Author Visits: The Manor Prep

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Last year, I received an amazing letter from a young reader called Nina, who had read my books and wanted me to come and visit her school, The Manor Prep.  Their wonderful school librarian Catherine Mentzel and I then organised a visit, and so last month I went to visit Nina's school!

It was a pleasure to meet Nina, and to talk about our favourite books – she is clearly a brilliant reader, and I am sure a brilliant writer too!  It was wonderful then to talk to everyone in Years 6, 5, 4 and 3 about reading and books.  It was great to hear that many of them had already read one of my books, from Varjak Paw to Tyger.  The huge range of books they mentioned as favourites was a tribute to the terrific work their librarian had clearly done in building a culture of reading for pleasure! 

There were many, many questions – more than we had time to answer on the day!  So if anyone at The Manor has any more questions they would like to ask, or anything they would like to say about the visit or my books, just leave me a comment in the box below!

It was a total honour to sign books at the end of the day for the many young readers who'd ordered them.  So here's a huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to Nina, Catherine Mentzel and everyone at The Manor Prep for a wonderful and memorable visit!

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The Children's Bookshow 2025

I'd like to say a massive THANK YOU to all the brilliant children, teachers and librarians I met when I visited Peterborough with The Children's Bookshow last month – and I'd like to thank everyone at The Children's Bookshow for inviting me to work with them again, and for making these fantastic events possible!

The Children's Bookshow is an amazing charity that's dedicated to inspiring children's love of reading and books.  They organise huge events around the country – like the ones I did in Coventry last year – where children from many local schools come together to see writers and illustrators talking about their work.  This year, I talked to around 900 children in the New Theatre in Peterborough!  Here's a clip where I'm replying to one of their brilliant questions about writing:

After the big theatre event, every single child who attends is given a free copy of the book, as part of the event.  I think this is an absolutely incredible thing – and it's a total thrill for a writer to be able to hand out books to every child, as you can probably tell from this video!

Some of the children are then also given free creative writing workshops in their classrooms!  So it was a total pleasure for me to visit Wittering Primary School, St John's Church School, Paston Ridings Primary School and Lime Academy Parnwell.  The children in all these schools produced absolutely fantastic stories, which I loved hearing.  And I was able to answer a few more of their questions – but if anyone who came to these events has a question we didn't have time to answer, just put in the comments below!

Once again, the whole experience was one of the most exciting and rewarding I've had as an author - so THANK YOU again to everyone who was part of it!

Author Visits: Ark Byron Primary Academy & Ark Priory Primary Academy

I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to the brilliant librarian Jennifer Ong and the fantastic booksellers of Waterstones Chiswick for organising my first school visit of the year – and to all the children and teachers at Ark Byron and Ark Priory Primary Academies for the wonderful welcome they gave me when I visited them last week!

I had the pleasure of talking to Years 6, 5 and 4 in both schools about reading and writing and books.  It was amazing to see that a lot of them had already read one or more of my books, from Varjak Paw to Tyger.  They were clearly fantastic readers, and I was very impressed at the range of reading they had done - a tribute to the work of their wonderful school librarian!

It was such an inspiring thing for a writer to see so much enthusiasm for books – and there were many more questions than we had time to answer on the day.  So if anyone who was at the visit has a question they would still like to ask, just leave me a comment below!

It was also a total pleasure to sign books for everyone who had ordered one, via the brilliant Waterstones booksellers.  So thank you to them again for organising this visit – and HAPPY READING to everyone at Ark Byron and Ark Priory!  

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Author Visits: Tyndale Community School

I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to Sara Shabir, Hannah Dawson, and all the brilliant Year 6s, 5s & 4s I met when I visited Tyndale Community School this week!

Year 6 had just finished reading Tyger that morning, and I walked into their classrooms to be greeted by a thunderous round of applause – one of the nicest receptions I've ever received at a school!  I was then shown some of the fantastic work they'd been doing with the book.

