Wilberfoss Primary School

Gum Girl

by Andi Watson

Published by Walker Books

Review by Mae (Year 5)

Grace Gibson, the main character, lives in the town of Catastrophe. Helped by her friend Billy she tackles super-evil, at Calamity Primary school and elsewhere.

One problem, Billy musn’t know she’s super-hero ‘Gum Girl’.

Leading two lives is a difficult buisness so her main problem is tackling them at the same time. As Grace she has to tidy her room, visit the aquarium, and do chores for her pocket money. But on the other hand, as Gum Girl she is always saving Calamity from disaster!

In the first story of the three in “The Tentacles Of Doom” she sends dust bunny rolling down the hill as he is trying to make dust and dirt prevail in Calamity Primary School. At home though she is having tidy-up trouble as her room is a total disaster. Another problem has surfaced as the school caretaker is not doing his job!

The second is just as interesting as Gum Girl has to race against time to save the town from flooding at the Mishap Dam because Octopus Prime is trying to take over Catastrophe.Gum Girl though is not going to let that happen.

In the last story Sick St. Nick gets bitten on the bum by a dog that has been holding a grudge for far too long

The pages that showed it was a fun and funny comic were pages 63 and 64, the last pages of the Sick St. Nick story.Poor Grace has beaten the baddie, but now she needs pocket-money to buy more laboratory equipment as she exploded the last set she had! So she uses her “nitro gum” to clear up a pile of pruned branches in the garden….

The very funniest bit though was her dad’s glasses that go all wonky because of the bang, but when he dashes outside nothing is there… including the branches!

As she said: “It’s no good for chewing but that Nitro Gum can sure clean garden waste!”

The only problem with Gum Girl is the way that the villains are defeated pretty much the same way each time. In the first story all Grace needed to use was her aqua-gum to make the bunny stop in mid-leap, the second story has exactly the same problem, with the gumerang making the whole system shut down. I think it would have been more exciting if it hadn’t worked and she had to get inside the getaway car with Octopus Prime! And in the third story Sick St. Nick is bitten by a dog, which seems too simple.

I would recommend this to any fan of Gum Girl and to comic lovers all over the world! Gum Girl is a great comic and perfect for younger readers.

Last half term, year 5 and year 6 had a great time on their topic: The Greeks.

Here’s a little glimpse of the great work on display in their rooms…

Today Year 5 were extremely fortunate to receive a visit from Dr Truman, the grandfather of one of our pupils, and a volunteer with Amnesty International.

Dr Truman’s work for Amnesty International involves interviewing refugees who’ve come to our country from abroad, often fleeing terrible regimes and injustice. He then reports the findings to Amnesty so that they can use these refugee accounts in their campaigns across the world.

We’d like to thank Dr Truman for his visit and his help in increasing our pupil’s awareness of their world and furthering their knowledge of voluntary work.

Year 5 & 6 are studying the Greeks this term – and yesterday they had the official launch day.

Lots of Greek activities, a Greek assembly, lots of interesting costumes, and all topped off with a Greek banquet of salad, feta, olives, houmous and much more….

Year 5 & 6 Theme Park Designer work…

…. and brilliant Year 2 Jackson Pollock style art……

Lots of fun – lots of weirdness! The Year 5 & 6 Space Project was a huge success last week!

More pics on the website.

Great, great show this year – congratulations to all those who took part!

Thanks to Mr Wragg for the photos!

Smile is a wonderful graphic novel by American author Raina Telgemeier. It tells a tale of a young girl who suffers a terrible accident, and loses her two front teeth. It’s the start of a long and painful journey of dentists, braces, surgery, headgear, all to get her smile working properly again.

But, as the boys and girls at school have found out, it’s about so much more than that. It’s one of those books that speaks so clearly to its audience, and everyone reading it finds something of their own lives in its pages; friendship issues, the trials and tribulations of growing up, new schools, and so much more.

