Digital Detox for World Book Day: Thursday March 4th - Heart of England School

Digital Detox for World Book Day: Thursday March 4th
    1. Read a book! For pleasure. See here for a recommended reading list.
    2. Make a literary bake. Try one or more of the following recipes from your
       favourite books and eat your way through World Book Day:

Breakfast: Banana and Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients
    •   2 large eggs
    •   150ml pot natural low-fat yogurt
    •   50ml rapeseed oil
    •   100g apple sauce or pureed apples (find with the baby food)
    •   1 ripe banana, mashed
    •   4 tbsp clear honey
    •   1 tsp vanilla extract
    •   200g wholemeal flour
    •   50g rolled oats, plus extra for sprinkling
    •   1½ tsp baking powder
    •   1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
    •   1½ tsp cinnamon
    •   100g blueberry
    •   2 tbsp mixed seed (we used pumpkin, sunflower and flaxseed)

Method

Step 1
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with 12 large muffin cases. In a jug,
mix the eggs, yogurt, oil, apple sauce, banana, honey and vanilla. Tip the remaining ingredients,
except the seeds, into a large bowl, add a pinch of salt and mix to combine.

Step 2
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix briefly until you have a smooth batter – don’t
overmix as this will make the muffins heavy. Divide the batter between the cases. Sprinkle the
muffins with the extra oats and the seeds. Bake for 25-30 mins until golden and well risen, and a
skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven, transfer to
a wire rack and leave to cool. Can be stored in a sealed container for up to 3 days.

Scone With the Wind
                                                             Ingredients
                                                             • 450g/1lb self-raising flour
                                                             • 2 level tsp baking powder
                                                             • 50g/1¾oz caster sugar
                                                             • 100g/3½oz butter, softened, cut
                                                             into pieces
                                                             • 2 free-range eggs
                                                             • a little milk
                                                             • handful sultanas (optional)

Method
    1. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Lightly grease two baking trays.
    2. Put the flour, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub in with
       your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
    3. Crack the eggs into a measuring jug, then add enough milk to make the total liquid
       300ml/10fl oz. Stir the egg and milk into the flour – you may not need it all – and mix to
       a soft, sticky dough.
    4. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface, knead lightly and work in the sultanas, if
       using. Roll out to a rectangle about 2cm/¾in thick.
    5. Cut into as many rounds as possible with a fluted 5cm/2in cutter and place them on the
       prepared baking trays. Brush the tops of the scones with a little extra milk, or any egg
       and milk left in the jug.
    6. Bake for 12–15 minutes, or until the scones are well risen and a pale, golden-brown
       colour. Lift onto a wire rack to cool. Eat as fresh as possible.
    7. To serve, split the scones and serve with strawberry jam on the plain scones along with a
       good dollop of clotted cream.

Lunch: Lady Bracknell’s Cucumber Sandwiches
                        In The Importance of Being Earnest, Algernon orders cucumber
                        sandwiches especially for Aunt Augusta’s appearance at tea, but while
                        waiting for her to arrive, eats them all and doesn’t notice. And, although
                        the frivolous delicacy was to be there by her request, Aunt Augusta
                        doesn’t even care:

        Jack: Why cucumber sandwiches? Why such reckless extravagance in one so young?
        Who is coming to tea?
        Algernon: Oh! merely Aunt Augusta and Gwendolen… Please don’t touch the cucumber
        sandwiches. They are ordered specially for Aunt Augusta. (Takes one and eats it.)
        Jack: Well, you have been eating them all the time.
        Algernon: That is quite a different matter. She is my aunt…

Afternoon Tea: The Queen of Hearts’ Jam Tarts
                                    Ingredients
                                    •      250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
                                    •      125g butter, chilled and diced, plus extra for the tin
                                    •      1 medium egg
                                    •      1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped (optional)
                                    •      100g jam, fruit curd or marmalade of your choice

Method

Step 1
Put the flour, butter and a pinch of salt in a bowl and rub them together with your fingertips (or
you can pulse these ingredients together in a food processor if you have one). When the
mixture looks and feels like fresh breadcrumbs, stir in the egg and vanilla seeds, if using, with a
cutlery knife. Add 1 tbsp cold water, then start to bring the dough together in one lump with
your hands – try not to knead it too much. Add 1 more tbsp of water if it’s not coming together,
but try not to add more than that. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 mins.

