Blog

We appreciate that you will probably have much better things to do than read this right now. You'll be focussing on the immediate needs of your pupils and their families, as well as reeling from the changing situation as we all are.

Badger Learning have been supporting teachers and inspiring children for 30 years, and we truly hope to continue supporting you for many more. We whole-heartedly believe that reading is a vital life skill, and we know children that read for pleasure do better in life, have better mental health and bigger aspirations. The ability to escape into a different world full of magic and wonder is certainly one of the coping mechanisms we’re using right now, as well as reminding us that we are not alone.

When things do settle down a bit, and they will, we wanted to let you know we are still here. Our office staff are moving to home working and this will help to allow our warehouse team more space to spread out and use social distancing strategies. We

 “We need to live in a culture that values, respects, looks up to and idolizes women as much as men.” Emma Watson

Happy International Women’s Day! March the 8^th is a day for celebrating the many achievements of women across the globe. It is also a day to highlight issues that still need to be solved in order to accomplish equality. The #IWD2020 theme is #EachforEqual, calling for each of us to take control of our actions and be held accountable in a world where “we can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women's achievements.”

2019 felt like a mixture of achievements and failures for women’s rights. Whilst Saudi Arabia granted women the right to drive without a male chaperone, Turkey announced the ‘marry-your-rapist’ law. In Finland women dominated the top political spots, including the youngest Prime Minister ever elected, yet the 2020 Sex and Power Index from the Fawcett

Climate conversations are never simple, with many people finding it hard to visualise a world of climate chaos or simply refusing to do so. That is why discussions through literature are so important – they bring the pandemonium to life and aid in envisaging a ravaged world, unlike anything we have seen before.

It feels like we are approaching the Golden Age of Young Adult ‘cli-fi’ (climate change fiction). Our worldwide news is constantly awash with ecological disasters and the beginning of 2020 has been no different with the devastating bush fires in Australia horrifying people all over the world. Although gaining popularity, very few ‘cli-fi’ novels actually deal directly with climate change but rather discuss the after-effects. Our No Planet B collection strives to raise awareness of the irreversible damage we are causing, a collection to shock but also to inspire – books that act as literary catalysts.

No Planet B contains various ecological dystopias,

FREE PHOTOCOPIABLE GUIDED READING NOTES, one for each year group from Year 1 to Year 6.

If you are looking for resources to send home with pupils these FREE guided reading teacher notes may be a great help. Although originally designed for teachers and teaching assistants, these photocopiable lesson plans are easy to follow and can be used by parents and pupils as a home-learning resource. Available to download now, the Enjoy Guided Reading range of teacher books has earned its reputation for providing quality lessons and positive learning outcomes. These free resources are just a few of our extensive range of individual guided reading lesson plans available to download for just £7.50 per resource. Children will need the original book, which is why our huge range of pick and mix resources is ideal to complement well-known books in home or school libraries.

Each resource includes:

• Chapter-by-chapter

You asked for more, so here you go! We are delighted to announce that six, brand new Papercuts books will be published in January 2020. Papercuts III builds on our award-winning Papercuts I and Papercuts II series of bone-chilling horror stories for students aged 13+. Once again, our talented authors and artists have created six eye-catching and engaging books that will be sure to grab, and hold, the attention of even the most reluctant teenage reader. Each story is packed with horror and elements of the supernatural and, for the first time ever, two of the titles are sci-fi horrors set in space!

Each book contains four full-page images interspersed throughout the text, helping readers to visualise the story, whilst retaining the appearance of a teenage novel. As with our other Papercuts titles, the books in Papercuts III have a reading age of 8–9 and a manageable word count of 5000­–6000. A dyslexia-friendly font and design is used, with bite-sized chunks of text and line

Badger publishing fans will be aware of our best-selling Two Sides series of thought-provoking stories on hard-hitting themes that are breaking new ground in accessible literature.  Emma Norry is the author of United, one of the books in the Two Sides II series, and she kindly agreed to an interview about this book and shares some tips on becoming a writer. Danny Pearson, our publisher, also gives us some insight into the commissioning process for this series and the reaction from readers.

How did you research and prepare for writing this novel?

My husband is a massive football fan, both playing and watching it. So… I watched games with him, tried FIFA and PES on the PlayStation and asked my son about playing at school. 

United is a story about Zane, a football-mad teenager coming to terms with his sexuality.  He has to cope with homophobic comments from his dad and coach — how do you think this affects his mental state?

We’ve been working extra hard over the summer to make sure there are fantastic new books available for you at the start of the school year!

And we’ve had a lot of fun developing Horror Hotel — our brand-new series of six creepy stories written by the brilliant Tim Collins. Brace yourself for some seriously scary and mysterious adventures filled with monsters, intelligent technology and an eccentric hotel manager who may or may not be there to help guests!

Horror is perennially popular with teens, so we’ve created this series for readers aged 12+ who have a reading age of 6–7.

We were thrilled to work again with talented artists Abby Ryder and James Lawrence. Take a look below at some examples of their work. Their imaginative and highly creative illustrations bring each story to life. Every double-page spread contains a perfect balance of text and illustrations, crucial for supporting reluctant or struggling readers.

We are delighted to bring you eight brand-new titles that will capture the interest and imaginations of teenage readers.

Between The Lines II is a series of books dealing with mature and compelling themes, filling the need for age-appropriate fiction written for teenage readers with reading ages of 8–9 years.

We’ve worked closely with a team of experienced and talented authors to create a mixture of action-packed and thought-provoking stories.

We’re especially proud of the diverse range of plots, settings and characters within this new series. From sports clubs and schools, to unfamiliar and chilling visions of the future, stories cover the dangers of internet chat rooms, crime, grief, female empowerment, friendship, bullying, dystopian futures, and much more.

 Although limited to a maximum of 6,000 words per book and with carefully controlled language, these books have the look and feel of a real novel.

You’ll notice

Two Sides II – Out Now!

We are thrilled to announce that we are back with a brand-new series — Two Sides II.

Given the success of the first Two Sides series — published in September last year — we expect these six new books to be a real hit with students.

As in the first series, the texts consist of two first-person narratives with differing perspectives. One ‘bystander’ narrative, usually presenting a narrow or prejudiced view, alternates with the main character’s voice who reveals the broader reality of their difficult situation.

These books really do pack a punch and consider hard-hitting topics that affect many of today’s teenagers. Gender identity, racism, sexuality, anxiety, loneliness, domestic abuse and homelessness are all covered.

They are specifically written for struggling and reluctant readers aged 13+, with reading ages of 8–9.

Each book has a dedicated section at the back with easily-digestible information about the topics

A LITTLE SECRET - The Book Awards 2019 category winner.

I am very excited to announce that the team here at Badger Learning have won the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards – Rapid Reads category. This award is for the best quick read book for young people aged 11-16.

A Little Secret, written by Ann Evans and James Lawrence took home the award. This book is part of our bestselling series, Papercuts, an eerie series of short reads for teenagers.

We are so proud to have won this along with Ann and James as we were up against some huge titles and even bigger publishers. It’s particularly gratifying as this award is a vote by young people in Coventry who are reading these books and voting for their favourites in weekly elimination rounds. See the shortlist and results below:

A Little Secret

By Ann Evans (Author), James Lawrence (Illustrator)

Badger Publishing - The Book Awards 2019 category