Thirteenth Chime of Alcott Hall

Big Cat Read On supports fluent readers to improve their reading skills and nurture a love of reading. Consisting of a wide range of engaging chapter books, the Big Cat Read On series improves reading stamina and comprehension, develops vocabulary, and introduces children to more sophisticated narrative structures and themes.

Lola Avery is spending the summer with her gran at Alcott Hall. The house has been deserted for years and Lola soon discovers there are mysteries to be solved: why does the clock strike thirteen every night, who are the ghostly figures that haunt the corridors and what really happened to the Alcott family, who disappeared over 100 years before?

Ask the author and Book talk questions invite the reader to think more deeply about the themes in the book and reflect on their reading experience. Online lesson plans provide guidance in using this book in a range of settings, including independent, social and whole-class reading – all designed to support the reader to connect with the book and encourage a positive attitude to reading.

When I was a child I began to write stories for myself as I couldn’t find the stories I enjoyed so I started writing the stories I wanted to read! I love the Victorian ages and the idea of a family going missing one night seemed an exciting basis of a story within an old gothic mansion on a windswept cliff, and the idea that a clock strikes 13 times, but no one knows why sent chills down my spine. But the name Alcott Hall was inspired by the author who wrote, Little Women. Her name was Louisa May Alcott.