I've been very lucky lately to have been invited to some great schools. Last week it was Oakham Primary School in the West Midlands. It was a great honour to have been adopted as the class author for this term by Class Twelve. I was so impressed by all the great literacy work the chldren had done based on the Adventure Island books. There was a display of brochures and leaflets they'd designed for different places on Castle Key Island, letters from some of the charaters, fascinating profiles of Jack, Scott and Emily, and beautifully written sentences describing different scenes.
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| Castle Key Brochures for Roshendra Farm, St Michaels Church, The Lighthous B & B, Westward Beach and more. . . |
I've never met a class who knew so much about my books! I had to be be very careful not to get the names of any of the minor characters wrong, as they would certainly put my straight! They'd even come up with the plot for anotehr Adventure Island book! It was all brilliantly set out on a "squid diagram" showing how Emily pretends to be kidnapped, making up some clues for the boys to follow, which leads to all kinds of problems, when she really is kidnapped - by Mr Piggott (The Mystery of the Whistling Caves) and The Hooded Man (The Mystery of the Secret Room) who have met in prison and plotted together to wreak revenge on Emily for thwarting their criminal plans! We had a lovely time discussing the ins and outs of the plot -especially how Drift would save the day. Well done, Class Twelve, you are all brilliant. I've put lots more of the great work and writing up on the Art Gallery page.
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| Class Twelves' Plot for Adventure Island Book Fifteen! |
Then last week I was off to Bedford to St Gregory's Middle Schoo. There is a very special Adventure Island connection with this school, as it was attended by Rosie Armitage, who won the Operation Diamond competition and as a prize, appeared as a character in The Mystery of the Phantom Lights. Rosie is now in Year Nine and has moved on to High School, but she came back for the morning to help with the workshop - along with her mum who is chaplain at the school. It was lovely to see them again, and great fun to tell all the children about their famous ex-pupil! The children who came to the workshop were all very creative and I will add some of your pictures to the Art Gallery page soon.
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| Rosie Armitage on surveillance with Scott in The Mystery of the Phamtom Lights |
Thank you to all the staff and children at both schools for making me so welcome.
Over the next few weeks I will be off to Ryde Academy in the Isle of Wight, Neale Wade Academy in March, and Winyates Primary School, Peterborough. I'll also be zipping around some local schools - at the launch of the school newspaperat Coton Primary, presenting the Writing Cup at Elsworth Primary and opening the library at Melbourn Primary. See you there!
