A.I.M. High Writing Day at Whichurch C.E. Junior Academy

 I'm looking forward to visiting Whitchurch C.E. Junior Academy tomorrow where I'll be working with some of their young writers, and some from Tushingham with Grindley C of E Primary, Moreton Say C of E Primary, Shocklach Oviatt C of E Primary, and Hodnet Primary School... 

I can't wait to meet everyone and see what stories are created. It's always a fun and interesting day. Huge thanks to Authors Abroad for organising it all.

A.I.M. High Writing Day - Holden Clough Primary School

Here's a huge HELLO to everyone that will be attending the A.I.M. High Writing Day at Holden Clough Primary School, Ashton-under-Lyne on Thursday - organised by the wonderful people at Authors Abroad . That's Medlock Valley Community School, Our Lady of Mount Carmel RC Primary School, Parochial C of E Primary and Nursery School, Millbrook Primary School, and, of course, Holden Clough Primary School.

Bring, your pens, pencils, and imaginations... it's going to be a fun, creative day. I'm looking forward to meeting and working with everyone. 

A Busy Week with Schools and Awards

 Next week is going to be a busy one where I'll be travelling round quite a bit. I'll need to squeeze in some time for writing too. 

On Monday I'm visiting Ysgol Yr Hafod in Johnstown to start off their book week. A HUGE HELLO to you all - I'm looking forward to meeting everyone.

Another HUGE HELLO to everyone that will be spending the day with me at Walverden Primary School for the A.I.M. High Writing Day that has been organised by Authors Abroad. As well as seeing my friends from Walverden Primary School I'm looking forward to meeting and working with eager writers from Bradley Primary School, Holy Saviour RC Primary School, Barrowford Primary School, Reedley Primary School, and Trawden Forest Primary School... it's going to be a fun day. 

As well as visiting a couple of schools, I'm excited to be travelling down to London to attend the Fiction Express Awards Night where I'll be receiving a couple of awards... More about that later...

Malodorous Hippo Water and Visiting Schools

As a writer you traditionally spend most of your working life sat quietly at a desk typing, pulling out what remains of your hair and banging your forehead on the wall for inspiration (other sources of inspiration are available and strongly recommended). But being a children's author gives another side to the job that's completely different - that of the school visitor (and this in itself also has two sides).

One is that of storyteller, performer and entertainer - while it's not something that all authors enjoy, I for one love it. I love the excitement of visiting a new school and introducing a whole new audience to my work. I share poems and stories, show how a book is made, answer lots of questions and even try out new work in progress... there's nothing like reading something out loud to see if it works. These days are fun and exciting and I love the feeling that by the end of the day I might have inspired someone to pick up a book and read - either mine or someone else's. 

The other side to school visits is that of the writing workshop. These can last for an hour if moving from one class/group to another but the best and most productive sessions can last for a whole day (or even longer). Rather than coming along with the start of a story for everyone to work on I like to start with a clean sheet, a blank page... That's how it is for any author setting out to write a story and that's what I like to show the children. This way, the children get to create a character and build up a story from scratch which gives them complete creative ownership of it. 

Yesterday I spent the day at Monks Coppenhall Primary Academy in Crewe, working with a group of year four writers - and we were joined by other eager writers from Beechwood Primary, Underwood West Academy, Leighton Academy and St Oswald's Worleston Academy... around 30 children in all.

Having the whole day together meant that so much more could be done, and at a better pace, than in a typical classroom environment with time constraints. Using a flip chart and pens we go on a story journey together - creating a character and marking out the rough map that our journey will take. 

The children get to see the reason why I don't illustrate my own books as I draw a character and add a bit of background that can be the cover of a book. The children are soon chomping at the bit and eager to get started on creating their own character and they all take great joy in making a cover for their book. Even the shyest and most self conscious of the children dive in once they realise how much fun it is and how no one is being judged or marked on what they do. 

Stories are made to be shared so I encourage anyone that wants to, to show what they have done to the rest of the class. A couple may be a little reluctant at first but it's not long before they are the ones wanting to share each new part of their story with the class.

