Rosie Watch - LoveReading4Kids Editorial Expert

About Rosie Watch

Rosie Watch has taken her childhood passion for literature from classrooms in Cusco to Chelsea. With over 30 years of teaching experience and hundreds of books later, Rosie is still as eager as ever to get her hands on her next tome. Alongside a career in education, Rosie has also raised three boys and is well accustomed to separating the literary wheat from the chaff.

While running various English departments in schools across the country, Rosie has also had the chance to meet and run workshops with many children’s authors and poets including Nigel Hinton, Roger McGough and Michael Morpurgo. A firm believer in the importance of a willingness to look beyond what we already know and embrace change, Rosie has, in her teaching, maintained that elusive balance between the sharing of best practice and having a few lesser known ‘secrets’ up her sleeve in order to keep both children and her fellow teachers engaged.

Latest Reviews By Rosie Watch

What a great book, obviously the start of a fun series. The two main characters, children called Agatha and Christie; one inquisitive and practical, the other quiet and academic, but with the closeness and affinity of twins. The story revolves around a tea party where penicillin (mould juice) is hidden in a sandwich as an experiment, but who is it that takes the sandwich? As the plot unfolds, various interesting characters are introduced, such as Arthur Conon Doyle, the famous writer, and Alexander Fleming the famous scientist. The book is a very clever mixture of fact and fantasy with all ... View Full Review

This is the first story in a series about two children, Ellie and Blake, who can speak to and understand animals due to a magical telephone they find in the empty rooms of a house that the two families have just moved into. This first book introduces the characters, both animal and human, and the adventure starts. The book is written in chapters and is very visual. It is quite a fast-paced story, with Ellie and her mum’s circumstances described in just a couple of paragraphs. The divorce, the change of town and employment all take second place ... View Full Review

What a super introduction to Shakespeare and his play The Tempest. The story tells of a group of school children who are on a ferry to perform the play in a festival in Italy. If you know the Tempest, you can probably guess that their ferry capsizes, and the group are shipwrecked. The drama then unfolds! Half of the actors wash up on the beach, the other half and their teacher, Mr Fortune (or not so fortunate) are missing. The characters identities are set out in the first chapter, where the reader is introduced to the confident bossy leader, the ... View Full Review

This is a lovely retelling of a famous myth. It tells the story of Icarus and his father who are prisoners on the island of Crete. Although it is set in Ancient Greece, the relationship and obvious love of the father and son shine through in quite a modern way. Both characters have their frustrations over their plight, yet they are both sensitive to the feelings of the other. It is a good adventure story where the two characters deal with setbacks in their quest for freedom – their attempts at boat building and their construction of the birds’ ... View Full Review

Having read The Tempest as a pupil and taught it to KS2 pupils, I wish we had had this as an introduction. It is beautifully retold, with just the right amount of traditional language to make the young reader feel they are truly tackling Shakespeare. From the very beginning, the writing is atmospheric and descriptive. Ariel immediately gets the reader drawn in, filling them in on the plot so far and making them part of the evolving story. The characters are richly described, and the complex plots carefully explained. There are so many elements to this story, the love story ... View Full Review

This is a modern twist on a lesser-known Irish folktale. A story of realised dreams and the perseverance of one little Shepherd boy. It tells the story of Setanta who wants to be a Red Branch Knight. The young warriors are great hurlers and Setanta knows his skills are every bit as good as theirs. The early chapters are set in the home with Setanta’s parents, where his dreams are not recognised. His mother thinks they are too poor and lowly for their son to be recognised by the King and his Knights, and when Setanta wants to ... View Full Review

Using clever barks and actions, the two dogs are able to help their owner Constable Penrose solve a burglary, using cunning and ingenuity. The book is amusingly illustrated by Nathan Reed. The characters are all rather typecast but in an amusing way; the dim sergeant, the burglars, Bernie and Sam, and Mrs Pudding the baker. There is lots of humour throughout and a great use of alliteration and rhyme – Inspector Hector and dodging dirty dustbins, being two examples. I love how this story, even though it is written for young emerging readers, is set out in chapters. Such a ... View Full Review

What a lovely and beautifully written book. This is the story of a little boy called Hari who lives with his parents and sister on Bamba Beach in Goa. He is an intelligent boy with a big heart and a mature understanding of the world. From the first few pages the images are full and lively, and you are drawn into life in the village. There is beautiful detail in the setting. The author describes not just fish in the sea and the evening’s insects, but all their names and habits. In amongst all this description are some ... View Full Review

Two stories in one. The first about a little boy called Sam who loses increasingly valuable things into a pit, from a tin to his father and the second story about a disastrous attempt by a father to make popcorn for his son Tim. I loved the fact that both stories had a surprising ending. A lot of stories for young children have happy predictable endings, but here in the first story, the problem isn’t resolved, and in the second, there is a very amusing twist. I think this makes the stories more engaging and offers more to ... View Full Review

A set of 6 vocabulary workbooks to support home learning. This is quite a challenging task, but a much needed resource in the current times. Each book is geared to an age range from years 1 to 6 covering all classes in KS1&2 age range. The books cover the vocabulary expected within the National Curriculum, including words used in history, science and geography topics. The books are colourful and beautifully put together with imaginative and detailed graphics, making them appealing to children. There are some super creative ideas within the worksheets, with many fun exercises and act as a good first step ... View Full Review