Diary of a Patron of Reading – First Visit

My day began very early. Four in the morning when the earth was still facing away from the sun. I was excited. It was a big day for me. I was getting ready to become the Patron of Reading at West Earlham Junior in Norwich.

I had to take a London bus #47 to reach Liverpool Street Station.

Then I took a train that would whisk me away to the historic city. I was so excited.  Can you tell?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was nervous because I was following in the footsteps of John Dougherty and he had assured me that the school would love me.

And they did. It was a wonderful school with friendly teachers, enthusiastic children. I had an amazing time during my first visit.

First after a hot cup of tea, I met the children in the assembly. I told them a little bit about myself and we talked about reading, imagining, stories in various forms and lots more. The questions came thick and fast.

The best part was that I got to visit every class and talk to the children about books, reading and stories. In Year 3, I told them stories from my books and we decided to do a story project where the children would write a story for an Indian mythological animal – the Kamadhenu. Click here to read about it.

In year 4 and 5, we talked about India, the various places in India and even wanted to set an adventure story set there. Some children wanted to develop the plot for a game with choices for the reader. How wonderful would that be?

Then I met Year 6 and read stories from my latest book A Jar of Pickles and a Pinch of Justice. The day flew past us in top speed and I hope everyone had fun.

Oh I almost forgot! During the lunch hour, I did something I was terrified of. I recorded a radio interview with some children and Ms Edwards. I was nervous. But the children asked me wonderful questions and I realised it wasn’t so bad after all.

During the assembly, we announced a new school wide project for reading. We are going to spend each term reading about a different country. And the countries would be chosen by the children.

The countries in the running are of course India followed by two of the below. I can’t wait to find out which countries the children have chosen. Which one would you choose?

1. Spain

2. China

3. Germany

4. Ireland

5. Australia