Primary 6 and 7 pupils were delighted to welcome author Sheena Wilkinson to Burrenreagh. Sheena travels extensively throughout Europe giving workshops in creative writing and plans are afoot to make this visit the first of many to our school by Sheena as she helps the pupils write with flair and style.
Our Primary 6 and 7 pupils have been reading Sheena's historical novel Name upon Name which addresses our current World Around Us topics of the 1916 Easter Rising, the Battle of the Somme and non violent communication.
The Irish News had this to say about Sheena Wilkinson’s novel Name Upon Name.
“TRYING to boil down the complexities of Irish history for a young adult novel is no easy feat but one that Co Down writer Sheena Wilkinson has managed to do. In Name upon Name follow 14-year-old Helen trying to make sense of the First World War.
Helen's family are from different religious backgrounds and different classes. Her father is a Presbyterian headmaster in Belfast who met her Catholic mother when she moved up from her farm in the Mournes to care for a sick aunt.
Paternal cousin Sandy has been promoted in the British army while farmer Michael from Helen's mother's side is unsure of whether to listen to the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, John Redmond, and sign up. Helen doesn't know who to be more proud of or more scared for and it is through her eyes we see a tiny glimpse of the horrors of war.
Belfast-born Wilkinson masterfully combines the big questions of nationalism, pacifism and early feminism in a way so subtle that you would barely notice. Name Upon Name is a great way to introduce political understanding to young readers.”
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