chesilbeach Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Has he got any clothes he's a bit too big for, or that are a bit threadbare? Using gold paper or card, make a golden ticket, stick it in a bar of chocolate for him to carry, and he'd look just like Charlie Bucket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Charlie's family are poor, so his clothes would look either too small or just worn out. If you google images of "charlie and the chocolate factory golden ticket" you'll get some ideas of what to make the ticket look like. Not much dressing up required, it's all in the prop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Claire's idea is great. I can't think of anything else so simple and pretty normal for someone unkeen on dressing up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I'd have to agree, I can't think of anything else that'd be more suitable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Charlie is a good one, and easily sorted. If not, there is always the ordinary (jeans and jumper) clothes of Danny ( of Danny, The Champion Of The World). Combine that with a cone of paper (from the sticky cone method of pheasant poaching) or a red mark across his hand (from the caning received from his sadistic teacher). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 Thanks ladies, I love your ideas!! Unfortunately, Robbie has been on Amazon and seen the Oompa Loopa and BFG costumes!!! Hmm, strange for the boy who doesn't like dressing up I say... what does he say? Maybe I'm changing as i get older Mum!! Will take everything under advisement, luckily we have till the 26th!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 If he's decided to dress up and you can afford a costume then maybe it would be good to encourage him to dress up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 I'm hoping to find some middle ground, face paints not really an option after past experiences so Oompa Loompa probably out.. Trying to persuade him that Fantastic Mr Fox would be a good (and easy!) one. His favourite seems to be the BFG though, he's tall for his age but not that tall! Big ears could be the way forward! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 Well, thankfully the urge to dress up too much has waned and he has also read what he believes to be his favourite Dahl book, George's Marvellous Medicine, so he has decided to go as George! I have had to order a red jumper but other than that he just needs jeans. His piece de resistance will be his 'bottle of marvellous medicine', he just needs to decide what is going to go into it.. I dread to think!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 As long as he doesn't go around dosing people up .. should be fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 As long as he doesn't go around dosing people up .. should be fine I'm thinking, I may need to seal the bottle somehow.. there are boys in that class that might do anything for a dare!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I'm thinking, I may need to seal the bottle somehow.. there are boys in that class that might do anything for a dare!!! Yes .. boys + bottle of concoction x temptation = catastrophe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 Yes .. boys + bottle of concoction x temptation = catastrophe! Must remember the Red Bull....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Oh my goodness Yes, you must 'seal the deal', so to speak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 (edited) I haven't been here for a while as sadly I am reading very little. My mojo is ok, not amazing but ok.. I am just so busy and a little distracted with other things. My eldest is studying for his GCSE's which are only a little over a month away so I am having to keep a close eye on him as his middle name is procrastination.. Actually, it's David but it may as well have been! My daughter is taking 2 GCSE's this year, one of them a 1 year Spanish one and she is finding this very challenging so I am keeping an eye on her too.. My youngest, Mr Sporty, is busy with the end of the football season and the start of the competitive athletics season, so we have football tournaments and athletic competitions most weekends for the next couple of months, another eye there (can anyone send me a spare eye please?! ) Add on to that Jojo's training sessions, now three times a week plus practising in the garden.. She's coming on so well, I am very pleased with her. My Facebook friends will have seen she got a 2nd place in her first competition which was brilliant and has instilled a new confidence in me which means we are improving so much quicker, so much so I have booked 2 more shows for May!! Book wise I am only just about to start my 11th book of the year, Goodreads tells me I am two books behind my target for 2015 but I shall just ignore that for now and hope I catch up at some point.. The important thing is that I have enjoyed most of the books I have read this year. The highlights though have been Mrs Sinclair's Suitcase by Louise Walters, a very sweet book about a shy bookish girl set partly in a book shop, ever so slightly quirky but not so much that it put me off (I'm not great with too quirky!) Set in two time frames the story brought the two together beautifully at the end. Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier was of course a great read, I don't know why I waited so long to read another Du Maurier, it's two years since I read Rebecca and Jamaica Inn evoked that same sense of place and mood that Rebecca did.. I'm not keen on scary books as a rule but her writing is both thrilling and terrifying in equal measure.. Her description of Mary Yellan on the stairwell listening to her uncle and not knowing whether she would be heard was terrifying yet tremendously exciting, I kept having to huddle under a throw to read as the descriptions of the wild, windy and damp moors made me feel so chilled! I have not long finished Academy Street by Mary Costello, a book that was brought to my attention when it was shortlisted in the Costa book awards 2014, in the first novel category.. Elizabeth is Missing won the category but I preferred the story of Academy Street, and of A Song for Issy Bradley, which is sitting expectantly in my Book Box, begging to be chosen! Academy Street was a gentle read, yet ferocious in its emotions, the story is almost completely about Tess, starting with the day when she is 8 and her Mother is buried. Then comes the story of her quiet life, her relationships with her Father and siblings, following her as she moves to New York, sees little of her family, meets an attractive man who then disappears, leaving her pregnant and alone.. It explores her strength and determination, her love for her son and her friendship with Willa, a neighbour who