Thursday March 6th 2025 – World Book Day!
Dear Diary,
Today’s school visit was extremely special, as it was my very first World Book Day visit as a published children’s author! And on top of that, I got to return to Carrant Brook Junior – one of the very first schools I visited last year, shortly after my debut was released. It was a delight walking into familiar surroundings, being greeted by teachers I’d met last May, and seeing the excitable faces of so many children that I remembered. With WARNING: May Contain Dragons due to hit the shops soon, the pupils at Carrant Brook got an early taster of the book and listened beautifully whilst I read the opening chapters. Thankfully, my new assembly and activities seemed to go down rather well, despite this being the first time I’d delivered them. We had children producing written work based on dragon-related titles they were given. Then they drew comic strips or some characters from their written creations, all keen to win a certificate or one of the cuddly dragons that was on offer as a prize during each workshop. They all came up with some super work. But I especially loved Remi’s dialogue between a teacher and a pupil whose dragon had eaten some homework; Jamie’s story about a dragon who ate his grandma… no, that’s not right… his grandma who ate a dragon, then served dragon sandwiches up for lunch; and (if I’ve remembered the names correctly) Betsy and Peyton’s poem. There was a special surprise in store for one of the pupils, too! Despite her teachers and her parents being in on the secret, Willow had no idea until today that I’d named the main character in WARNING: May Contain Dragons after her. And her reaction when she found out had a few of us reaching for the tissues!!! I first met Willow when I visited Carrant Brook last year, but I saw her again shortly afterwards when I hosted a bookshop event and she tracked me down to buy a copy of my first book. So, to finally reveal to her today that I’d named my main character after her was the icing on the cake on what was a spectacular day! The pupils, teachers, and admin staff at Carrant Brook were brilliant again and couldn’t have been more helpful. (And it went a little crazy at the end of the day when we had to sell books without having any actual books again – just like we did last year, but this time around because the new book hasn’t been published yet.) The pupils all put so much effort into the activities I put on, so many of them wanted to share their wonderful work with their peers, and they behaved beautifully throughout my whole visit. I could write so much more, but I need to go and empty my author trolley of all things dragons and refill it with all things magic, ready for tomorrow’s visit. I love all of my school visits, but I can’t deny that Carrant Brook has a very special place in my heart, and I look forward to returning again next year… and hopefully for many years to come. BEST WORLD BOOK DAY EVER!!!
