5/6M’s Read Aloud: The White Horse of Zennor and Other Stories

Over the last five weeks, both remotely (via videos posted on Google Classroom) and in class, we have been tuning in to the wondrous words of the ‘The White Horse of Zennor’.

The Giant's Necklace is a spooky tale with ghosts, where nothing is as it seems. 

The White Horse of Zennor is the story of a strange creature which is able to grant people wishes if they are kind to it. 

Gone to Sea is about a boy who has problems walking.  He is constantly ridiculed and finds it hard to fit in but with the help of an old fisherman he eventually finds happiness elsewhere. 

Milk for the Cat contains more mysterious creatures who take care of a farmer’s livestock until he dies and his son takes over.  He doesn't believe in the creatures and so breaks his agreement with them and this has bad consequences. 

Finally, Mad Miss Marney is about a girl who creates a 'zoo' of animals which she has found in the wild and a suspected witch who helps her to heal them.

Our reactions to the book:

‘The book is that it was interesting and the short stories are all connected.’ – Charli

‘A wonderful group of stories that sparks imagination.’ - Amelie

‘I thought Gone to Sea was sad because the protagonist was bullied for having a twisted foot but I’m happy that he goes to live with the seals.’ – Bobby

‘I think Gone to Sea is the best of the five short stories because it is about a kid that has a deformed foot and he goes to live with the seals, becoming one of them.’ – Callum M

‘My favourite story was Mad Miss Marney because it had an interesting storyline and it tied in with the other stories.’ – Sam

‘I think The White Horse of Zennor is a really good book because in all the stories there is a lot of mystery, you should read it.’ – Ruby

‘My favourite story was Mad Miss Marney because it was connecting all of the stories together.’ – Lachlan

‘I think The White Horse of Zennor and Other Stories is really interesting because all of the stories have the same setting.’ – Mia

‘I liked the book because it was very interesting and mysterious.’ – Zian

‘It was cool how Miss Marney could heal animals overnight.’ – Harry

‘I loved The Giant’s Necklace and Mad Miss Marney because they were funny and cool. I loved them.’ – Portia

‘I think Mad Miss Marney, the lady with magical powers to save animals, is amazing.’ – Bailey

‘My favourite part of Mad Miss Marney is when Miss Marney reads all of her stories that are the previous tales in the book.

‘I think that it was interesting. The author hooked readers to want to know what happened next. It gave me the knowledge to know that the impossible can be the possible. There is magic all around us if you want to find it. Just look at the word possible.’ – Karn

‘My favourite short story out of the book White Horse of Zennor was Gone to Sea, because of the descriptive language and characterisation.’ – Charlotte

‘I found the book very interesting and loved how in Mad Miss Marney she was the one who wrote all the short stories.’ – Aleesha

‘My favourite story was Mad Miss Marney because there were lots of interesting things and because it was entertaining.’ – Matilda

‘Mad Miss Marney: I loved this story. It was my favourite out of the five because Kate was so nice to ‘mad’ Miss Marney.’ – Paige

‘I liked Mad Miss Marney because she had healing powers, she could heal anything.’ – Callum B

‘I thought the story about Mad Miss Marney was the best. It had descriptive language, all the stages of narrative text and the characters’ personalities were really good.’ – Noah

‘I love how Michael Morpurgo has put all of these stories about Zennor into one great book.’ – Claudia

Meanwhile in Maths we have been learning about data collection, representation and interpretation. Here are our favourite short stories: