Phoenix

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Look at the night sky on a clear night. Can you see any star constellations? Is the sky clear enough? Are any planets visible? Can you find out what they are? Here is a link which might be useful and this one too . See the links below to find out more about stars and galaxies. Write a poem I write the stories that I most want to read myself! All writers are really just readers who take one more step, and write the stories they want to read. You can do this too - all writers are readers, and all readers can be writers. I wrote a bit about this in this blog post. Phoenix is an epic story about a human boy who has the power of a star, and an alien girl who is the most brilliant warrior in the galaxy. Together, they have to find a way to save the galaxy from the war that's destroying it: the war between humans and aliens.

S. F. Said has published three novels for children thus far. Varjak Paw tells the story of a Mesopotamian Blue cat called Varjak who leaves his sheltered upbringing to explore the city and learn the "Seven Skills of the Way", taught to him in dreams by his ancestor Jalal. In his dreams, Varjak finds himself transported from his gritty urban surroundings to the deserts, rivers and mountains of Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq). With the Skills, he is able to fight the Gentleman. Varjak was staged as a play by Playbox Theatre, [8] and was performed as an opera by The Opera Group in 2008. [9] Said wrote 17 drafts of the book. [6] Thank you so much for the link to the blog. Extremely helpful and really helped me with something new I've been working on. It is called The Realm. Here is a brief blurb: While I wouldn't say there was a much of a "twist" in the story, the ending was unexpected. I appreciated the ending, though I still have slightly mixed feelings. We understand you are very busy, however we would like to ask you some questions about Phoenix (if you have the time to respond). I have always loved your books. My all time favourite is Phoenix because every sentence I read intruiges me and makes me want to read on and on forever. Both Varjak Paw books were just as spectacular because when something bad happened,it just made me petrified because of your fantastic use of empathy. Will there be any more Varjak books? If so,what would it be about? Although a second Phoenix book would be awesome,I think just the one is amazing. However,Varjak Paw could have more because at the end,it seems like there should be another;Phoenix might not need that. Also,I heard about a book TYGER. I sounds like it will be your best book yet,once it is completed. If your MILLIONS of fans and me read it,we will probably admire you and your work even more. I bet it definitely will be the best book ever! Thanks again for writing them. They are all super books and I admire all of them and I will continue to love them forever,especially Phoenix. Well done.

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The Guardian young critics competition is for all young readers to share their views on any of the longlisted books. Anyone aged 17 or under can enter by writing a review of no more than 200 words of one of the books longlisted for the prize. Individuals or school classes can enter and there are great prizes to be won including all the longlisted books. You can find out more and enter the competition here. O'Connell, Alex. "The Book of Hopes, edited by Katherine Rundell review — dip into these joyous gobbets". The Times . Retrieved 22 January 2021. The Guardian children's fiction prize longlist 2014 – in pictures". The Guardian. 28 June 2014. Retrieved 2015-01-21. And if want to know more about why it took me 7 years to write - here's something I wrote for kids about the writing process - it contains a comparison of an early draft of Phoenix with the final draft. I hope your students (and you!) will find it interesting. For other authors, one of my all-time favourites is Ursula Le Guin, who recently passed away. I think her Earthsea books are the among the greatest children's books of all time. She wrote some incredible books for adults too! She was definitely a big influence on Phoenix, and on me in general - I wrote an article about her inspiration that you can read here:

As for the leaders of the two races, they were dismissed most of the story, and when at last appeared they were portrayed as kids with unreasonable impulses. I was very impressed by the shadow guards, only to be disappointed later on as they played a passive role in the plot. Furthermore, The romance between the two main characters felt forced and rushed. Questions like that have stayed with me, my whole life long. And the more we've learned about the science of the universe, the more amazing it seems. I wanted to get all that into a book, so Phoenix is a book full of stars; it really does contain a whole galaxy. As for drafts - every writer is different. Some need more than others. But all of us do more than one. All you can do is keep working on it until it's the very best you can possibly make it; until it's exactly what you would most want to read yourself. And I think it will be worth it, because you have some brilliant ideas. The books I loved when I was young inspired me to write my own books. I loved them so much, I wanted to write something that was even half as good one day. All authors are really just readers who take one more step, and write the stories they want to read. You can do this too - and you can do it at any age! Just write the stories you want to read yourself, and make them as good as you'd want those stories to be. Pauli, Michelle (3 December 2003). "Debut wins Smarties gold medal". The Guardian . Retrieved 8 June 2021.At the moment we are writing speeches from the Paw family members about why they should stay in the Contessa’s house and why they should leave. Most people in my class think that they should leave, the other ones think that they should stay because the Contessa might not have died. By the way, every word I wrote is what I truly think, none of it unreal, but maybe with some exaggerated examples… To answer your question - has she read "Varjak Paw and The Outlaw Varjak Paw yet? They might sound very different to Phoenix - cats and dogs, rather than humans and aliens - but they come from the same place!

We even used it in Maths when we counted the most commonly occurring letters, length of words and sentences to create bar charts and different kinds of data (Cameron) Not only does it break new territory – epic space adventures are, after all, not in abundance on the children’s shelf – but it is layered with depth and meaning right from the get go. A touching, meaningful story for children and adults alike" – Interzone We played a game found in Mesopotamia called the Royal Game of Ur – the oldest board game in the world (Pia) – and wrote instructions on how to play it (Caitlin). If your best book is yet to come, could you please tell us about it? We'd love to hear more about it, even several sentences about where you are, and how long you think it might still take would please me, and your fans enormously!Thank you for saying that Tyger sounds great and that you'd like to read it - that means a lot! I honestly don't know when it will be ready to publish, but my agent wants to see something this summer, so hopefully it won't be too much longer. And yes, William Blake's Tyger poem is one of the inspirations. I can't say too much about it, but I did write a blog post about Blake which might have a couple of hints - this is the link if you want to read it.

O’Connell, Alex (24 September 2022). "Tyger by SF Said review — a magical tiger goes on the run in dystopian London". The New York Times . Retrieved 21 March 2023. Thank you so much for your wonderful message, and for working with Phoenix! It's brilliant to hear that they're enjoying it so much. Additionally, Said has judged a number of major U.K. book prizes, including the Costa Book Awards, the Guardian Children Fiction Prize, the inaugural Amnesty/ CILIP Honour, [16] and the BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award. [17] Books [ edit ]To Barry - thank you so much for that amazing comment, and please thank Mili for me too! Phoenix took 7 years to write, but things like that make all the hard work worthwhile! It is so very definitely something; a text that dances with shadow and light and illustrations that pull and tease the words until something strange and alchemical happens to them. So, when I was little, my parents read to me a huge amount - which lead to me wanting to read myself. I also had a massive fascination with cats (I still kinda do) which meant I read pretty much anything with a cat on the cover.