Author Visits: Ark Byron Primary Academy & Ark Priory Primary Academy

I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to the brilliant librarian Jennifer Ong and the fantastic booksellers of Waterstones Chiswick for organising my first school visit of the year – and to all the children and teachers at Ark Byron and Ark Priory Primary Academies for the wonderful welcome they gave me when I visited them last week!

I had the pleasure of talking to Years 6, 5 and 4 in both schools about reading and writing and books.  It was amazing to see that a lot of them had already read one or more of my books, from Varjak Paw to Tyger.  They were clearly fantastic readers, and I was very impressed at the range of reading they had done - a tribute to the work of their wonderful school librarian!

It was such an inspiring thing for a writer to see so much enthusiasm for books – and there were many more questions than we had time to answer on the day.  So if anyone who was at the visit has a question they would still like to ask, just leave me a comment below!

It was also a total pleasure to sign books for everyone who had ordered one, via the brilliant Waterstones booksellers.  So thank you to them again for organising this visit – and HAPPY READING to everyone at Ark Byron and Ark Priory!  

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Author Visits: Tyndale Community School

I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to Sara Shabir, Hannah Dawson, and all the brilliant Year 6s, 5s & 4s I met when I visited Tyndale Community School this week!

Year 6 had just finished reading Tyger that morning, and I walked into their classrooms to be greeted by a thunderous round of applause – one of the nicest receptions I've ever received at a school!  I was then shown some of the fantastic work they'd been doing with the book.

There was wonderful artwork and writing of all sorts: Adam debating with himself whether to tell Zadie about the tyger; persuasive speeches to turn the mob on Sir Mortimer Maldehyde; and a brilliant account of using the power of imagination to become an oak tree!  

It was then a pleasure to talk to Years 6, 5 & 4 about reading, writing and books, and to answer lots of questions!  I even decided to read them a little bit from the latest draft of the new book I'm working on.  We didn't have enough time to answer all the questions, so if anyone from Tyndale would like to ask another question, just leave a comment in the box below. 

It was wonderful to end the day with a bookselling and signing session, where I signed books for everyone who wanted one – thanks to the brilliant Caper books for doing such a great job!  And huge thanks again to the wonderful teachers and children of Tyndale for doing such amazing work with Tyger, and for such a brilliant visit – my last of the year, and one of the very best!

The Children's Bookshow

 I'd like to say a huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to all the amazing children, teachers and librarians I met when I visited Coventry with The Children's Bookshow this week – and I'd like to thank everyone at The Children's Bookshow for inviting me to work with them, and for making this all possible!

The Children's Bookshow is a brilliant charity that works very hard to inspire children around the country with a love of reading and books.  They organise huge events where children from many schools come together to see writers and illustrators talking about their work.  Every child is then given a free copy of a book – and some of them then go on to do creative workshops in their classrooms!

So this year, I did an event at the Warwick Arts Centre attended by 500 children and their teachers, from schools around Coventry.  It's a fantastic theatre space, and I loved being able to talk to so many people at once about reading and writing and books – and then to hand out a copy of Tyger to every child who attended, thanks to the generosity of The Children's Bookshow!  

We then went on to do workshops at Cannon Park Primary, Spon Gate Primary, Newdigate Primary and Little Heath Primary.  I worked with the children through the process of having ideas for stories, writing first drafts, and then editing them, and they produced some fantastic pieces of writing!  

It was a total pleasure to do this, and the whole experience was one of the most exciting and inspiring experiences I've ever had as an author – so THANK YOU again to everyone who was part of it!

Year 5 have written an amazing range of first drafts after being completely inspired by @whatSFSaid. Huge thanks to @ChildrensBkShow for a magical day!#ReadingForPleasure pic.twitter.com/Tj8ZXH5CW4

— Cannon Park Primary (@CannonParkSch) November 5, 2024

Thank you @ChildrensBkShow for organising this fabulous event with @whatSFSaid. We found it fascinating listening about the writing process used! The children have asked if we can do a #Tyger #bookclub and even started reading it on the way back to school! #reading @warwickarts pic.twitter.com/bTM1cUaXva

— 🧡 Abbey Catholic School 🧡 (@AbbeyPrimary) November 5, 2024

Author Visits: Children's Bookfest & Rose Green Junior School

I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to Karen Ison and all the students and staff I met at Rose Green Junior School when I had the pleasure of visiting them last week – and to Georgina Lippiett, Jen Rogers and everyone at Children's Bookfest for making this visit possible!

