Jane Atkin
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mrsatkinreads.bsky.social
Jane Atkin
@mrsatkinreads.bsky.social
270 followers 340 following 110 posts
Retired teacher, avid reader, aspiring children’s writer, reviewer for Just Imagine, wearer of funky jewellery, leapling 🐸, knitter and lover of 80s music.
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I’m going in and it looks MAGNIFICENT!!!
April 28, 2025 at 11:38 AM
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This was wonderful and I’m sad to have finished. Set in a villa on the island in Lake Orta, Italy and took me back to my train travels last year when we visited. Rachel Joyce writes beautifully and I recommend this.
April 24, 2025 at 11:25 AM
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Going away for a fortnight and I’m packed! Think it says quite a lot about me that I start with the books first….. 📚📚📚📚
Best go sort out some clothes 🤣
A table top full of books! 13 of them to be precise. A selection of children’s and adults including Serial Killers by Jennifer Killick, Artezans by LD Lapinski, The Sirens by Emilia Hart.
March 31, 2025 at 10:06 AM
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Day 20 (and last one!) of children’s book covers. This book makes me happy; I have bought many copies as gifts to spread the love. Zippel is a testament to brilliant translating, I will always remember children calling out ‘Excrews me’ as they squeezed past each other. Funny, and so worth the read.
Cover of Zippel the Little Keyhole Ghost by Alex Rühle and illustrated by Alex Scheffler. Picture shows a little white ghost with a big smile coming out of a keyhole. A boy wearing a red and white stripy top is greeting him.
February 24, 2025 at 9:29 AM
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Day 19 of children’s book covers. Inside the Villains by Clothilde Perrin is a masterpiece of how to make a lift the flap book. It is intricate, ingenious and off the scale imaginative. On the strength of this and how much my class loved it, I built up a collection of her other books. Pure genius!
Cover of Inside the Villains by Clotilde Perrin. A wolf stands in a forest, with a tree to its right. An owl sits in the tree looking down. There is a snail and a mouse at its feet. The wolf is holding an open book showing the title of the book. It has a very large eye that peers at you over the book.
February 23, 2025 at 8:50 AM
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Day 18 of children’s book covers. Professional Crocodile is a brilliant wordless picture book. It is so clever, with an amazing attention to detail. Perfect.
Cover of Professional Crocodile. A crocodile is wearing a pair of pinstriped trousers with a hole for his tail. He has a snazzy yellow shirt with colourful dots. The trousers are held up by criss-crossed braces. He is looking in the mirror. In his reflection you can see that he is holding a necktie in each hand and is choosing which one goes best with his shirt.
February 22, 2025 at 7:59 AM
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Day 17 of children’s book covers. The Mousehole Cat by Antonia Barber and Nicola Bayley is a dreamy tale of the sea, beautifully told and illustrated. It evokes just so many memories of childhood holidays in this tiny Cornish village, and it makes me cry every time I read it!
Cover of The Mousehole Cat by Antonia Barber and Nicola Bayley. The background of the cover is of a bluey green sea looking stormy and restless. Inset is a picture of a grey bearded and curly haired fisherman in a blue jumper, wearing a cap and red and white patterned neckerchief, holding a black and white cat.
February 21, 2025 at 8:17 AM
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Day 16 of children’s book covers. Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore is a real favourite of mine. Cheeky Sid charms food out of 6 different households, until a cough and 6 visits to the vet uncover him.
🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛
Cover of Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore. A black cat sits on a wooden table top next to a pile of six different patterned food bowls.
February 20, 2025 at 7:25 AM
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Day 15 of children’s book covers. Fairy Tales by Terry Jones saw me through many an assembly. Just perfect stories with a twist and good discussion points, and beautifully illustrated by Michael Foreman.
Cover of Fairy Tales by Terry Jones, illustrated by Michael Foreman. A tiger is falling from the sky, just below him is a flying cat. On its’ back is a person wearing goggles and a flying helmet. There is a castle in the bottom right corner.
February 19, 2025 at 3:34 PM
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Day 14 of children’s book covers. Today is a blast from the past. I was given this book for school attendance and it has a fancy pants sticker inside. I loved Milly Molly Mandy!
Cover of Milly Molly Mandy by Joyce Lancaster Brisley. Pale yellow background. A girl on the left is cooking something in a frying pan. The boy to her right has a bottle (of sauce?) in his hands.
February 18, 2025 at 3:17 PM
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Day 13 of children’s book covers. Flotsam is just BEAUTIFUL - I see something new in every read through. I love David’s work and using wordless picture books with children brings out so much creativity.
Cover of Flotsam by David Wiesner. It is bright red, with an eye in the middle showing reflections of other fish and some money floating. Markings indicate scales and a mouth. There are smaller fish swimming in front of the red fish.
February 17, 2025 at 2:58 PM
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Day 12 of children’s book covers. ‘Mrs Smith’s Crocodile’. My copy is very well read and is held together with sellotape. It is a joy to read aloud- I’ve had classes chanting along with me : ‘Sweetiepie wouldn’t hurt a fly!’
