Five authors and poets gave talks to inspire our children during this year's virtual Book Week, including Chris Bradford, Matt Dickinson, Onjali Q. Rauf, Joseph Coehlo and Gillian McClure. Senior House Librarian, Mrs Kelly Johnson, explained, "What an incredible and memorable Book Week this year! Despite the challenges of an online Book Week, the children and staff enjoyed it immensely. The visiting authors were entertaining and inspiring and managed to interact with the pupils in a way that made them feel they were actually with us in school." The children also loved, new to this year, the recreating a book cover challenge as well as the ever-popular dress as a book character day to finish a week of celebrating the joy of reading.
Screenshots of Zoom sessions with our visiting authors
Performance poet and playwright Joseph Coehlo gave an inspiring talk to Byron House. He talked about how as a child he loved writing and creating news worlds and was inspired by his surroundings, often getting ideas looking out of the view from his window. Once a week as a young adult he would take his poems and perform them to a live audience - something he loved and he learned what audiences enjoy. With Form 1 and 2, Joseph explained how easy and simple it is to write one-word poems, with a long title. This became an interactive task with the children putting ideas in the chat on Zoom. The poet showed the children how to write Abercedarius (alphabet poems) and Moreraps as a way of incorporating different poetic devices. Form 1 and 2 then devised their own Moreraps poem using all the different poetic devices (an 83 person group poem!). One of his tips for the younger children was to always carry a pencil and paper around with you so you can jot your idea down whenever you have them. Through reading his book ‘If All the World Were…’ he showed how writing and drawing is a great way to express how you are feeling.
With T2 and Forms 1 and 2, author and illustrator Gillian McClure enthralled the children with her picture book 'Selkie.' and with KG & T1 her picture book 'Dog on Wheels', featuring the lovable dog Dubbin. For her initial illustrations she draws very quickly using black pen and she showed the children her sketch books and how she drew several versions of Dubbin and put a tick next to the ones she liked and might use later on. Her Selkie drawings are then produced with acrylics. The children were mesmerised by her reading of her magical story of Selkie the seal and an informative question and answer session followed. The children watched Gillian do some live drawing, using black ink. T2 and Forms 1 and 2 were set the task to draw a 10 minute sketch, using a black pen, of a beach that they know or one in their mind. They were encouraged to put themselves and a seal in the picture and then perhaps write a story opener or some questions to ask the Selkie.
Dress as a Book-Character Day
Film director, explorer and award-winning author Matt Dickinson gave an enthralling presentation about climbing Everest, film-making and glaciers. Matt, who wrote ‘The Everest Files’, spoke about his own experiences of climbing Mount Everest and he shared some fascinating and sometimes harrowing facts about Everest, including the fact that over 300 people have died in their attempt to climb the mountain. Risks formed part of Matt’s talk as he asked the children to consider the positive role that fear can play in making us focus more and helping us to remain safe. Matt has also made his way across Antarctica to be part of the first group to ever achieve the same on Mount William. Matt offered excellent advice on achieving ‘set-up, conflict, resolution’ and rising action that the children could focus on when writing their own stories. A Form 4 child remarked, 'I loved his adventurous spirit and how he wants to explore the world despite facing nature's harshest environments and having the satisfaction of marking another milestone in his life.'
The 'Recreate a Book Cover' Challenge
Author and black belt martial artist, Chris Bradford, transported the children to Japan where he brought the wonders of his ‘Young Samurai’ series to life. He talked about the nine different arts in which Chris trained to learn enough to write his series and the children faced the sharp point of his lethal samurai sword, learning how to treat the weapon with respect. The children witnessed a dynamic all-kicking all-punching book reading by Chris and enjoyed listening out for clues to answer his quiz. Another highlight of the author’s dynamic presentation was taking part in some real-life martial arts training! A Form 5 enthused, 'I really loved the pace of Chris Bradford's talk because he was so engaging and dynamic. He read his extracts in such a dynamic way and the quiz encouraged you to listen even more!'
Campaigner, activist and author Onjali Q Rauf's message was that no action to help humanity is too small and she explained the ripple effect that a single action launched with a simple intention can yield after she started the Making Herstory campaign in memory of her aunt. Onjali is the best-selling author of 'The Boy at the Back of the Class', a touching but funny book about a young refugee boy, Ahmet, and the friendships he builds at his new school. As the children discovered, Onjali uses her lived experiences to offer ideas and solutions to some of societies big social issues such as the plight of homelessness and the refugee crisis. Since 2015 she has delivered emergency aid convoys for refugee families surviving across northern France: an endeavour which led to the creation of her first children's novel, 'The Boy at the Back of the Class'. The book went on to win the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and the Blue Peter Book Award. It is this compassion for helping others that captivated the children's thoughts and one child in Form 4 explained, 'I really loved Onjali's talk because she taught me the importance of compassion and kindness and helping people who need it. It was an inspiring talk and I like the fact that her willingness to help others started on her way to school when she met a homeless man called Thomas and started to give him food.'
For more information about the authors: Joseph Coehlo, Matt Dickinson, Onjali Q. Rauf, Chris Bradford and Gillian McClure