It proved so popular in the graphic novel library that Mr Bruton had to buy a second copy, then a third, a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth! It’s the most popular graphic novel in the library, and amongst the top 5 of all loans in the library.

So, with Year 6 leaving us very soon, I thought it would be nice to say a goodbye from our library by collecting their thoughts on the book…. 

Review by Hazel (Year 6)

Smile is a really good book because it is all about a girl who has to have braces after she loses her two front teeth in a horrible accident. It is a true story and when I read it I could rally believe that everything Raina showed me was completely real.  After a while you feel like you get to know Raina and the other people in the book. I started to read Smile and I just couldn’t put it down.

Review by Holly (Year 5)

Smile is a lovely, and true story of Raina’s life, after she loses her two front teeth in an accident. You follow her on a really frustrating (for her) journey with so many different dentist visits, braces, weird headgear, elastics, even a retainer with fake teeth attached! I so loved this book that I couldn’t put it down! It’s amazing!

Review by Lucy (Year 6)

I liked Smile because it shows the reader that life can be full of challenges and difficulties, and my absolute favourite thing about it is that it’s all true, all of these horrible, painful things really happened to Raina. My favourite character is Raina, not just because she’s really brave about her teeth, but because she stands up to her mean friends in High School and finds some better ones. I think Smile gives out a message that tells girls around the world to make a stand and stand up to those who are mean to you, and never be afraid to move on!

Review by Mia (Year 6)

Smile is one of my favourite books! I thought it had a really good story and I liked the illustrations inside. I couldn’t stop reading it when I had started.

Review by Emily (Year 6)

I like the way that Smile is a true story about a problem that many children have to face at some point. I also found it a bit shocking and sad when I read about the accident and what Raina had to go through afterwards. It raises awareness of the problems you can go through if you have to wear braces.

Review by Rosie (Year 6)

Smile is a really good book because the pictures are really clear and detailed. I especially loved it when her friends gave Raina a deliberately horrible makeover! Smile is one of those books you have to read again and again. I have checked out Smile from the school library several times and it is definitely one of my top 3 books. I positively, definitely think Smile should be published in Britain.

Review by Maisie (Year 5)

I really enjoyed the book Smile because it was really good to read, and I was really shocked and upset for Raina when I saw her fall over and knock her teeth out! Ouch!.

Review by Lily (Year 5)

Raina just wants to be a normal girl, but one day after a Girl Scout camping trip, she has a horrible accident that makes her front two teeth come out. The scene where this happens is really exciting and scary, and pretty horrible. I certainly wouldn’t like it to happen to me! She has to have a lot of different braces, with all kinds of attachments, and wires, and bands – and I felt really sorry for her. I loved Smile and thought it was really good and dealt with some common problems in a very thoughtful way.

Review by Nick (Year 5)

It is a very good book and one of the best I’ve read so far. I like it because it’s funny, and it’s interesting to read about all of the problems caused by Raina’s one small trip.

Review by Eady (Year 5)

I really enjoyed Smile because it was funny, and I found myself gigglng many times all the way through reading it. The pictures really stand out and tell Raina’s story really well. I think this is the best book I’ve ever read. My favourite bit is when Raina gets her ears pierced shortly after she gets her first lot of braces. Her mom’s not sure, but Raina convinces her saying that she “didn’t really want the braces… but I want earrings”. It’s great seeing her grow up in the pages of the book, all the way to being a teen and going to High School, she even falls in love for a while!

Review by Kade (Year 5)

I think Smile was a dramatic and thrilling story – they even had an earthquake in it! I think it is a funny story and I’d recommend it to other people to read.

Review by Natalie (Year 5)

I really liked this book because it was funny, sad, and it had a really happy ending. I thought that the pictures have great detail and the book really stands out. As soon as I looked at the front cover I knew it was going to be good. The title is perfect for the book, as we get to see Raina having serious teeth problems all the way through, but at the very end, she feels comfortable with her smile again.

