Challenge. This year's theme is Animal Agents, which I think is fantastic, because animals and secret agents (and the mysteries they solve) are two of my favourite things to read about - and also to write about.
In Adventure Island, Drift is Emily's Right Hand Dog. He's an 'animal agent' - helping Emily and Jack and Scott to solve mysteries in all kinds of ways, by sniffing out clues, finding escape routes, raising the alarm and causing distractions (l had great fun writing about the sausage distraction in The Mystery of the Missing Masterpiece!)
In Secrets of the Tombs, Cleo and Ryan don't have pets because they are traveling all over the world, but Ryan loves animals. In each book he makes friends with a different stray animal - a cat in The Phoenix Code, a stray dog and her puppies in The Dragon Path, and Shadow, the mischievous orphaned anteater, in The Serpent King.
As well as encouraging everyone to read loads of great books, the Summer Reading Challenge Website is packed with exciting games, puzzles, creative writing tips and competitions. To join in the fun, I've come up with a competition of my own you might like to try.
All you have to do is draw a picture or write a short story about Drift. It can be based on a scene from one of the Adventure Island books or a completely new adventure that you've made up for him. Emily, Scott and Jack can be in your story as well, of course, but make sure that Drift is centre stage as your main character. You could even do both - a story with a picture to go with it.
Entries will be displayed on the Art Gallery and Young Writers' Story Showcase pages of this website and on the Adventure Island website. Our three favourites will receive a prize of two signed Adventure Island books of your choice, some dog-hero goodies, a poster and a certificate signed by Drift.
Entrants must be 13 years old or under. Send your pictures and stories as e-mail attachments (for example, as a word document or a photo of your artwork) to helen@castlekey.org.uk by September 10th, 2017. Please make sure you have an adult's permission to send your entry in by e-mail.
Good luck! Happy reading, writing and drawing.
You can find out more about Adventure Island here and Secrets of the Tombs here, and about the Summer Reading Challenge here.
Drift escapes from the circus lorry in The Mystery of the Cursed Ruby |
In Secrets of the Tombs, Cleo and Ryan don't have pets because they are traveling all over the world, but Ryan loves animals. In each book he makes friends with a different stray animal - a cat in The Phoenix Code, a stray dog and her puppies in The Dragon Path, and Shadow, the mischievous orphaned anteater, in The Serpent King.
As well as encouraging everyone to read loads of great books, the Summer Reading Challenge Website is packed with exciting games, puzzles, creative writing tips and competitions. To join in the fun, I've come up with a competition of my own you might like to try.
Drift In Action Competition
All you have to do is draw a picture or write a short story about Drift. It can be based on a scene from one of the Adventure Island books or a completely new adventure that you've made up for him. Emily, Scott and Jack can be in your story as well, of course, but make sure that Drift is centre stage as your main character. You could even do both - a story with a picture to go with it.
Entries will be displayed on the Art Gallery and Young Writers' Story Showcase pages of this website and on the Adventure Island website. Our three favourites will receive a prize of two signed Adventure Island books of your choice, some dog-hero goodies, a poster and a certificate signed by Drift.
Entrants must be 13 years old or under. Send your pictures and stories as e-mail attachments (for example, as a word document or a photo of your artwork) to helen@castlekey.org.uk by September 10th, 2017. Please make sure you have an adult's permission to send your entry in by e-mail.
Good luck! Happy reading, writing and drawing.
You can find out more about Adventure Island here and Secrets of the Tombs here, and about the Summer Reading Challenge here.
"Every year, thousands of families all over the country take part in the UK’s biggest reading event for children in libraries, the Summer Reading Challenge, run by the charity The Reading Agency.
The aim of the challenge is to get children to read any six books of their choice from their library during the summer holidays.
Every year there’s a different theme; this year it’s Animal Agents, illustrated by the UK’s best-selling children’s illustrator Tony Ross."