There was wonderful artwork and writing of all sorts: Adam debating with himself whether to tell Zadie about the tyger; persuasive speeches to turn the mob on Sir Mortimer Maldehyde; and a brilliant account of using the power of imagination to become an oak tree!  

It was then a pleasure to talk to Years 6, 5 & 4 about reading, writing and books, and to answer lots of questions!  I even decided to read them a little bit from the latest draft of the new book I'm working on.  We didn't have enough time to answer all the questions, so if anyone from Tyndale would like to ask another question, just leave a comment in the box below. 

It was wonderful to end the day with a bookselling and signing session, where I signed books for everyone who wanted one – thanks to the brilliant Caper books for doing such a great job!  And huge thanks again to the wonderful teachers and children of Tyndale for doing such amazing work with Tyger, and for such a brilliant visit – my last of the year, and one of the very best!

Tyger art from Oundle School!

Last month, thanks to brilliant librarian Leigh Giurlando, I had the pleasure of visiting Oundle School, where Tyger had been chosen as this year's book for the Oundle Great Read.  As part of the Great Read, Year 7 & 8 students were asked to create Tyger book covers in their art class.  I loved the results so much, and thought they showed so much brilliant creativity, I just wanted to share a few of them here!

I'd just like to say a huge CONGRATULATIONS to all the children on their work – I could have filled this entire blog with their brilliant Tyger art, these are just a few examples!  And THANK YOU again to everyone at Oundle for reading Tyger, and doing such wonderful work with the book!

Author Visits: Oundle School

I'd like to say a very big THANK YOU to the brilliant librarian Leigh Giurlando for inviting me to visit Oundle School – and to all the brilliant Year 7s and 8s I met when I visited them earlier this month!

I was incredibly honoured to learn that Tyger had been chosen as this year's book for the Oundle Great Read, where every Year 7 & 8 is given a particular book to read.  They then take part in a photo competition, showing themselves reading the book in unique locations around the world, as well as doing all sorts of activities around it in different departments. 

This was the winning picture.  I loved the way it conjured the ending of the book, with the return of the light after Midwinter Night, and the streaming of power from Adam and Zadie!  I was also blown away to see a picture that featured actual tigers in the background!  Here's a wonderful montage – you can see much more in this lovely blog on the school's website. 

     

As well as all this, the author of the Great Read book is invited to visit the school and talk about their books.  I loved talking with Years 7 and 8, and answering their fantastic questions – there were so many, and they were so thoughtful!  And it was then a total pleasure too to sign books for everyone at the end of the day.  So THANK YOU again to everyone involved for a fantastic visit, and for doing such amazing things with Tyger!

UPDATE: You can see some of the amazing artwork created by the students after the visit in this blog post!

The Children's Bookshow

 I'd like to say a huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to all the amazing children, teachers and librarians I met when I visited Coventry with The Children's Bookshow this week – and I'd like to thank everyone at The Children's Bookshow for inviting me to work with them, and for making this all possible!

The Children's Bookshow is a brilliant charity that works very hard to inspire children around the country with a love of reading and books.  They organise huge events where children from many schools come together to see writers and illustrators talking about their work.  Every child is then given a free copy of a book – and some of them then go on to do creative workshops in their classrooms!

So this year, I did an event at the Warwick Arts Centre attended by 500 children and their teachers, from schools around Coventry.  It's a fantastic theatre space, and I loved being able to talk to so many people at once about reading and writing and books – and then to hand out a copy of Tyger to every child who attended, thanks to the generosity of The Children's Bookshow!  

We then went on to do workshops at Cannon Park Primary, Spon Gate Primary, Newdigate Primary and Little Heath Primary.  I worked with the children through the process of having ideas for stories, writing first drafts, and then editing them, and they produced some fantastic pieces of writing!  

It was a total pleasure to do this, and the whole experience was one of the most exciting and inspiring experiences I've ever had as an author – so THANK YOU again to everyone who was part of it!

