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Author Visits

Children's Book Week

To celebrate Children’s Book Week 2011 we organised two events. We held a  book sale in the library with Norfolk Children’s Book Centre and  then we also invited the author, Tom Palmer to talk about writing and his books to children in years 2 to 8. Both events were greatly enjoyed by staff and pupils alike.  

Mrs Wootton

Visit of Geraldine McCaughrean and Sophy Williams

The award winning novelist Geraldine McCaughrean with Marcus Annegarn and Kenza Gray.  These Year 6 pupils interviewed the author, and the illustrator Sophy Williams, when they visited the school:

The Interview

Q:        What inspired you to become an author?

GM:    I was really shy – and I still am.  Writing was a way for me to become like the main characters in all my stories.

Q:        How did your family and friends help you to write?

GM:    My mother loved words and my brother wrote books as well.  He had his first book published at fourteen.

Q:        If you were not an author, what would you want to be?

GM:    A photographer, because I could catch moments and keep them forever.

Q:        Did you ever think you would write a book?

GM:    I always thought I would write a book, but not for other people to read.

Q:        Did you think you would become famous?

GM:    I honestly would not call myself famous.  The day I become famous is the day a taxi driver has heard of me.

Sophie Williams speaking to Years 4 and 5

Q:        Have you always been good at art?

SW:     Yes, ever since I was young.

Q:        Do you enjoy drawing?

SW:     Yes, very much.

Q:        Why did you choose to illustrate books?

SW:     Because if you paint pictures, then you have to think of what to paint.  I find that hard.

Q:        Where did you find your ideas for the illustrations in ‘The Nativity’?

A:        Geraldine paints pictures with words.  Some of the pictures were already there.  Other ideas came from memories of my childhood when I lived in the Middle East.

LINDA NEWBERY

On Monday 23rd March, Linda Newbery came to Town Close to talk about her Cat Stories. She read some stories and asked us to ask her some questions about her job.

To begin with, she talked to us about how she got the names for her stories. She is soon going to publish some called Ice Cat and one called The Cat That Wasn’t There. She thought of the name Ice Cat when her cat came in from the cold covered in snow.

Then she read a bit of her story Shop Cat. This story is about a cat that loves to sit in the shop window. A little girl called Hattie and her Great Uncle Theo look after the cat which has some sort of cleverness about it. Some people come and Hattie thinks there is something suspicious about them...

She doesn’t only write cat stories. She writes in a little shed at the bottom of her garden and enjoys writing very much. She does not do the illustrations, though she likes drawing a little bit. She thinks the illustrator of Cat Tales is good at drawing houses.

It was really, really fun because her stories were sooo good!

by Eleanor Lewis Williams (3H)