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Posted on July 1st 2013
Reading assassins - the secret mission has started. Top secret report.
Harris Girls' Academy East Dulwich leads the way in the top secret Reading Assassins mission, involving students from across the Harris Federation.
A ‘reading assassin’ in a year group at each participating school is waiting with a book to pass on to a fellow student.
The challenge is simple. Students must read (not skim…!) the book as fast as they can and pass it on to one of their fellow year group. But don’t let on you’re reading it or who the assassin was who delivered it to you.
The winning school is the one who inducts most assassins, by having the greatest number of students read the book, over the course of the next month. And we're way in the lead!
Once an assassin has read the book they will email a secret address with their thoughts about the book and the virtual-reality experience. The school with the largest number of emailed assassin briefings will be the winner.
Which school will triumph? Read the top secret reports below to see how the mission is unfolding.
Assassins secret update: Monday 17 June
Last week saw the annual convention of the shadowy Bilderberg Group, fresh revelations about governments intercepting emails and news that UK intelligence spied on delegates at the G8 summit of the world’s most powerful states. But the real cloak-and-dagger activities have been in the corridors and corners of Harris academies, where pupils have been using stealth to pass on, and surreptitiously read as quickly as possible, dossiers of imagined lives and adventures in the form of a handful of novels. Having been inducted into the privileged class of members of the Assassin’s Read, pupils have been briefed to email their responses to the books to a secret email address.
Intelligence reports have begun to filter through, with pupils from two academies so far informing Assassin’s Read HQ of their thoughts. An assassin from Harris Merton reported a suspenseful reading of the spooky story passed on to them, which culminated in a “hard-hitting” final chapter and an end that one couldn’t have seen coming. THREE assassins have already been inducted in Harris Girls’ Academy East Dulwich, emailing reports that the book doing the rounds there they would recommend to others.
In the mysterious and opaque world of Assassin’s Read it’s impossible to know who is reading the book circulating in the selected year group. Pupils must be alert to the wink or nudge that may indicate that an existing assassin has a copy of the book to pass on to them. Once a qualified assassin, don’t forget to message the special email address. Don’t worry about having to write a full review if you don’t fancy – a short communiqué is fine. Even a few words in morse code could do the trick! Keep those documents circulating. And remember the mission is ... . -.-. .-. . -!
Reports from Harris Girls' Academy East Dulwich assassins....
Assassin 1:
The name of the book is called BRAVE NEW GIRL. What i liked about the book is that it has a very good theme and it can be read by anyone and I like the characters especially Seren, Keith and Sasha. I would recommend this book to people because it teaches me that not everything your little sister does to you is because she wants to keep you in trouble, she might be trying to help you get what you want, at least try to appreciate it. :)
Assassin 2:
I liked the book because it made me smile when the main character, Seren, was happy and also when she was sad. She went through quite a lot of things to make others happy but it backfired on her. I could actually feel the pain she was going through and I could imagine myself being there for her. I would recommend this book because it gives a greater insight to how an ordinary secondary schoolgirl's life could be. The author also tries to relate to girls round about Seren's age and she understands their struggle.
Assassin 3:
The thing that I liked about the book was when in the end Sasha forgave Seren for humiliating her in front of the boy she liked, Luke. Also, her dad is staying in London after all and her dad's business is starting to look up thanks to Seren. I would recommend this book because it was very interesting and inspiring and other people would feel the same way about it too because it describes something that might actually happen in real life.
Assassins secret update: Tuesday 25 June
The Assassin's Read mission control, which is buried deep below the heart of London, continues to receive fresh communications as Harris Academy pupils are inducted into the order of assassins.
The vast majority of assassins report that they have very much enjoyed the book they read, with one even using a smiley emoticon to convey how good it was.
Although of course emoticons (smileys, winking faces, etc) only have a role in informal text messages, the occasional secret agent message and the like (and certainly not in any formal piece such as an essay in the classroom or any other schoolwork) we are reminded of the following story. Victor Hugo, the 19th century French novelist, was away from Paris when his novel Les Miserables was published. Eager to know how it was being received by the public, he sent a letter to his publisher that, with no words, read simply "?". The book had been a runaway success, so the publisher responded with a letter that likewise had just one symbol – "!".
More reports from Harris Girls' Academy East Dulwich assassins....
Assassin’s Read Secret Update Monday 1st July 2013
It may have been a sunny past few days in London, but here at Assassin’s Read headquarters we haven’t seen so much as a ray of sunlight. We’ve been underground in our bookshelf-lined bunker (think Bat Cave crossed with the British Library) keeping track of communications from new assassins while at the same time plotting global bookreading domination and the overthrow of our arch enemies Sony and Nintendo.
For although the current Assassin’s Read concludes in just two weeks’ time, we have plans for new missions in the next school year, so stay alert for renewed supplies of secret books after the summer as we strive to promote reading for pleasure across the world. We will prevail, comrades!
We’re not certain if it was due to a hacking attack from the evil WCCGM (the World Conglomeration of Computer Games Manufacturers) but there have been problems lately with our emails. To all recent assassins: if you emailed the secret address and got no reply, please go back to your regional spymaster (probably your librarian!) and ask for details of an alternative email address.
Meantime, some communiqués have made it through. An assassin from Morden described the book she read as “brilliant” and explained that she “couldn’t recommend it enough but can’t say why without ruining it.” Thanks for keeping the ending secret. Actually, there are some books that have more than one ending and we’re not just referring to those role play books where you choose where the plot goes (although those are great fun). One of the most famous English novels, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, has two endings. Before Dickens published the book, his friend and fellow author Wilkie Collins said that it should have a happier finish, so he changed it. Many modern versions of the book print both endings.
Keep up the good work, assassins!
Harris Academy East Dulwich Girls – 9 Assassins Recruited
Harris Academy Purley – 2 Assassins Recruited
Harris Academy Morden - 2 Assassins Recruited
Harris Academy Peckham – 2 Assassins Recruited
Harris Academy Merton – 1 Assassin Recruited