Cover of Mrs Smith’s Crocodile. An old lady is sitting next to a crocodile on a sofa. She is offering him biscuits from a plate. The crocodile has it’s legs crossed and looks very relaxed.
February 16, 2025 at 4:35 PM
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Day 11 of children’s book covers. This was the last book my class read with me for @theclpe.bsky.social Reflecting Realities project. We adored it and the class were thrilled when I surprised them with an online q & a with @whatsfsaid.bsky.social. Such a powerful book🐅 @davemckean.bsky.social
Cover of Tyger by SF Said, illustrated by Dave McKean. There is one side of a tiger’s face taking up the cover (the back cover of the book gives you the other half of the face.) In the eye are star like twinkles and there is a view of St Paul’s and smoking chimneys in the orange cheek fur.
February 15, 2025 at 10:07 AM
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Day 10 of children’s book covers. I’m currently on a Valentine’s mini break by the sea in Hastings, so what better book to choose than Malamander by @thomastaylor.bsky.social ?
Think I’ve found Mrs Fossil on the beach 🌊 but Herbie is proving elusive 🍋
Cover of Malamander by Thomas Taylor. Illustration is of a crooked house and a figure leaning out of a lit window holding a harpoon. A white cat is in the foreground on a roof.
February 14, 2025 at 4:29 PM
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Day 9 of children’s book covers. I’m in awe of Nicola Skinner’s writing - Bloom was the 1st book of hers that I read and fell in love with. I read it to a Yr6 group during lockdown and we did little else but read - pure magic!
Cover of Bloom by Nicola Skinner. Teal background, a girl standing on a bit of soil with a plant starting to grow next to her. She is wearing a shirt pleated skirt and a stripy red jumper. From the top of her head flowers are growing, forming a circle around the book title.
February 13, 2025 at 9:23 AM
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Day 8 of children’s book covers. My copy of this Anthony Browne classic is battered and very well loved. His sense of humour comes through in the illustrations and children love spotting all the pigs!
Cover of Anthony Browne’s Piggybook. Background is of floral wallpaper. A mother is giving a piggyback to her husband who wears a pinstriped suit, and their two sons are on his back one after the other. They are wearing red blazers and school trousers.
February 12, 2025 at 7:14 AM
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Day 7 and children’s book covers. I’ve been a huge fan of Chris van Allsburg’s work for many years. This picture book is so clever and I love sharing it with children. Stunning artwork too.
Cover of of a picture book titled Probuditi by Chris van Allsburg. A woman on stage is performing a chicken movement - head stretched out, leg up and arms flapping.
February 11, 2025 at 2:36 PM
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Spent a few hours in one of my favourite places Chelsea Physic Garden looking for snowdrops. Just gorgeous!
February 10, 2025 at 4:36 PM
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Day 6 of children’s book covers. An extraordinary story that I loved reading aloud. The journey of Barkbelly, a wooden boy, who escapes after a dreadful accident. Haunting and beautiful, I reread it frequently.
Cover of a book titled ‘Barkbelly’ by Cat Weatherill. A circus scene is in the foreground with a caravan, an acrobat and an elephant. Behind this is a sunset with a pirate ship on the horizon and an airship in the sky.
February 10, 2025 at 8:07 AM
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Day 5 of children’s book covers. I read this to several classes, all who were entranced by the magic involved. Poor old Measle. Basil Tramplebone was a great character to bring to life with all his sibilant ssssss’s!!
Ian Ogilvy wrote me a lovely letter in response to the class letter we sent him.
Bright green cover of Measle and the Wrathmonk by Ian Ogilvy, illustrated by Chris Mould. Basil is in the top left corner looking evilly down at Measle who is dressed in rags and has a bad haircut.
February 9, 2025 at 11:38 AM
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Inspired by your knitting photo, I’ve just completed this. Think I’ll investigate other colour ways too!
February 8, 2025 at 12:34 PM
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Day 4 of children’s book covers. During my long teaching career this book accompanied me everywhere, much loved by all and replaced many times. Written by one of my most favourite human beings who has inspired many children (and myself) to write and perform poetry. @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social
Cover of Quick Let’s Get Out Of Here. Illustration by Quentin Blake. Cartoon style drawings of a father with a toddler on his shoulders, a boy drying himself on a towel, a child wearing a mask, a boy holding up a football and a boy wearing a raincape clutching a squeezy bottle.
February 8, 2025 at 8:53 AM
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Day 3 of children’s book covers. My son demanded this nightly and it became part of bedtime for months. Very fond memories.
Cover of a board book called Good Night Gorilla. A zookeeper has a lit torch, trying to find the gorilla. The gorilla is behind him, holding the key to his cage.
February 7, 2025 at 6:42 AM
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Day 2 of children’s book covers. I started my teaching career by reading this to my first few classes - a true classic.
Cover of The Phantom Tollbooth - Milo is facing a large dog with a clock for a middle called Tock.
February 6, 2025 at 3:43 PM
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Day 1 of children’s book covers. This brings back happy memories of my 2nd teaching practice at the village school of West Dean in W. Sussex.
Boy in his pyjamas standing on a lawn with trees in the background.
February 5, 2025 at 8:24 AM