Pandora: The instant no.1 Sunday Times bestseller

Product Information

This book is set in Georgian London, where Pandora “Dora” Blake is an aspiring jewellery designer who currently lives with her Uncle, Hezekiah, in what use to be her parents famous shop of antiquities. Since her parents deaths 12 years ago, Dora has seen the shop turn from fame and genuine artefacts, to the crooked and more questionable ways of her Uncle. Fast forward and books bands these days are the most common system used by schools and by educational publishers of reading books, thus giving teachers a means of assessing children’s progress in reading in the absence of National Curriculum levels since 2014. As a result of the move away from NC levels, the book bands originally outlined by the UK Reading Recovery National Network and its authors for KS1 only, have extended to meet demands by a great many schools for further levels including up to the end of KS2. Thus providing an opportunity for assessment and progression right through the primary years. All of it is written in the third person, focusing on the three separate perspectives of Dora, Edward, and Hezekiah. This worked well and brought a good degree of contrast, with the tone of Hezekiah's chapters noticeably darker than the others and providing more of an insight into his motives. Also, the storylines of Dora and Edward compliment each other nicely as they are both enduring difficult lives until they meet. I obviously especially LOVED all of the Greek myth and Greek history references throughout this book. This book satisfied my un-dying love for them.

I really enjoyed this especially that it was set during the Georgian period which is fast becoming one of my favorite eras. Our team has many years of experience levelling ‘real’ books — when we talk about ‘real’ books, we mean books that have not been developed specifically for a reading scheme and have been written for the pure enjoyment of reading. Reading scheme books are written to exacting levels but the value of ascribing book bands to books written freely by exciting authors to absorb and captivate readers has been appreciated by our schools for 15 years. But when they discover the secrets about the case, Dora’s entire life turns upside down. Anything she knows about her life, her past, her family is questionable! It seems like some things should be buried forever!Banded books ultimately provide children with a pathway of progression in reading but also support teachers who are making book-buying decisions to meet the needs of individual pupils, bringing variety and breadth to children’s reading diets. Having finished school Dora now focuses her ambitions in designing jewellery, so when an ornate vase arrives at the shop, her interested is piqued immediately. Not because this treasure is a thing of beauty and mysterious, but she is able to take inspiration from its rare qualities and designs, when designing her own jewellery range. However, her interest only grows in a different direction when the secrecy, value and historical reference attributed to this piece of antique comes to light. Indeed, Cornelius is an entertaining character to read and it was a shame that he did not receive a happy ending. He is sharp-witted and in front of an oblivious Edward, never makes any attempt to hide his jealousy towards Dora, creating many of book's lighter moments. Lady Latimer was also highly memorable; haughty in the extreme and with an enormous sense of entitlement, yet not without the occasional hint of generosity.

Many school suppliers, including Pandora Books, are offering banded ‘real’ books to widen children’s reading experiences and to promote reading enjoyment. The levelling is done in a ‘best fit’ way, meeting the criteria as much as ‘real’ books can, allowing for the non-contrived way they are written. Why Use Book Bands? It is primarily a historical fiction, but with rather enticing elements of Greek mythology that give it that little bit of extra intrigue. These transpire to be more akin to magical realism than fantasy and along with the double meaning of the title, bring a lot of promise that something mesmerising awaits at the end. There is certainly lots to enjoy, only the mythology merely exists within the narrative rather than being the thing around which it is based. Meanwhile, Edward Lawrence is a bookbinder with a passion for material culture, determined to overcome his less than privileged upbringing to gain acceptance into the prestigious Society for Antiquaries. In a coffee house one afternoon, he is approached by a mysterious old man who directs him to Blake's Emporium to speak to Dora, explaining that she might be able to help him in his endeavours. When I read about jewelry design in the first chapter, I immediately thought that there should be female solidarity towards the end. In such books, the heroine's ally suddenly becomes the most unpleasant female person. So, this will also happen: Uncle's lover, the maid Lottie, who has been treating her for twelve years, suddenly becomes inflamed with friendly feelings. And one duchess there, literally from the first hour of acquaintance, will become on a short leg with our cutie.

Pandora was such an all consuming read. I loved how it brought Georgian England together with Greek mythology. The result was a stunning story, with clever characters, ones to really invest in and some to revile. She also captured the class system and the different varied characters of London in a realistic way- you could easily imagine the setting and the people. Steeped in mystery and rich in imagination, an exhilarating historical novel set in Georgian London where the discovery of a mysterious ancient Greek vase sets in motion conspiracies, revelations, and romance.

As far as the ending goes, that was rather less polished. Some things happen fairly randomly and others were not clearly explained, giving a minor impression that the author was making some of it up as she went along. There were some good twists and revelations along the way, but one or two others did not feel quite right in the context of the story. We read all our books, have a strong understanding of how children develop as readers and have an unparalleled knowledge of children’s publishing to draw upon to meet their needs. For all our levelling we are constantly reading, comparing and contrasting our 'real' books with scheme books and with each other to ensure that they represent a true progression in reading and in our range. It is a team effort and we regularly discuss which features we feel push a book up or down a band, perhaps the vocabulary is representative of Dark Blue but the narrative complex enough to make a book really only accessible to the most confident readers in Year 5 reading at Dark Red. We take into account many factors depending upon the text; perhaps the reader would be required to have unexpected knowledge or insight to fully access the language or the narrative; and themes, like time travel, or devices, like parallel narratives, can render a book inaccessible to all but the most fluent reader; perhaps the text level is just right but the story unlikely to engage readers reading at this level. With each book we are asking would a child reading at that level be able to access this text and what would their challenges be, the answers to these questions are unique to each book. Choosing Book Bands for confident and gifted readers When a highly anticipated Greek pithos is delivered to the shop, Dora wonders why her Uncles behaviour is so suspicious and wants to find out the mystery for herself. Dora enlists the help of Edward Lawrence, a bookbinder looking for acceptance into the Society of Antiquities, for help on information of the pithos. Dora sees the pithos as a chance to escape her life and restore her parents shop to its former glory.Some secondary schools are now using book bands to support and monitor progress for students who require additional support in their reading. What are the Book Band Colours? Then the pithos comes into play, and I am desperate to see this in a film. The descriptions in the book just scream 'stunning' and I am certain my imagination comes nowhere near its beauty. Dora is a character made more interesting by her family history, but is likeable and over the course of the book develops a strong level of independence. That, and the growing success of her jewellery designs, make you really start to root for her as she emerges from her uncle's oppression. The fact she has a pet magpie also adds that little bit of quirkiness. all readers will progress at different speeds and may have spurts at varying times How do you Book Band real books? Those issues aside, the plot as a whole is brimming with depth and all the topics it covers from jewellery to mythology to antiquities, have been impeccably researched. It takes some unexpected directions as certain characters are introduced and you always look forward to finding out what is going to happen next, especially as Edward learns more about the origin of the pithos and Hezekiah grows increasingly desperate to uncover its contents.