About Our Reviewers

Azaria Rees.
I'm 12 years old and studying for an NCFE certification in creative writing with Razbecks Writers. I absolutely love Doctor Who because of the ever high levels of excitement and unpredictability. I also like drawing in Manga style, reading inordinate amounts of books, eating nuts and going on the Internet.

Jill Bennett
I am an Early Years teacher in a multicultural school in outer London and also act as a consultant for Early Years education/RE and literature/literacy. I have an MA in Education and my particular interests are picture books, poetry and books with a spiritual dimension. I'm also the author of Learning to Read with Picture Books (Thimble Press).

Having spent all my time in education furthering the role of literature as a vehicle for literary (and literacy) development I have become increasingly concerned over the past year or so with the narrowly conceived, prescriptive views of literacy being promoted to teachers and hence, to children. With this present pre-occupation in schools with a largely functional approach to, and the mechanistic aspects of literacy, it is all too easy to forget the unique and fundamental role literature has in developing the imagination - in children's meaning making.

Essentially I see a story as a kind of sacred space: a place from which to become aware, to contact the spirit - that essential spark within. However for literature to act as sacred space it must take centre stage in the curriculum and be viewed, not primarily as a way of doing but rather, as a way of being or of helping children to be and become.