My TGS
TGS children meet 5 Published Authors in Reading Festival
28th March 23
The Spring term has brought the annual return of an enriching week of reading and literacy, Meet the Author week. From Monday 27th February to Friday 3rd March, our school was visited by five published authors who shared their books, creativity and knowledge about the publishing industry with TGS children: Radiya Hafiza, Suzanne Hemming, Mark Pallis, Claire Alexander and returning author Molly Arbuthnott.
Meeting Ms Hafiza was an especially exciting treat for our Form 3 children, who read her whimsical debut novel Rumyasa: A Fairytale in class. Rumyasa reimagines classic fairy tales with a fresh and empowering message that anyone can be a hero. The children were delighted to meet the author who wrote the book, to hear her read the first few pages of her sequel, Rumyasa: Ever After, and asked her very insightful questions about writing and publishing a book.
Author Suzanne Hemming read two of her empowering books to our children – She’s Not Good for a Girl, She’s Just Good! as well as The Queen Engineer. The children were enamoured with their beautifully illustrated books with such important messages to hear and discuss. Mark Pallis shared his children’s book, The Fabulous Lost & Found, a heart-warming and funny bilingual children’s book written to help children learn French.
Listening to a reading from our returning author Molly Arbuthnott once again was a delight for the children, who fell in love with her children’s book series Oscar the Ferry Cat when she first visited during last year’s Meet the Author week. Some children even brought their Oscar books from home, and a few even wore shirts depicting illustrations of the famed feline!
Reading fun wasn’t confined to the classroom, either. As a part of our literacy curriculum, our Reception children went on a trip to Pickled Pepper Books in Crouch End to attend a reading of author and illustrator Claire Alexander’s book The Think Ups. Her book is all about play and imagination, and shares how children can use their big imaginations to summon up all sorts of marvellous creatures with the power of thought.
Meet the Author is an exciting week which is designed to spark enthusiasm towards reading, literacy and stories in children, as a part of the larger focus on the arts in our Spring term. As a culmination of this weeklong festival of reading, the children debuted their own ‘published’ books with their classes, teachers and parents and represented themselves as authors with confidence! We are so thankful to all five of our wonderful authors who delighted the children with their books.