Children's Bookfest is an amazing organisation that brings authors into schools.  The authors do events, and then every child is given a copy of a book, which the author signs and dedicates for them.  I was delighted to do an event for them in Chichester last year, and was excited to do another one in Bognor Regis at Rose Green, organised by the brilliant teacher Karen Ison.

We had a fantastic assembly where we talked about reading and writing and books, and it was clear that there were many brilliant readers in this school.  Some of them had come across all my books before, from Varjak Paw onwards.  But the book that everyone was currently reading was my new book Tyger, which Children's Bookfest had given to everyone in Years 5 and 6.  

I saw some fantastic creative writing and artwork that Year 6 had done with Tyger last year.  And this year's Year 6 were already getting started on it – a wonderful thing for an author to see!

It's an incredible thing to feel the buzz around reading and books that this kind of visit creates.  There's something so inclusive and inspiring about giving a book to every child on a visit, and I've loved working with Children's Bookfest.  So thanks again to everyone who was part of this brilliant day!  And thanks to Karen Ison for the fantastic photos!

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Author Visits: Welton St Mary's

 I'd like to say a very big THANK YOU to Paul Gibson-Barton and all the amazing students and staff at Welton St Mary's Academy for the wonderful welcome they gave me when I visited them last week!

It was a total pleasure to talk to Years 4, 5 and 6 about reading and books.  This is a school where they've been reading my books for a long time now, so it was wonderful to see that a lot of them had already read Varjak Paw, or Phoenix, or even Tyger!

There were lots of fantastic questions, although we didn't quite have enough time to answer all of them!  So if anyone from WSM would like to ask me another question, or to say anything about the visit or my books, just leave me a comment below!

It was also wonderful to do a workshop with Year 4, who'd just been reading Varjak Paw, and to see some of the work they'd been doing with it.  They had created these amazing story maps, and were able to tell the story themselves by using them!

And finally, it was a total pleasure to sign books for everyone who'd ordered a book.  HAPPY READING to everyone at WSM – and thank you again for a fantastic visit!

Author Visits: Parklands Primary

I want to say a massive THANK YOU to legendary Headteacher Chris Dyson, inspirational librarian Aimee Allpress, and all the amazing children and staff I met when I visited Parklands Primary School!

I had seen pictures of Mr Dyson's incredible assemblies on Twitter, but I was absolutely blown by the joyful atmosphere in the assembly, where I handed out certificates to some brilliant young readers, writers & mathematicians!

It was then a total pleasure to talk to Years 6, 5, 4 and 3 about reading, writing and books.  Mr Dyson had with incredible generosity bought a copy of my new book TYGER for every single child, and at the end of these sessions, it was an extraordinary and wonderful thing to hand them out as gifts to everyone.

At the end of the day, the brilliant school librarian Aimee Allpress showed me the display they'd made about my books in the library, and inducted me as an honorary member into the school's Parklands Perusers reading club, and gave me a badge that I will wear with pride!

Thank you so much again for a truly memorable school visit!  Happy Christmas – and Happy Reading Every Day – to everyone at Parklands!

Author Visits: East Hunsbury Primary

I'd like to say a huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to Kathryn Pennington, Ruth DeChastelain, and all the amazing students and staff I met when I had the pleasure of visiting East Hunsbury Primary School last week!

I had a sense that this might be a brilliant visit when the school posted a picture of their librarian dressed as a tiger, with a copy of my new book TYGER!  

This is definitely a school that works tirelessly to inspire the love of reading, and it was wonderful to talk to Years 6, 5, 4 and 3 about reading and writing and books, and to hear all about their favourites.  

What I was not prepared for was the fact that they had decorated their doors with book covers – and put some of my books among them, alongside some of my own favourites!

It was a total pleasure to sign books at the end of the day for everyone who wanted a book.  But if anyone missed out and would like a signed book, you can order one from Pea Green Boat Books, who did the bookselling on the day.  And if anyone from East Hunsbury would like to ask me another question, or to say anything about the visit, just leave me a comment below!

