Great Expectations.

Create your own story based on that title. Will you make an ending where your expectations are fulfilled? Or will you have an ending to your story which are really about Great Disappointments?

!.;:''(...)?

Think about the usefulness and elegance of punctuation.

Then consider the fate of the interrobang.

This week we're looking at autobiographies. What lines would grip your attention and make you want to find out more about the writer's life?

I was born on 15th July 1945.

I hit him, full in the face. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't stop myself. That was my first, and last, day at school.

My grandmother was an assassin. Not a very good one, which might explain a few things.

Compose your own first lines, drawing on experiences you've had, which would make a reader want to read on.

I can't find what I want.

I want a simple online book group with discussion forum for children aged 11-16, where we can get together to discuss books we read in common.

If one doesn't exist, or there are none recommended to me that are useful, I'm setting one up.

I don't want it tied to a publisher. I don't want it on Facebook. I don't want it promoting National Curriculum attainment targets. I don't want it aimed at parents. I don't want it to be patronising. I don't want the interface gadget-driven, noisy, or filled with pointless buttons. And I don't want ads.

Is there anything already out there, before I re-invent the wheel?

What makes you laugh? Your job this week is to talk about comedy.

(And I did say you had to know the Muppets. Here's the Swedish chef, Rowlf the dog, and Beaker, who is routinely electrocuted.)

Think of a moment when you were day dreaming, dozing, or falling in and out of sleep.

Did you 'lose yourself' for a time? Could you explain what the feeling was like, or say what you were thinking during that 'lost moment'?

Could you transform your memory into a poem? Here's one we read this week.

I dreamt; and in my dream
I was a butterfly.
I woke, or is it simply
That, weary of the sky,
Some butterfly is sleeping
And dreams that it is I?

- Chuang Chou

Look at a copy of the South China Morning Post. How does a print newspaper try and get your attention? What visual techniques does it use?

Let's explore the British Library site, to see what has changed and what has stayed the same in terms of newspaper design. The site provides many free pages, and there are examples of newspapers from the 1800s on. Try a search on the words Hong Kong.

Tell me a story. I miss the pleasure of hearing a story teller and seeing that craft in action. Not only the story then, but hearing an expressive voice, listening for the pauses, watching the smiles and seeing the eyes.

I can find stories told on Youtube. Do you like this one? (Visually? The devils are scary!) If you enjoyed it, listen to some of the others.

And then be story tellers this week.

We've read several times now in China that a person's expressiveness with a brush and ink - and their skills in calligraphy - is somehow linked to their character.

You can come across a similar idea - graphology - the notion that you can see a personality come through handwriting.

What about you? Write a sentence in your 'normal' handwriting, then write it in a different style, maybe with sharper letters, or more rounded letters. Is it easy to change your writing style?

You can work out some meanings for yourself of your sticky bits, loops, sizes, spaces, and dots on your i's with this list of examples.

Fun, and I don't believe any of it. After you've tried it, what do you think?

Library week. Tell me what new books you've found and which authors you're reading.

Try a book reviews site to find books you'd like to read, and we can hunt them down.

One story you must read this week; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

(Imagine the girdle, by the way, as a jewelled or decorated belt. Not a Playtex Living Girdle from the 1950s as owned by your grandmother ...you see, you never know what useful information comes from your education.)

Learn how to use the Christmas present! Make sure this week you have a go with the e-book reader. Choose a story you've not read before. Give me your opinions on your different reading experiences: book and screen.

Read some stories courtesy of The Phrase Finder. Try finding your favourite saying, or learn some new ones. I enjoyed Warts and all.

Learn two dozen new words. Words will always come in handy.

Try amenable, malleable, tractable, docile. I wish.

Type them into the search box at wordsmyth and see what you get.

This week you could also poke about Fact Monster and tell me if it's any use.

Short stories. I am a fan, 100%. The writing must be concise, the plot smartly delivered, the characters breathing in a trice.

Maybe I have a short attention span. Or not much time. Bah. Let us make a library visit. Those short stories will be creeping about the book shelves.

I'm not making it up when I mutter, I can't remember how to spell that.

