A visit from our ‘Author in Residence’ on World Book Day

We were very fortunate to have author Helen Moss visit both phases of our school last week to help us celebrate World Book Day. Dressed as ‘Irene Loveday’ a character from her Adventure Island series, she spoke to the whole of Primary phase during assembly, where students were able to share their favourite book characters and show off their wonderful costumes.

Helen then read a book called ‘Little Red and the Hungry Lion’ to Red Robins class. The reception pupils listened brilliantly to the story, which was an adaptation of the classic tale ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. They asked some great questions and really enjoyed talking to Helen about the differences between the two tales.

After break Helen carried out a ‘Dangerous Writing’ workshop with Year 6 students where she shared some useful tips for writing suspense scenes. She explained how to set the scene, zoom in on details and how to come up with a ‘yikes’ moment.

 “I think Helen Moss has helped us a lot with suspense writing. I also think that she has inspired a lot people to get involved with books.” Millie, Kingfishers

“Working with Helen Moss on our Year 6 suspense work was very good and she showed us lots of good ways to think of ideas.” Hannah, Kingfishers

“We had Helen Moss visit us on World Book Day and we did a writing workshop with her. The best word to describe her is ‘amazing’. I have read all her books and the writing makes me feel that I’m in the story. We would like to have her in again. Thank you.” Kelly, Kingfishers

In the afternoon, Helen met with our team of student editors in the secondary phase who are working on a creative writing anthology that we are producing with her. It was brilliant to receive some expert advice from a well-known published author on how to go about producing the collection of stories.

“We were really lucky to have our ‘Author in Residence’ the fantastic Helen Moss pay us a visit. Myself and the other editors met with her to discuss the anthology and how best to produce and publicise it. Helen loved all the stories and illustrations. We looked at the design of the book and how best to order the stories. We picked a title although this must remain a secret, I’m afraid!

 Meeting with Helen was invaluable experience as she gave us great tips on how to make the most out of your brilliant stories. It’s a real honour to be part of the editing team. Sitting there with the anthology in front of me was very exciting. It is really beginning to look like a very professional volume. We hope to launch the anthology in the summer term with Helen. A big thank you to Helen for coming in and giving us some fantastic ideas. Finally, thank you to everyone who has contributed stories and worked so hard over the past few months on the collection. We look forward to showing you the finished work!” Amelia 9B

Finally, at the end of the day Helen give a talk to the whole of Year 7, where she spoke about the inspiration behind her books and how she goes about researching them. There was an amusing reading from her short story ‘The Mystery of the Pineapple Plot’, when some of our students were given the opportunity to try on a Georgian wig and act out some of the main characters.

“Helen’s visit was very inspirational for young writers. She showed that writing a book is good for your creativity, imagination and prospective of the world around us, without limits. She explained how having unique characters in your story can make it more interesting and fun to read. This is because they paint a very detailed picture in your mind and help to give your story a purpose. She told us how being an author can be exciting at times because you can visit the places you are writing about to boost your story. For example; by learning about the food the country eats and what the people are like. We learnt that having a mystery in a story can make it more addictive and gives the reader a chance to be in the character’s shoes. Overall Helen demonstrated that writing can be really enjoyable if you are not afraid of letting your imagination run.” Jessica and Elana-Rose 7C

 

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