Step 2
Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Butter a 12-hole tart tin, then dust your work surface with
flour. Unwrap and roll out the chilled pastry so it’s about the thickness of a £1 coin, then use a
straight or fluted round cutter to cut out 12 circles, big enough to line the holes in the tin. Dollop
1-2 tsp of your chosen filling into each one and, if you like, cut out little pastry hearts (perfect for
Valentine’s Day) and pop them on top.

Step 3
Bake for 15-18 mins or until golden and the filling is starting to bubble a little. Leave to cool in
the tin for a few mins then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Book Activity Ideas!
Or why not bake a showstopper cake or mouth-watering main course based on your favourite
book?

    •   Mrs Havisham’s bridal cake?
    •   Bilbo Baggins’ seed cake?
    •   Marcel Proust’s Madeleines?
    •   Lady Sansa Stark’s lemon cakes?

Book Art
Design a Book Token for NEXT YEAR’S World Book Day and win an amazing Prize:

    •   Word Book Day Design Competition

Or, create a piece of art work to grace the cover of your favourite book and send it to your Art
teacher.

Or, design a book mark that we can use in school and send it to your English teacher.

Samuel Pepys’ Style Lockdown Diary.
Samuel Pepys, Britain’s most famous diarist lived through a tumultuous period of British history.
As a young man, the navy administrator who rose through the ranks to become Chief Secretary
to the Admiralty witnessed the execution of Charles I, lived through the interregnum and the
period of instability following Cromwell’s death. For almost a decade between 1660 to 1669,
Pepys kept his diary, giving a first-hand account of the coronation of King Charles II and the
restoration of the British monarchy, the Anglo-Dutch War, the Great Plague of London, followed
by the Great Fire of London.

With its parallels with the coronavirus outbreak, Pepys’s account of the Great Plague of London
which lasted from 1665 – 1666 is absolutely fascinating for modern readers. It is also rather
comforting to see how he dealt with a situation far worse than the one we currently face, with
such a positive outlook. Indeed, the outbreak coincided with a time of prosperity and success for
Pepys, showing however bad things may seem, life goes on.

‘In this sad time of the plague every thing else has conspired to my happiness and pleasure more
for these last three months than in all my, life before in so little time. God long preserve it and
make me thankful for it.’ 24 September 1665

Lockdown Diary
Start your own diary of lockdown so that future generations know exactly how it was to live
through a pandemic through the eyes of a young person.

Tips:
   •    Make your diary as much about thoughts and feelings as activities
   •    Embellish it with photographs, drawings and doodles
   •    Involve other members of your family for their perspectives
   •    Include things that are unique to lockdown
   •    Include newspaper headlines or cuttings

   1. Dress up as your favourite book character. Send a photograph to school!
   2. Around the World in 80 Books (26 actually!)
      We all know that we can’t travel at the moment, but books enable you to leave your
      room and venture to any place in the world. Or out of this world! Make an A -Z list of
      books that are set in different parts of the world. Here is a start but you can make your
      own:
          • Afghanistan – The Kite Runner by Kaled Hosseini
          • Berlin – Emile and the Detectives by Erich Kastner
          • Coventry – Chinglish by Sue Cheung
          • Denmark – Hamlet by William Shakespeare
   3. Neighbourhood Book Swap.
   4. Set up a Book Swap in your street. Gather up any books that you have read and want to
      swap. Put them in a prominent place in front of your house with a large sign asking
      people to help themselves. Even better if you can find a way to encourage your
      neighbours to do the same. Let them know about World Book Day! Ask your parents if
      you have a street What’s App group or see if you can put a poster up in your window.
   5. Create your own book quiz for your family, friends or class at school.

   Here are some ideas to get you started:

           • Penguin Books: How well so you know classic children’s books?
           • The Book Trust: Book Quizzes
           • BBC Children’s Books Quiz