Year 5 have written an amazing range of first drafts after being completely inspired by @whatSFSaid. Huge thanks to @ChildrensBkShow for a magical day!#ReadingForPleasure pic.twitter.com/Tj8ZXH5CW4

— Cannon Park Primary (@CannonParkSch) November 5, 2024

Thank you @ChildrensBkShow for organising this fabulous event with @whatSFSaid. We found it fascinating listening about the writing process used! The children have asked if we can do a #Tyger #bookclub and even started reading it on the way back to school! #reading @warwickarts pic.twitter.com/bTM1cUaXva

— 🧡 Abbey Catholic School 🧡 (@AbbeyPrimary) November 5, 2024

Author Visits: Children's Bookfest & Rose Green Junior School

I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to Karen Ison and all the students and staff I met at Rose Green Junior School when I had the pleasure of visiting them last week – and to Georgina Lippiett, Jen Rogers and everyone at Children's Bookfest for making this visit possible!

Children's Bookfest is an amazing organisation that brings authors into schools.  The authors do events, and then every child is given a copy of a book, which the author signs and dedicates for them.  I was delighted to do an event for them in Chichester last year, and was excited to do another one in Bognor Regis at Rose Green, organised by the brilliant teacher Karen Ison.

We had a fantastic assembly where we talked about reading and writing and books, and it was clear that there were many brilliant readers in this school.  Some of them had come across all my books before, from Varjak Paw onwards.  But the book that everyone was currently reading was my new book Tyger, which Children's Bookfest had given to everyone in Years 5 and 6.  

I saw some fantastic creative writing and artwork that Year 6 had done with Tyger last year.  And this year's Year 6 were already getting started on it – a wonderful thing for an author to see!

It's an incredible thing to feel the buzz around reading and books that this kind of visit creates.  There's something so inclusive and inspiring about giving a book to every child on a visit, and I've loved working with Children's Bookfest.  So thanks again to everyone who was part of this brilliant day!  And thanks to Karen Ison for the fantastic photos!

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Author Visits: Welton St Mary's

 I'd like to say a very big THANK YOU to Paul Gibson-Barton and all the amazing students and staff at Welton St Mary's Academy for the wonderful welcome they gave me when I visited them last week!

It was a total pleasure to talk to Years 4, 5 and 6 about reading and books.  This is a school where they've been reading my books for a long time now, so it was wonderful to see that a lot of them had already read Varjak Paw, or Phoenix, or even Tyger!

There were lots of fantastic questions, although we didn't quite have enough time to answer all of them!  So if anyone from WSM would like to ask me another question, or to say anything about the visit or my books, just leave me a comment below!

It was also wonderful to do a workshop with Year 4, who'd just been reading Varjak Paw, and to see some of the work they'd been doing with it.  They had created these amazing story maps, and were able to tell the story themselves by using them!

And finally, it was a total pleasure to sign books for everyone who'd ordered a book.  HAPPY READING to everyone at WSM – and thank you again for a fantastic visit!

Author Visits: Parklands Primary

I want to say a massive THANK YOU to legendary Headteacher Chris Dyson, inspirational librarian Aimee Allpress, and all the amazing children and staff I met when I visited Parklands Primary School!

I had seen pictures of Mr Dyson's incredible assemblies on Twitter, but I was absolutely blown by the joyful atmosphere in the assembly, where I handed out certificates to some brilliant young readers, writers & mathematicians!

It was then a total pleasure to talk to Years 6, 5, 4 and 3 about reading, writing and books.  Mr Dyson had with incredible generosity bought a copy of my new book TYGER for every single child, and at the end of these sessions, it was an extraordinary and wonderful thing to hand them out as gifts to everyone.

At the end of the day, the brilliant school librarian Aimee Allpress showed me the display they'd made about my books in the library, and inducted me as an honorary member into the school's Parklands Perusers reading club, and gave me a badge that I will wear with pride!

Thank you so much again for a truly memorable school visit!  Happy Christmas – and Happy Reading Every Day – to everyone at Parklands!