-
Scarily Gothic…
Costa Book Award. Branford Book Award. Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize shortlist. These are awards that the one and only Frances Hardinge, whom we had the pleasure of welcoming recently, has received throughout her career as a writer for Young Adult Literature.
Mrs. Hardinge explained to us the techniques she uses to make her gothic stories interesting and to keep her reader enthralled. She captivated us with anecdotes and short passages from her books. She explained how she wanted her books to prey on the many irrational fears that people have. She also taught us about making books scary without tipping into the comical or unrealistic and gave us examples on how you can make a book scary by building up the tension and suspense.
This was a truly amazing visit.
By Arielle R., Y8
-
Jason Reynolds
New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds is the author of the critically acclaimed When I Was the Greatest. He is a National Book Award Finalist, a Kirkus Prize winner, a Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honours. His work includes the recently published Long Way Down and Miles Morales: Spider Man, as well as The Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys, As Brave As You and the Track series. He is on faculty at Lesley University for the Writing for Young People MFA Programme.
“Jason Reynolds was so amazing. He was incredible. So motivational. I was in a trance for the whole thing!”
By Gabriella D., Y9
-
Vera Brosgol’s visit to the Yr 7s: We learnt to make a jam comic book!
On Thursday the 15th March comic book writer Vera Brosgol visited our school to talk to us about her journey of being a cartoonist and help us make our very own jam mini comics with our friends.
Vera was born in Russia and moved to Portland, Oregon at age 5. She didn’t speak English originally and she made friends by drawing pictures for her schoolmates. As a teenager she made popular webcomics. She also worked at the Laika Animation Studios and did storyboards for movies like Coraline, Paranormal and Boxtrolls. She enjoyed that but when the comic ‘Smile’ by Raina Telgemeier came out she knew that being a cartoonist and author could be a real job. She published her first graphic novel ‘Anya’s Ghost’, which is available in our school library and has been very popular. Her picture book ‘Leave Me Alone’ is very funny and aimed at younger children. Her new comic book called “Be Prepared” will come out in April: it is a funny look at a traumatizing Russian orthodox summer camp she was forced to go to as a kid.
After she told us a bit about herself we were given the opportunity to create our own mini-comic book with our friends. Mine was about a boy who is scared of public speaking and gets bullied, but then another boy in his year tells him that he shouldn’t worry and they become best friends and he wins an award for his public speaking.
It was a great opportunity to meet Vera. I like how she originally thought that being a cartoonist author wasn’t a real job but still followed her dream and now she makes a living as a cartoonist and an author. Also, I don’t normally like drawing but making mini-comics was so much fun.
By Sheanna M., Y7