Yesterday's story journey followed a little girl/boy whose adventuring parents had got themselves lost in the depths of a swamp. On the journey our hero encountered, amongst other things a giant talking frog - and there were far too many variations of this creature to go into here - some wore clothes, some had eaten the parents, one had the parents trapped in a giant pea pod and one was robotic...

It really was a joy to see how the children grew in confidence throughout the day and to see how much they really enjoyed writing and illustrating their own stories. Needless to say, there were a few tears shed, though that's what happens what you laugh so much. I can only apologise for the running mascara Miss. 

The story word of the day was "Malodorous" suggested by "R"...
The odd thing of the day was "Hippo Water"
The special type of person of the day was "People That Wear Underpants" (and just to clarify - that means superheroes).

A huge thank you to everyone that took part... it was a truly fun and inspirational day. Have fun writing and drawing...

The British School of Tashkent

This week I'm at the British School of Tashkent in Uzbekistan.  I'm having a great time with everyone and will be writing about it all when I get back home...

A week in Switzerland

Yesterday I had lots of fun meeting and working with everyone at Ysgol Llanddulas and hopefully I will be seeing everyone again rally soon. There were some great story ideas and lots of great questions... It only took me half an hour to drive to school as it is only about 34 miles from where we live but not all schools I visit are as close to home.
Last week I was more than 650 miles from home visiting schools in Switzerland. It took me a lot longer to get there...

I was up early on Monday morning putting my bags into the car and then driving down the motorway to Manchester airport so I could catch the morning flight to Geneva. It was a wet and windy Manchester morning as I boarded the Easy Jet flight.


Once in the air, the plane soared above the clouds and into bright sunshine at a height of over 37,000 feet. From up there the world looks very different.  

The flight only takes about an hour and a half so there was just time for a cup of coffee and a little read of my book before were we flying over Lake Geneva and touching down in Switzerland where the sun was shining brightly and it was very warm. 

From there I collected my suitcase, made my way down to the railway station and caught a train to Aigle, a small town at the far end of Lake Geneva. The railway line runs along the side of the lake and it seems strange being on a train for so long (an hour and twenty minutes) and still having the lake by the side of you... but then the Lake Geneva is about 45 miles in length. 

I arrived in Aigle sometime after 5pm where I was met by Marco, a mini bus driver from the school that I would be visiting the next day. Marco drove me up into the mountains to the village of Villars-sur-Ollon and dropped me off at the hotel where I would be spending the night. 

You never know what to expect when visiting a hotel, but the Alpe Fleurie Hotel was perfect and my room was excellent - I could happily have stayed there all week. It was comfortable and cozy and I even had a balcony... what more could you want?

The hotel would be a perfect place to stay for a skiing holiday but there was no snow around last week (except on the highest mountains). After unpacking my case I went for a little wander around the town and picked up a pizza for tea... Delicious! 

The next morning I was up early, took this picture of the view from my window and went downstairs for breakfast (fresh, crusty bread, Swiss cheese, salami, ham, coffee and fresh orange Yum!) At eight o'clock I was picked up from the hotel and driven up to La-Garenne International Bilingual School for an early start. 

It was fantastic meeting everyone at school and I was made to feel extremely welcome by all of the children and teachers... The school itself looks very different to schools here in the UK as you can see from this picture of a couple of the school buildings...

The views from the classrooms were beautiful too. It's hard to imagine how anyone gets any work done.

The school day flew by even though its a much longer day than we have here and, after a great time sharing stories and talking about writing, I was soon waiting for a bus to take me back down the mountain to Aigle. I was on the bus by five o'clock and winding my way down the narrow road. Forty-five minutes later I was on the train to Nyon, then an hour or so later was jumping into a taxi for a short ride to my next hotel. It was just after 7 o'clock in the evening when I finally flopped onto my bed - Phew! it had been a long day but lots of fun. 

Another early start on Wednesday with a coffee and a croissant for breakfast before being picked up and taken to see the wonderful infants at College Champittet in Nyon. The school is only open in the morning so I had the afternoon free. 

