Stephen Ussher

Stephen Ussher Lucan View centre
English, Aged 12 and above

"This book takes me into a world of adventure"

Stephen Ussher

Stephen Ussher Lucan View centre

22 March 2018

In honour of World Book Day we ran a competition amongst our students to review some of their favourite books.

The Kumon English Programme is a reading programme and as such we encourage our students to read as much as they can to develop their proficiency and a love of reading. This could not have been more apparent amongst the entries we received.

Of all the wonderful entries we received, one really stood out to us for a number of reasons: firstly because it is so well written, and secondly because you can really get a sense of our writer's enthusiasm for the book, and reading in general.

So the prize of a Kindle Fire goes to 12-year-old Blessy, from the Kumon Lucan Study Centre who reviewed Grandpa's Great Escape, by David Walliams.

Here's an extract from Blessy's review:

"Having read most of David Walliams' previous books (I enjoyed them all) I knew I was going to like this book too. As expected I was correct and could not put the book down. I really loved the book because David Walliams has created a wonderful plot and has hooked me into the story in an engaging tale.

"I think that this book is well researched and the descriptions are amazing!

"This book takes me into a world of adventure and happiness, it seems so realistic and spectacular that I can almost feel the spitfire and see her beautifully structured body.

"It has so much emotion that at the end I can feel the terribly sad atmosphere, and as Jack has these fabulous adventures with his grandfather I also feel like I'm there running away, hiding from the nurses at Twilight Towers and the cold winter wind hitting my face as they run across the fields.

"My favourite character is Raj, he is in all the books that David Walliams has written. Raj is exceedingly kind and can make any monotonous, woe-begone [sic] day into a jovial one. Raj is not like most adults, he isn't boring and strict but good humoured and understanding.

"I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of nine due to the sensational way in which the author has tranced the reader into a spell and because there is a bit of melancholy which could make children younger than nine quite scared and worried."

Blessy's enjoyment of this book is clear and it's easy to get a sense of how absorbed she was in the story as she read it. A well deserving winner! Congratulations Blessy.