Monday May 20th 2024

Dear Diary,

Wow, what a day! I wouldn’t recommend following a KS2 assembly with eight thirty-minute classroom visits… all in one day! But I can’t deny that as tired as I am now, I’d still do it all over again tomorrow (if I didn’t have another school visit already booked). The pupils and staff at Linden Primary were a super audience, and they filled the day with so much fun that it was over in a flash. The poor Year 6 pupils were clearly still worn out after sitting their SATS last week, as a lot of their stories ended in death and destruction – but you can’t really blame them. The Design a Book Cover challenge was a firm favourite out of all the activities I put on. And there were some wonderful ideas for future books I should write in the Words of Warning series. With today’s visit being my tenth since the book was published on April 30th, I’d imagined myself finding things becoming a little repetitive by now. But that’s certainly not the case. Each visit is so different to the last – with the only real common ground being how many pupils comment on my earrings and necklace that match the book cover! (I think quite a few of them would like a set for themselves.) Knowing that so many children local to me now own a copy of my book, and might be tucked up in bed tonight reading it, fills me with so much joy. I know that many of the teachers at Linden today were concerned that reading for pleasure seems to have lost its charm – due to the advances in technology over recent years. But personally, I think there’s nothing better than losing yourself in a story. So, my mission is to encourage more children to pick up a book. And even if I can only persuade a small handful to do so at each school that I visit, I’ll take that as a win.