There wasn't much to see by the hotel I was staying in but one of the teachers kindly drove me up the mountain to look at the amazing view... and it was well worth the trip. This picture was taken from high up on the mountain where you might normally get a good view of Lake Geneva, however, the lake and the surrounding towns and villages were overcast with clouds. After driving up through the clouds though there was a fantastic view. It looked as if a sea of clouds had covered the lake with only the Alps towering above on the other side of the lake. There was even a good view of Mont Blanc covered in snow. 

Up early again on Thursday and another taxi ride into Nyon to meet the head of English from College Champittet, Pully-Lausanne. There, we caught the train to Lausanne and headed down the hill to the College where I spend the day with years 5, 6, and 8. Another fun and busy day. 

After school it was time to head back up the hill... much steeper than it had seemed on the way down as I was dragging my heavy suitcase behind me. I caught a final train back to Geneva airport then a few hours waiting around for my flight home. I arrived home at about 11 in the evening, exhausted after all the travelling but thrilled to have been able to spend the week in Switzerland. 

It was fantastic meeting everyone and all of the the children and teachers were enthusiastic and friendly. I was really made to feel at welcome and was very well looked after. A big thank you to everyone that I met and special thanks to everyone that took such good care of me. I can't wait to come again.

Au revoir for now...  

School Visits in Switzerland (Part 1)

According recent research carried out by YouGov being an 'author' is the most desired job in Great Britain with 60% of people interviewed stating that it would the job they would most like to have, so I feel very lucky. My wife, Vicky, is a librarian - voted the second most desirable job - so it looks like we have it made.
Being an author isn't the easy job that some people imagine though. Not only do most authors not get paid anywhere near as much as you might think but also there's also the added worry of not knowing when (or even if) you're going to get paid. But despite this, I love it... and for me it really is the best job in the world. There's nothing else I would rather do.

Not only do I love spending my time writing stories and rhymes for young people but, another great (and essential) part of the job is visiting schools, libraries and just about anywhere else that will have me. It's wonderful having the opportunity to share stories and meet keen young readers and writers - and equally great meeting those less keen readers and writers and showing just what they might be missing and how much fun it can be. As an adult it can be easy to forget just how much hard work is involved in learning to read... something which can easily take away the sheer enjoyment of reading for pleasure.

As well as visiting schools and libraries all around the UK I am lucky to get invited to visit schools abroad. Just before the Easter Holidays I spent a few days visiting schools in and around Montreux in Switzerland... Here's how it went:

I was all packed and ready the night before my journey was due to start so that I could set off nice and early and drive to the airport for my flight to Geneva. The plane took off on time and we were soon cruising at 39,000 feet (see picture above). Just time for a coffee, a biscuit and a read of my book and we were flying over Lake Geneva and preparing to land.

The next step of the journey was a train ride along the side of Lake Geneva. The fact that I was on the train for over an hour shows just how big the lake is. The Deputy Head of one of the schools that had arranged the visit kindly met me at the railway station in Montreux and showed me the way to the hotel where I would be staying.

After checking in to my room I had just enough time for a little look around Montreux. Before long the sun was starting to set as you can see in this picture of the statue of Freddie Mercury that looks out across the lake.

It was time for me to head back to the hotel so I could get something to east and have an early night... all ready for my visit to St George's International School the following morning.  

As you will soon see from Part 2 of my Switzerland visit, some of the schools I visited probably look a lot different to the school you go to. Do you have skis lined up outside your classroom?  

The International School of Monts - de - Corsier

I had a wonderful time meeting everyone at Monts - de - Corsier yesterday. A big thank you to everyone for making me feel so welcome and a special thank you to these two wonderful author/illustrators for sharing their excellent book about Mouse's big adventure. 

A BIG HELLO and thank you to Reuben and Josh (and their Mum and Dad of course) for letting me join them for tea... it was great to meet you. Hope you really enjoy the rest of Lord Of The Rings Reuben...
Today I'm looking forward to meeting everyone at Ecole Riviera... See you all soon.