Library

On Tuesday 21st of May, the author Matt Brown came into the school to give a talk to the pupils of Year 4 and class 3G.

Matt Brown worked in radio and television as a presenter before becoming an author. So far, he has written three books in the ‘Compton Valance’ series and is currently working on a series following the adventures of the pupils attending Dreary Inkling School.

The latest book in the Dreary Inkling School series, ‘Mutant Zombies Cursed My School Trip’, was the main focus of the talk he gave the pupils of The Oaks Primary School. Taking place in the main hall of the school, the author also gave the pupils a few useful tips about writing their own stories, including how to easily and quickly come up with character names by combining the name of their pet with the street they lived on. The pupils seemed particularly enthusiastic about this and took great delight in sharing the names they came up with.  At one point, the author asked the pupils about the typical rules associated with supernatural creatures such as vampires and zombies and how they can be broken in order to create an interesting story. The pupils engaged well with this activity and came up with many creative suggestions. The author was interesting and easily kept the attention of the pupils throughout his talk as he explained how he often used the punchlines of jokes to help with the process of writing his books. At one point, the author performed a magic trick with numbers which, even though it involved maths, engaged the pupils who all joined in and shouted out the number they were thinking of when the author asked them to. The author finished off the talk by reading a few extracts from his book, ‘Mutant Zombies Cursed My School Trip’, before answering any questions the pupils might have about the book or about the actual craft of writing. Hopefully, by the sounds of some of the questions, a few of the pupils may end up being inspired to write their own stories.

Afterwards, the author signed copies of his book in the library for those children who wished to buy one.

On Wednesday 27th March, author Matt Oldfield came into school to work with the children as part of the Boys’ Book Club; the club’s aim is to reignite the boys’ interest in books and reading, and, from what I saw on Wednesday, it was highly successful. Taking place in the Community Room of the Oaks Primary School, the boys had the opportunity to meet Matt, learn about some football heroes and eventually create their own small book about their personal hero.

Matt Oldfield predominantly writes books about real life footballers in his Ultimate Football Heroes series and the boys jumped at the opportunity to ask him questions about football with some of the boys also interested in the actual writing process itself. The author was interesting and knowledgeable about his subject and managed to hold the boys’ attention throughout the session. He then went on to discuss what exactly made somebody a hero with the boys having the opportunity to choose their own heroes and write a fact sheet about them that they would then later use to make a small book.

After a quick break for squash and cake, the session continued after school with a bookmaking activity shared by parents. The boys made books about the hero they had chosen earlier. There was a great variety in the choice of hero with Roald Dahl and a few family members putting in an appearance alongside well-known footballers. Each boy created a small book about their chosen hero with the aim of creating a display of the best work in the hall for everyone to see. With staff on hand with iPads to provide any additional information the boys might need, silence quickly fell as the boys engaged with the activity - they produced some amazing work in the small amount of time available to them. Then, for those who wanted to, there was the opportunity to buy the author’s book and get them signed.

All in all, it was a very interesting afternoon with the children involved appearing to get a lot out of meeting Matt and fully engaging with the activities.