Tuesday June 24th 2025

Dear Diary,

Today’s visit was to QEH Junior, an all-boys school in Bristol. And it was a real treat to be accompanied by my cover illustrator, Theo Jarvis, for this one! The pupils were a fantastic audience during my morning assembly and had some brilliant ideas for future titles in the Words of WARNING collection. They were also excited to meet Theo and discover what it’s like to be a published cover illustrator at the young age of thirteen!!!

Straight after the assembly, Theo and I did a whistlestop tour of each of the classrooms, giving him a chance to answer more of the pupils’ questions and the opportunity to show off his artistic talent. In each class, he demonstrated how to draw a dragon, with the students (and teachers) having a go at copying his instructions and producing some fantastic artwork of their own. Theo has such a wonderful way with people and is so charismatic. He’s certainly not afraid to stand up in front of groups of strangers, and he has a real knack for teaching others to draw. It was lovely to see him in his element and also to witness him receiving fan mail and being inundated with requests for his autograph. The pupils were still talking about him long after he left, with many of them proudly showing off their dragon pictures (that they’d continued to work on following his mini tutorials) throughout the day.

My first workshop, just before lunch, was for Years 3 & 4. We had great fun during this session, and so many of the pupils were keen to share their work aloud. I really enjoyed Toby’s story entitled Sorry, Sir, but a Dragon Ate My Homework:

… and Wilf’s story about what dragons do with doughnuts:

After a delicious lunch in the school cafeteria, it was time for a workshop for Year 6. Many of the pupils buddied up to work collaboratively during this session, such as Jago and James who came up with a rip-roaring story about dragon farts vs zombie farts:

I also thought the comedic style in which Joseph wrote his story was delightful:

My final session was for Year 5, who had just returned from swimming. But despite it being extremely hot and sticky indoors by this point, the pupils worked hard right up until the last minute. And I loved how many of them opted to continue with the writing activity rather than moving onto the drawing task. Among all the incredible work the pupils came up with, we were treated to a ridiculously entertaining rap, energetically performed by Eddie, Rupert, and Wilf:

… a cheeky story by Freddie:

… and a super story by Dylan:

Unsurprisingly (what with QEH being an all-boys school), the most popular title prompt chosen throughout the day was Dragon Farts vs Zombie Farts. But I was somewhat surprised (and thrilled) to see how many of these boys were passionate about books and reading for pleasure (given that boys often tend to be more reluctant to read than girls). Despite these boys producing all number of stinky stories, they were an absolute joy to spend time with. They were so polite, courteous, and helpful throughout my visit, and they effortlessly demonstrated the school’s core values of respect, resilience, reflection and kindness whilst I was there. I was very sad to say goodbye when the end of the day came… far too quickly… and I really hope to return to QEH next year with book 3!