Author, author

We (myself and students at our school) have had the chance to meet two authors in the last couple of weeks. We were really lucky to be offered the chance to host Alan Gibbons in school. Alan is an outstanding children's author, who I've heard speak several times before, but this is the first time he's been at our school. He worked with our Year 9s (age 13-14) and was a real hit. The consensus of opinion is that his 'author talk' was more like stand-up comedy.

Alan's own blog charts his work for the Campaign for the Book - it aims to raise the profile of reading in the UK, and campaign against library cuts and closures. There are lots of interesting links, reports and statistics. Have a read!

I've also taken a small group of students to meet Derek Landy. His first book Skulduggery Pleasant has been popular with students of all ages. Featuring a magical skeleton detective, it's a great fantasty adventure. There are now two sequels, and apparently the series will eventually stretch to nine books, getting progressively darker as the story progresses.