PART 1:

LEON: Hi Shannon – how are you settling into your new flat?
SHANNON: Really well, thanks.
LEON: You look like you’re going shopping.
SHANNON: Yes, I am. My cousins are coming to stay for a couple of days, and I have to
cook for them.
LEON: Well, there are plenty of places to buy food in Kite Place – it’s the area by the
harbour. Q1
SHANNON: Oh. OK, I’ll find that on the map. Thanks.
LEON: What sort of food do you need to get?
SHANNON: Well, neither of them eats meat but they both like fish.
LEON: Well, there’s a really good fish market there.
SHANNON: Oh great – where is it exactly?
LEON: It’s at the far end of Kite Place, so you have to go over the bridge and then it’s on
the right. Q2
SHANNON: OK – is it open all day?
LEON: It doesn’t close until four, but I’d recommend going earlier than that – it does run
out of some things.
SHANNON: Oh, I don’t want that to happen.
LEON: As long as you get there by 3.30. you should be fine. It’s only 11 now, so plenty of
time. Q3
SHANNON: Right.
LEON: Do you need to buy vegetables too?
SHANNON: I do, and I want to avoid all the plastic packaging in the supermarket!
LEON: Well, there’s a really nice organic shop there. Now what’s it called … it’s the name
of a flower. I know, it’s ’Rose’. Q4
SHANNON: That’s a nice name.
LEON: Yeah – it sells vegetables and quite a lot of other stuff.
SHANNON: And where’s that?
LEON: Well, as you reach the market, you’ll see a big grey building on your left – I think it
used to be a warehouse. Anyway, now it’s a restaurant upstairs, but the ground floor has
two shops either side of the entrance and it’s the one on the left.
SHANNON: That’s easy enough.
LEON: You can’t miss it – there’s also a big sign on the pavement so you can look for that.
Q5
SHANNON: Fine! I guess if I need anything else, I’ll have to go to the supermarket.
LEON: Yeah – you should be able to get everything you need, but there’s a minibus that
goes to the supermarket if you need it. It’s purple and the number is 289. Q6
SHANNON: Thanks, that’s great.
LEON: So what do you need to get at the fish market? The salmon is always very good and
the shellfish.
SHANNON: I’m going to make a curry, I think, and I need about 12 prawns for that.
LEON: They’ll have plenty of those.
SHANNON: OK.
LEON: Have you ever tried samphire? Q7
SHANNON: No – what’s that?
LEON: It’s a type of seaweed. I just ask for a handful and you fry it in butter. It’s
delicious!
SHANNON: Oh, I might try that- how do you spell it?
LEON: It’s S-A-M-P-H-l-R-E.
SHANNON: Great – it’s always good to try something different.
LEON: Yeah.
SHANNON: I’ll see what beans they have in the organic shop and I think I’ll get something
for dessert there.
LEON: How about a mango?
SHANNON: I’m not sure – they’re not always ripe. I’d prefer a melon – it’s bigger too. Q8
LEON: Good idea. The owner also sells a lot of spices there that you can put in a curry,
and things like coconut. Q9
SHANNON: Oh, that’s very helpful. I’ll have a look.
LEON: No problem.
SHANNON: I know bread doesn’t really go with curry but I always like to have some in
case.
LEON: As I said – all the bread is home-made and there’s lots of variety. I like the brown
bread myself.
SHANNON: Mm, sounds good.
LEON: They sell other things there too.
SHANNON: Like cakes? I love chocolate cake.
LEON: Well – not that, but they have a whole range of tarts and the best are the
strawberry ones. Q10
SHANNON: Perfect – hopefully I won t even have to go to the supermarket!

PART 2:
PRESENTER: The children’s book festival is coming up again soon and here to tell us all
about it is the festival’s organiser, Jenny Morgan. So tell us what we can expect this year,
Jenny.

JENNY: Well, as usual we’ve got five days of action-packed exciting events for children,
with writers coming from all over the country getting involved.

Just to give you an idea of what’s on offer in the workshops, first of all, there’s a very
special event called Superheroes. This is a chance for deaf children to share their reading
experiences with author Madeleine Gordon, who is herself hearing impaired.

‘Just do it’ is a practical workshop led by the well-known illustrator Mark Keane. He’ll
take participants on a magical journey to faraway lands with an opportunity for aspiring
actors to do some role play.
‘Count on me’ is an inspiring and entertaining look at the issues of friendship for
13–14-year-olds. It looks at some of the friendships described in popular books and asks
participants to compare these with their own experiences.

‘Speak up’ is part of a series of workshops on the subject of mental health. This is a
creative writing workshop encouraging children to describe situations where young
people experience loneliness. A recent survey revealed that children can be lonely even
when they’re at home with their families.

‘Jump for joy’, as many of you will know, is the heart-warming, best-selling story by Nina
Karan about a young girl’s trip to visit her relatives in India. It recently received the gold
medal at the Waterford Awards. Nina will get children to celebrate the word ‘joy’ by
writing a poem.

‘Sticks and stones’ is the beautifully illustrated picture book for young readers about a
community who organise an African-Caribbean festival to help local children learn about
their Jamaican roots. This will be a musical event where children will have the chance to
play steel drums. This is bound to be very popular, so please book as soon as possible.

PRESENTER: Thanks Jenny. That all sounds really interesting. I’m just wondering if you
have a favourite book you could recommend for our readers?

JENNY: It’s hard to choose, but Alive and Kicking is definitely worth mentioning. You
won’t have heard of the writer as it’s her first book – which is really impressive. It’s
basically the teenage diary of a boy from Somalia who comes to live in the UK. It deals
with the serious issue of immigration and all the challenges the boy has to face at school
and with the language barrier, etc. Usually, books like this are quite sad, but this one
actually made me cry with laughter. On each page, there are simple but hilarious black
and white stick drawings of the boy with his friends and teachers. At the end of each
diary entry, there are new English words the boy learns each day, which may help
develop some children’s vocabulary.

PRESENTER: I think my kids would enjoy that. What about any advice for parents on how
to encourage their children to read more?

JENNY: Well, this is something I get asked about a lot. There are so many distractions for
kids these days that it can be hard to find time for reading. One thing I’d say is to make
time to sit down with your child and share books with them. A lot of parents give up
reading aloud to their children as soon as they learn to read independently, but this is a
mistake. It’s good to read more advanced books to them as it helps to develop their
vocabulary. If you don’t have time for this, then let them listen to audio books. Often,
they’ll want to read books they’ve listened to for themselves. I think it’s a good idea to
make a mental note of the type of books your child is reading – often they just read the
same genre all the time, which can get a bit boring. You can introduce new authors and
genres to them. Librarians should be able to help you with this.

PRESENTER: Well Jenny, I think that’s really useful… .