gives Tess the strength and support to carry on despite their cultural differences. The book is sad in parts but rarely depressing and thoroughly explores the life of just one Irish ex pat, living a life so far removed from the one she has left behind. Very highly recommended if you like a character driven story, not totally devoid of plot but certainly not plot driven.. And at only 179 pages it will not take a lot of your time. I'm now about to start The Moon Field By Judith Allnatt.. this is the Goodreads description of the book.. It is 1914. George Farrell cycles through the tranquil Cumberland fells to deliver a letter, unaware that it will change his life. George has fallen for the beautiful daughter at the Manor House, Miss Violet, but when she lets slip the contents of the letter George is heartbroken to discover that she is already promised to another man. George escapes his heartbreak by joining the patriotic rush to war, but his past is not so easily avoided. His rite of passage into adulthood leaves him beliveing that no woman will be able to love the man he has become. Edited April 3, 2015 by chaliepud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 Good luck to all your children, and way to go Jojo ! I'm glad you read some nice books . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 Someone I follow on Twitter who reads a lot, has recently read Academy Street and she loved it. I'm not usually a fan of character driven books, but having just read one which was 404 pages long that I found completely engaging, 179 pages sounds manageable, so I might try it as you've both recommended it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted April 8, 2015 Author Share Posted April 8, 2015 Good luck to all your children, and way to go Jojo ! I'm glad you read some nice books . Thanks Gaia. Someone I follow on Twitter who reads a lot, has recently read Academy Street and she loved it. I'm not usually a fan of character driven books, but having just read one which was 404 pages long that I found completely engaging, 179 pages sounds manageable, so I might try it as you've both recommended it. I'm a big fan of character driven books as I find these books are so much more descriptive, I have to be in the mood though. It is a short book but I didn't feel short changed which can happen with shorter books occasionally. I'm currently reading Half Wild by Sally Green and at the moment I'm finding it better than Half Bad, it's less stilited and the story is hurtling along and taken a few twists I wasn't expecting!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 I'm currently reading Half Wild by Sally Green and at the moment I'm finding it better than Half Bad, it's less stilited and the story is hurtling along and taken a few twists I wasn't expecting!! Oooh that's brilliant to hear, because I loved a lot about Half Bad but it was definitely flawed, and one of those flaws was pacing. And yay twists, I love twists! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 I'm currently reading Half Wild by Sally Green and at the moment I'm finding it better than Half Bad, it's less stilited and the story is hurtling along and taken a few twists I wasn't expecting!! Good to know! Just moved it up my wish list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 Good to know! Just moved it up my wish list I literally finished it a few minutes ago.. A brilliant read I thought, finished on such a cliffhanger too!! I wonder how long it will be until book three is ready? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Definitely going on the holiday reading list then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 Definitely going on the holiday reading list then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted May 13, 2015 Author Share Posted May 13, 2015 Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo Goodreads synopsis...This was no ordinary war. This was a war to make the world safe for democracy. And if democracy was made safe, then nothing else mattered--not the millions of dead bodies, nor the thousands of ruined lives...This is no ordinary novel. This is a novel that never takes the easy way out: it is shocking, violent, terrifying, horrible, uncompromising, brutal, remorseless and gruesome...but so is war. I'm not sure I have ever read a more powerful book. I was sceptical that a book, written purely from the perspective of a man completely damaged and destroyed by war, beyond anything a person could ever imagine, could hold my interest and not become dry and repetitive. It was anything but, it explored the inner workings of a mind, and only that.. What if there was nothing else, what would you think about, how would you spend your time, or even know time, stop yourself from going mad? Dalton Trumbo is a master writer, EVERYONE should read this, but most of all, our politicians, our leaders, our future leaders should read this as I truly don't believe there can be any better anti war message than this book. It was by turns emotional, sad, inspirational, horrifying, and sometimes it made me just so cross at the injustice of life and so so angry at the people who decide we should fight wars that do not concern us. Why do we (and by we I mean our esteemed leaders) never learn??!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 (edited) I haven't been here for a while as sadly I am reading very little. My mojo is ok, not amazing but ok.. I am just so busy and a little distracted with other things. My eldest is studying for his GCSE's which are only a little over a month away so I am having to keep a close eye on him as his middle name is procrastination.. Actually, it's David but it may as well have been! Determinedly Avoiding Vital Informative Deadlines? Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo I shall check if they have copies of this at the library! I was going to do it the other day when we talked about war novels but I think I forgot Edit: They do, at least a Finnish copy! I didn't know the book was so old, for some reason I thought it might be a new novel. Edited May 15, 2015 by frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted May 16, 2015 Author Share Posted May 16, 2015 Haha! That sounds just about right! This last fortnight though he has been seriously studying and has now done 5 exams, just another 12 to go I think. Glad to hear you can get JGHG, I hope the translation is good. One thing that was good about the copy I read was that it has not been re-edited since it's original writing. The punctuation leaves a lot to be desired which adds to its charm, it is written as he thinks, with sentences sometimes rolling into the next, I wonder if that may be lost in translation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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