Virtual Visit to Park Hill Junior School

 I've had the pleasure of visiting Park Hill Junior School in Kenilworth a couple of times in the past, because this is a school where they've been reading my books for a long time now!  I wrote about those visits in these blogs.  But this year, I made my first-ever virtual visit to Park Hill after Year 6 wrote me some wonderful letters about Phoenix, which they've been reading:

So I had the pleasure of chatting virtually with Year 6 about Phoenix, and all its inspirations.  I also talked to Year 3 about Varjak Paw, which they were reading, and to Years 4 & 5 about all my books, and about reading and writing in general.  In every year group, it was great to see so much enthusiasm for reading and books, and to answer all the brilliant questions they asked me.   This really is a school with a lot of fantastic young readers and writers!

I also had the pleasure of working again with the wonderful Kenilworth Books, one of my favourite bookshops, who organised a virtual signing session so that everyone who wanted a signed book could get one!  But if anyone missed out on the day, I did sign some extra bookplates for them, so you can still get a signed book there.  

Thanks to Kenilworth Books for doing such a terrific job, and for these fabulous photos – and thanks to everyone at Park Hill Junior School for a brilliant virtual visit!  And if anyone at Park Hill would like to ask me another question, or to say anything about the visit or my books, just leave me a comment below!

Author Visits: The Grove Junior School

I'd like to say a very big THANK YOU to Tom Bolshaw and all the students and staff at The Grove Junior School for the fantastic welcome they gave me when I visited them at the end of last term!

It was a total pleasure to talk to Years 6, 5, 4 and 3 about writing and books, and to answer all of their questions.  I then spent some time with Year 5, looking at the brilliant work they'd been doing with Varjak Paw.

I was so impressed with their work that I decided to share some of it here!  So here's some fantastic Varjak-based writing from Catherine (above) and Anahad (below).

It was a pleasure at the end of the day to sign books for everyone who wanted them.  If anyone at the Grove missed out on the day, you can still order a signed book from the brilliant Pea Green Boat Books – just click this link to see the options!

And finally, there was one more thing to do on the day: a video interview with Gabriel and Catherine for the school's YouTube channel, all about writing!  They asked me some fantastic questions, and I told them everything I know about the subject.  Please do have a watch of this – I think it's fantastic!

Author Visits: Hamilton Primary

I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to Sarah Wright, Sian Richardson, Nick Hutchings and all the staff and students of Hamilton Primary for the wonderful welcome they gave me when I visited them last week!

I had the pleasure of talking to Years 6, 5, 4 & 3 about reading and books, and was hugely impressed with the wide range of reading they'd been doing.  It was brilliant to see that the Year 5s & 6s already knew my work, as this is a school where they read Phoenix in Year 5 alongside their Space topic.

I was lucky enough to see some of the fantastic writing and artwork the current Year 5s were doing with Phoenix, and I thought it was so good, I decided to share some of it here!

It was brilliant to be able to sign books for everyone at the end of the day, thanks to Red Lion Books, and to answer a few more questions. There were so many terrific questions during the assembly, we didn't have time to answer them all.  So if anyone at Hamilton has any more questions, or would like to say anything about the visit or my books, just leave me a message below.  But in the meantime, THANK YOU all again for a wonderful visit!

Author Visits: Clifton College

I'd like to say a very big THANK YOU to the brilliant librarian Jenny Jones and to everyone at Clifton College for the wonderful welcome they gave me when I visited them last week!

I had the pleasure of talking to Years 6, 5, 4 and 3 about reading and books.  There are some fantastic readers in this school, and it was inspiring to hear about their favourite stories.  Quite a few had already read Varjak Paw or Phoenix!

There were many excellent questions – more than we had time to answer on the day.  So if anyone from Clifton has any more questions, or would like to say anything about the visit or my books, just leave me a comment below!

It was also a pleasure to sign books at the end of the day for everyone who wanted them, and to talk a bit more to the students.  Some of them told me about stories of their own that they were writing.  So if anyone at Clifton would like any writing advice, here's a link to a blog I made about writing, which compares an early draft of Phoenix to the final draft!  HAPPY WRITING – AND HAPPY READING!