Welcome to The Reading Cafe - the podcast from Holy Cross High School that aims to get people talking about reading!

The inaugural Reading Cafe LIVE audience event featured an interview with Ann Marie Di Mambro, writer of the popular National 5 English set text, Tally’s Blood.

During this excellent interview, Ann Marie was in conversation with two of our outstanding S5 Reading Leaders, Elsa and Grace. Our audience of National 5 English pupils had the unique chance to hear the writer’s responses to questions about the characters, setting and themes of Tally’s Blood in preparation for the exam in May.

They also enjoyed live scenes from the play performed by National 5 Drama pupils, Caroline and Martha, and Higher Drama students, Maria and David. After each scene, Ann Marie provides answers to an 8-mark style commonality question, focused on theme/relationships.

This is an invaluable resource for all pupils who are studying Tally’s Blood for their National 5 English exam, so make sure you take lots of notes as you listen!

Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Intro/Welcome to The Reading Cafe

00:04:37 - Ann Marie Di Mambro bio/Interview part 1 (setting/Rosinella/relationships)

00:14:38 - Act 1, Scene 11 and 8-mark discussion: theme of love

00:19:15 - Interview part 2 (setting/character/theme of identity/conflict)

00:23:49 - Act 2, Scene 8 and 8-mark discussion: relationship between Massimo and Rosinella

00:28:52 - National 5 Q & A: 1) Rosinella’s childlessness 2) Key scene: Italian experience 3) Theme of loss

00:34:21 - Final questions: If you could change one thing.../favourite character

00:39:24 - Thanks and closing remarks

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Welcome back to The Reading Cafe!

Elle McNicoll is an award-winning author and screenwriter whose debut novel, A Kind of Spark, won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Blackwells Book of 2020 and the Blue Peter Book Award. The novel was recently adapted into a fantastic CBBC show. She also established The Adrian Prize - an award for novels which feature disabled characters.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:  • Working as a professional author  • Learning to come up with creative ideas  • Elle’s experience of writing for television

This special transition episode also features P7 pupils from Holy Cross associated primaries, St Paul’s and St Mary’s, as well as guests from Support for Learning, James McManus and Aimee Gibson.

To learn more about Elle McNicoll, visit: https://www.ellemcnicoll.com/

You wouldn’t want to miss any episodes of The Reading Cafe, so be sure to subscribe! Please leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts and… keep reading!

Welcome back to The Reading Cafe for a new season of awesome author interviews and riveting reading recommendations!

Matt Oldfield is a hugely popular author of non-fiction (Ultimate Football Heroes, Unbelievable Football) and fiction (Johnny Ball: Football Genius) books about... you guessed it, football!

His books fly off the library shelves and bring the lives of soccer stars into focus for young fans with interesting details of their journeys from "playground to pitch".

Listen to this superb interview to hear about Matt's "training routine" for writing, his approach to research and lots more, including his thoughts on the rise of women's football and the unsung heroes he'd love to see make their way into the Ultimate Football Heroes series. You'll also hear a reading from Matt and some half-time wisdom from two of our teachers from the Holy Cross High School PE team.

We have lots of amazing content coming up on this season of The Reading Cafe, so be sure to subscribe and please leave a 5 star review on the podcast platform of your choice!

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