Betas Learn From Author

All our Betas (year 4s) were excited to have a special visit from award winning author SF Said on Monday 27 January.   The children have been reading and working on SF’s Nestle Smartie Book Prize winner Varjak Paw about the adventures of a Mesopotamian cat!  They have been so captured by the book that the stocks of its sequel The Outlaw Varjak Paw ran out!  As SF told about the long process involved in writing books, they all listened intently; he shared how he received over 90 rejections for his first novel, which took 5 years and 17 drafts to write and how his latest novel Phoenix took 7 years in total.  A dramatic reading from Phoenix whetted their appetites for more.  Of Phoenix SF said, “This is a big epic book; it is the book I have always wanted to write. It’s very different as is about an intergalactic battle between humans and aliens.” 

There was plenty of time for questions from the children, who were all keen to quiz SF about his work.  The children were incredibly enthusiastic about the visit and learnt a lot about the process of writing;  Lottie Gillett said that it was, “Really fun leaning about how he writes books and to learn that it isn’t all fun and games getting books published.”  Charlie Day and Leona Dixon  agreed that the visit was inspirational, “He told me how I can get lots of ideas for characters” (Leona) and “The talk helped me if I wanted to be a book writer when I grow up,” (Charlie)   Afterwards the long queue of pupils waiting to have books signed was a real testament to SF Said’s popularity.