Watch these adults basically say the same thing... we all use tricks to help us spell words that we find difficult.

I still use the one collar method, but for me it's two socks.

Look at the words you ask me to spell this week, and make up a rhyme, visual clue, or little trick to help you remember them for next time.

Can you figure out a spelling rhyme for the ight in bright fight might light flight.

Is anyone learning a new word a day from the dictionary yet?

Liverpool caught our eye this week, mostly because for a split second we were trying to understand a 1950s photograph of the Mersey as the Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong.

So let's read an extract from Helen Forrester's Twopence to Cross the Mersey, set in the 1930s.

This piece is about the theft of milk, and the response of a young policeman to the incident.

Your responses, please.

Then check out what Helen Forrester books are in the library.

Look and listen to Liverpool.

Think about how Liverpool and Hong Kong are really not so very far apart! And let's put it on the list of must-visit places in the UK.

Please note, my dear children, I am absolutely terrified about going there. No-one can say anything bad about the place (unless you live there). And you certainly can't say it looks like the last tribal land of England. Except Cornwall. That looks a bit tribal too. And Norfolk. Maybe Somerset. Newcastle? Ahem. Discuss.

How many different ideas can one word hold?!

Try looking at the word tack.

Choose a word that has multiple definitions, or that can be used in many ways. Try using it in as many different sentences so that it carries many different ideas.

That should keep you busy for the next 70 years or so.


(Meanwhile, because I haven't got the poetry book shelves with me, would you all mind if I asked you to be quiet now, so I can listen to some spoken poetry? You can listen if you want.)

This week Shark asked about etymology. Go on a hunt through dictionaries, libraries, the internet, other people's brains, and see if you can find an etymology for any words you like the sound of, or any of these lovely and useful words:

education, tournament, feisty, home, field, daffodil, autumn, electricity, objection, ordinary.

The BBC writes a history of the word disgust. What's your thinking about this word?

Here's an online place to help you spin some stories. And here's a phrase dictionary.

In other word wanderings, I came across two online word game areas this week.

Here and here.

I haven't tried them all; some were mildly amusing and some were quite annoying. Try some. If you can't find any word games you like, invent your own.

This week, let's talk about types of text, or the different ways in which subjects can be represented.

For example, look at the place you're sitting. (Front room? Bedroom? Roof?)

How many different ways have you encountered in books and theatre which represents such a physical space?

Maybe you will have found a room in a poem or narrative story, in a newspaper article or on a stage, on factual information panels, in a designer's notebook, as architectural drawings, in a historical analysis, as a data sheet on an archaeological dig, and so on.

Can we try and collect examples? I'll put them here over time.

Choose a subject for yourself. (A horse? Fish? Cat?) How many different ways, or types of text, could represent your subject? Let's talk about it, and how you could write up or show your ideas.

Set your own assignment this week. Show me what you've done.

Or you could try writing some poetry of objects. What would the sofa say if it could talk?

This week I'll pick some Everyday edits. You're welcome to poke around that site to see what you can find.

Who wants a subscription to Newsademic?

Library week!

Tell me which new authors you're trying out.

Have you tried a different genre to the one you normally choose?

Write a short story, drawing on one or more of the following problems:

There must be a letter delivered in time.
A telephone must be answered if a life is to be saved.
A key must be inserted into a padlock.
Shelter must be built.
An object must be found.

Start anywhere you wish ... at a particular location, with the thoughts of a character, by describing what it is like to touch an object. Then see where your beginning takes you.

Try the shuffle-a-letter word puzzles. Can you think up some of your own?

Play Scrabble with me.

Roger McGough is a poet who can write with a mischievous tone.

Listen to him read one of his poems here.

Can you describe what the author has done with the idea of the 'Cats Protection League'?

Go on a scavenger hunt and find us some animal poems to share.

Watch this video about the origins of English.

Your father is hopping mad. What doesn't he like about it?

Tell him your opinions.

Write a short story of more than five sentences.

Include any of these words: telephone, chase, time, scream, heard, cloud, water.

Make sure each sentence has the correct punctuation.