Is

Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description

Nid merch ysgol gyffredin mo Isabel Williams - mae hi'n credu taw Isambard Kingdom Brunel oedd hi mewn bywyd blaenorol! Nofel ar gyfer plant 9-12 oed. Ceir yma ffeithiau a syniadau sy'n amlwg yng nghwricwlwm Gwyddoniaeth Cyfnod Allweddol 2. Am fwy o wybodaeth, gweler y wefan www.IKBrunel.org.uk Adargraffiad; cyhoeddwyd gyntaf ym mis Mawrth 2010.

Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description

Isabel Williams is no ordinary schoolgirl - she believes she's Isambard Kingdom Brunel reincarnated! As a new girl at a 1970s comprehensive she seems vulnerable, but she soon starts putting her teachers in their place with her amazing knowledge of science, bridges and the great Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Reprint; first published in March 2010.

Dosbarthu

Byddwn yn dosbarthu eitemau sydd mewn stoc o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith, fel arfer drwy Royal Mail Tracked 48. Ar gyfer archebion o flaen llaw, byddwn yn dosbarthu’r eitem o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith ar ôl ei derbyn gan ein cyflenwr.

Dispatch

In-stock items will be dispatched within 3 business days, usually by Royal Mail Tracked 48. For pre-orders, we’ll dispatch within 3 business days of receiving the item from our supplier.

Bywgraffiad yr Awdur / Author Biography

Derek Webb is a video scriptwriter and successful playwright. He has previously dramatised many Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl and Children's Classics for audiobook published by Hodder Headline, Harper Collins and Random House. Webb says of Is: "I hope the book challenges gender stereotypes and will genuinely engage the reader into the excitement of engineering feats such as Brunel was responsible for. At a time when encouraging greater interest in science is seen as very important, the central premise of the novel – a young girl's passion for physics and engineering – will, I hope, in its own small way, encourage greater understanding of these subjects, and make them come alive in a very readable and memorable way."

Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review

When Isabel Williams first joins Class 2F of St Leonard's School, she seems so tiny and insignificant, that no one takes much notice of her. The only person to make immediate friends with her is Robert Morgan. But when the class has a science lesson, in which they are asked to design different types of bridge, she amazes everyone by contradicting Mr Phillips the teacher. No longer the timid schoolgirl, she dares to argue with him, insisting that she knows more than he does. That is only the start of an increasingly bitter conflict between her and her teacher. Robert is confused by her attitude and even more confused by the extraordinary revelation she makes to him during a trip to view the first tunnel under the Thames. She believes herself to be none other than Isambard Kingdom Brunel reborn. After this revelation she demonstrates extraordinary knowledge of engineering and, with increasing passion, assumes the personality of Brunel. Robert becomes more and more irritated by her behaviour, not knowing what to believe. At the same time, he discovers that aspects of her home life aren't true. The friction between her and her teachers culminates in a violent argument about Brunel's final massive project - the Great Eastern - and Is disappears. Only Robert knows where she might have gone. Voted by the public as the second greatest Briton of all time in a BBC poll, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) was a Victorian engineer of formidable talent. He was responsible for twenty-five railways, over a hundred bridges, eight dock systems and three ships, one of which was the largest ship ever built and remained so for nearly 50 years. Daniel Gooch the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway wrote of Brunel: “By his death the greatest of England's engineers was lost, the man with the greatest originality of thought and power of execution, bold in his plans, but right. The commercial world thought him extravagant; but although he was so, great things are not done by those who sit down and count the cost of every thought and act.” * Ideas and facts referred to in the novel relate to key concepts in Key Stage 2 science – Materials, Forces and Motion. * Dedicated website, with Key Stage 2 teacher resources, linked to educational, Brunel-related and social networking sites. For further information, visit http://www.ikbrunel.org.uk TACKLING GENDER STEREOTYPING: There is evidence to support the opinion that fiction can play a part in tackling gender stereotyping at primary school age and thus influence career choice at a later age. In the June 2002 Review by the Social Science Research Unit, University of London, it concluded that tackling gender stereotyping at the primary school stage is vital, as it develops early and quickly. Various interventions were reviewed including the use of fiction in challenging gender stereotypes. For example, in a study by A. Wing, children were read Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine. The content of the book was discussed with them. Children were able to articulate, and reflect on, their stereotypical constructions of gender and those in the world at large. There was evidence of children considering ‘the different treatment that boys and girls receive’, and of classroom discussion enabling stereotypes to be challenged. And, in a study by D. Woodward, it was shown that through reviewing and discussing books, both boys and girls modified their gendered attitudes in terms of their attitudes towards, and expectations of, the characteristics of the opposite sex. "A systematic review of classroom strategies for reducing stereotypical gender constructions among girls and boys in mixed–sex UK primary schools"