Review by Charlotte (Year 5)

I absolutely love graphic novels, but I’d say Smile is probably one of the best books I have ever read, not just the best graphic novel. It’s very funny all the way through, and my favourite part was the time when her mean friends pulled Raina’s skirt down – very embarrassing, very cruel, but also very funny. But it was all part of the main reason that I enjoyed Smile – the way Raina fights on through all her troubles, and shows us that as long as you believe in yourself and do the right thing you’ll succeed.

Review by Ailie (Year 4)

I think Smile is a very good book. I had it on loan from the library for a long time – but I did read it TWELVE times!! Yes, it’s that good! My favourite part is when Raina makes a new group of friends and has a lot of fun. I felt really sorry for Raina for having to cope with all that treatment for her teeth. It’s the best book I’ve read.

Review by James (Year 6)

Smile is a great graphic novel written by, and starring Raina Telgemeier, who tells us the true story of the time she was racing back to her house (when returning from girl scouts) but falls and knocks her two front teeth out. This is a really enjoyable book that contains lots of mouth surgery, lots of painful dental experiences, and a lot of smiling!

Yes, I think you can say that they all like it! Thanks to everyone for their reviews, especially Year 6! Good luck in your new schools.

And parents, if you do want to treat them to something – you’ll be able to get Smile at any good bookstore, provided they can get books from the US. Because sadly Scholastic UK have decided that books like Smile, Jeff Smith’s Bome, Amulet, and many other great Scholastic US graphic novels with huge popularity in America, aren’t going to be popular enough over in the UK. Hopefully, the glowing reviews of Smile say otherwise.

Raina Telgemier’s second graphic novel is called Drama and will be released in September.

Rumpelstiltskin

From the story by The Broithers Grimm, retold by Susanna Davidson, illustrated by Desideria Guicciardini

Review by Amy, Year 5

The tale of Rumpelstiltskin is a very old story that was first written in 1812 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm who lived in Germany.

The story is about a miller and his daughter Anna, who had to go to the King’s castle to turn straw into gold. If she turned all the straw into gold, the King would marry Anna and she would become Queen.

Anna couldn’t spin the straw into gold, and as she is sat crying a little man appears at the window. He agrees to help her, but in return Anna is made to promise that she will give the man her first-born child.

Anna and the King live happily until the birth of their first son. Suddenly, the little man reappears to take the baby…

I like this book because it is a magical story and I like magic. My favourite character was Rumpelstiltskin because I like his clothes and his name.

Dennis The Menace – A Monster Menace

Written by Rachel Elliot

Review by Ben, Year 5

For any of you that don’t know, Dennis The Menace is a famous comic character from The Beano comic. He wears his famous red and black top and causes trouble and chaos wherever he goes, usually with his menacing dog Gnasher!

The Monster Menace is a book with three Dennis The Menace short stories inside. They were all great, but my favourite was “School Trip“.

Dennis is going on a school trip with his class. The day before the trip Dennis hid his catapult in the hedge so when his mum searched him he won’t have a catapult or anything bad.

The school bus had arrived at Dennis’s house and his mum searched Dennis just to be sure he did not have his catapult. When Dennis got outside he ran to the bush and got his catapult and then got on the school bus. What a Menace!

Dennis had already caused trouble on the bus. Finally the class got to Beanotown museum. The first place the class went to was the dinosaur hall but then the curator took the class to the fossil exhibit but Dennis and his friends were very sneaky and ran back to the dinosaur hall and Dennis and caused more and more trouble.

The curator came running in to see what happened. Everyone went MENTAL! The curator went green so Dennis’s teacher suggested they got something to eat, after which they carried on their trip with the Egyptian exhibition.

As the Curator was speaking about the history of Egypt, Dennis, Pieface and Curly ran away from the group again and went into the model pyramid and CAUSED TROUBLE!

What I liked about the book is it was really really interesting and it had a very good pictures. This book was very funny and exciting, my favourite part was when Dennis got in the mummy costume and scared the class!!