When i was teaching young people who, although intelligent, able and very literate, had no interest in reading, I searched around for material and resources to try and win them back to what was not only very useful for them in terms of the exams they had to pass, but their future needs and requirements… I also wanted to re-engage them with the pleasure and love of reading I had. What joy, excitement and interest can be gained from reading… I wanted my students to share this!
I found it very difficult to find fiction which engaged reluctant readers, those who could read, but were not interested in doing so … I wrote my own.
My fist tow stories for reluctant readers were ‘Run, Blue, Run!’ about a boy who was pursued through a murky and dangerous city by three men in black. The second was ‘Screaming King Harry’ about a girl who witnessed a suspicious transaction in the back yard of her parents pub, and then seemed to be in danger.
MY third story was very different it was a guide to writing through the medium of a story. The first chapter was a conventional story, maybe aimed at slightly younger readers… a young lad was biking through a wood watched by a sinister creature, half man, half wolf…. then his grandmother disappears. The story is told through different voices… the story-teller, the journalist, a myth, a play, a radio broadcast, a conventional third narrative as a guide to writing, as well as to reading.
THE STORY OF RUFUS REDMAYNE
Chapter 1
Rufus Redmayne was a strange boy. He had few friends but those he had were good and loyal. He was always happy in his own company and never tried to make friends for the sake of it. He had a loving family and he was particularly close to his grandmother.
Rufus’s grandmother was Ruby Redmayne and she too had a solitary nature and lived alone and happily in a cottage in the middle of Camel Wood.
It became routine for Rufus to visit Ruby on a Sunday morning. He was never one to lie in and sometimes, in the summer, in the hot days of July and August, he would be out on his bike and racing through Camel Wood as early as five while all the world seemed to be asleep.
In Camel Wood there are many eyes belonging to many creatures. However early Rufus rode among the trees, taking the woodland paths, there would be eyes upon him. He always saw the birds, busy finding food for young families, and often there were squirrels in the branches or on the ground. Occasionally a late fox slunk across his path, and a couple of times he glimpsed the shadowy form of a deer.
And there were times when Rufus felt other eyes upon him and wondered if there was a traveller or wildman hiding in the undergrowth. He never saw Wulf Lupus, standing as still as a stag in the shadow of a smooth-barked tree.
Rufus’s mother, Maria, sometimes felt anxious at the thought of her son alone in the wood and would telephone Ruby during the morning to check he had arrived safely.
“You will be careful, Rufus,” Maria said
“Of course, mum,” he replied.
“There are strange people out and about in the woods,” she went on, trying not to sound too anxious.
“Well, I’ve never seen any,” Rufus said.
“A lot of strange things have happened in Camel Wood,” Maria went on.
“Such as? What strange things?”
“People going missing, children getting lost.”
“Don’t worry about me, Mum, I’ll be fine.”
Lois Elsden 