Lorraine Gregory and the Carden Plot

To send their Adopt-an-Author project off with a bang, Year Six and Lorraine finally got to meet at a special event. First up, a wonderful speech from Lorraine!

Lorraine’s talk was all about smell! The main character in  “Mold & the Poison Plot” has an incredibly acute sense of smell, and Lorraine had loads of fun with Carden Primary inviting them to take part in blind smell games!

Most popular was the Boys v Girls event… as you can see from these photos, they were all taking it very seriously!

After a lovely picnic, some book signings, and a very impressive number of questions for Lorraine, the party was almost over. Carden surprised Lorraine with a beautiful album, containing some of their brilliant work. Not so much a dastardly plot…but definitely a very lovely Carden Plot.

We’ve so loved reading your work over the past eight weeks!

We’ll leave you with this fantastic team photo of Lorraine & her creative Carden classes:

 

Team AAA xx

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Jaguars meet Jennifer

At the end of their Adopt An Author project, Jaguar class got to meet their author Jennifer Killick at a very special party.

It was such a lovely morning- the class were in thrall to Jennifer as she read aloud from her book. She also brought in a few special items to show them- items that help inspire her or remind her of some of her characters! Do you recognise the goldfish from Alex Sparrow?! A few lucky students even got to try on a very familiar hat!

 

 

She also told them all about her new book- which hasn’t even been announced yet. We think Jaguar class can keep a secret though!

As the children enjoyed a picnic, Jennifer went around and met each pupil, and signed their copies of “Alex Sparrow”.

And as a very perfect end to the party, some of the class read their work aloud. As you can tell from this photo, Jennifer was very impressed!

It was lovely that their Adopt An Author project ended with the children becoming writers themselves.

Thank you for joining us, Brunswick Primary!

Team AAA xx

The Meet Up

Year Nine at Cardinal Newman finally got to meet their adopted author Patrice Lawrence! From their letters, it was obvious there was increasing excitement about their planned meeting as the weeks went by.

The party was no disappointment. The class and Patrice started things off with an impressive amount of takeaway pizza, and then Patrice gave a talk about how and why she became a writer.

It was so fascinating to hear all about her roots, and about how she felt when she was the same age as her Adopters. A particularly highlight was when Patrice read from her teenage diary!

Patrice also signed all Year Nine’s copies of “Orange Boy”.

At the end of the afternoon, Year Nine presented Patrice with a card to say thank you for all her wonderful letters:

 

We’ve loved reading all of your letters too. Thank you for being a part of Adopt an Author 2019, CNCS!

Team AAA xx

Party Animals!

To celebrate the end of their Adopt-An-Author project, Gecko class had a party with Alex Milway!

The party was a great success. Some of the class came dressed up as Harold or Pigsticks, and two boys even made their own super fan t-shirts!

Alex did a reading from his book, some brilliant speedy illustrations of the characters, and even showed one of his animations to the class! Afterwards, the Geckos gobbled down an impressive number of brioches from the buffet, whilst Alex signed books and got the chance to speak to each of the pupils individually. The class also brought in some of their work from the last eight weeks; Alex seemed very impressed!

 

The party ended with a most FABULOUS FLAMINGO DANCE! Some lucky volunteers got to try on these rather amazing wings and show off some dance moves, and the whole class sang along. What a brilliant ending for Benfield Primary’s Adopt-An-Author project!

Team AAA xx

Artistic Control

Lorraine was thrilled with the endings that Year Six came up with last week. She sent them this eloquent reply:

In the meantime, the class sent Lorraine their blurbs:

 

We absolutely love these! We particularly enjoyed their choice of book reviewers (quite varied!) Would you read these books, based on their blurbs?

As Lorraine mentioned in her letter- the class and their author will be meeting for the very first time next week. Lorraine sent them their VERY LAST task:

We really enjoyed reading about the illustrations on Lorraine’s book covers, and how sometimes she doesn’t get to choose the titles! Luckily, Year Six will get to design their own book jackets, so they will keep complete artistic control over both the title and the artwork!

We can’t wait to see what they come up with,

Team AAA xx

 

 

The End….or was it?

Last week, Lorraine asked Year Six to come up with the ending for their stories. We popped into our two classes as they started work; we think you can see from these photos that the class threw themselves into the task with some very studious concentration!

They really took Lorraine’s advice about creating a satisfying ending for their readers, but still leaving a door open for a possible sequel! Have a look at these:

We’re sure Lorraine will have plenty of brilliant feedback for the class next week. She sent them their next challenge:

:

“The Maker of Monsters” sounds brilliant! We can’t wait to read it.

We’re confident Year Six will succeed at this one- all the characters and worlds we have seen so far have been absolutely gripping!

Team AAA xx

A Last Letter to Patrice Lawrence

For their final letter to Patrice, 9EF seem to be getting rather impatient to meet her at long last:

Its so lovely that the class is heading to the library to try and find some of the books that Patrice recommended last week. It sounds as though their weekly emails back and forth with Patrice might have inspired a lot more reading!

Not long until 9EF and Patrice meet for the first time. We’re so excited to introduce them.

Team AAA xx

 

The Final Task!

Alex was absolutely chuffed with the characters that the class came up with last week:

Gecko class were clearly feeling very inspired after seeing Alex’s “Hotel Flamingo” illustrations…they got straight on with the task and came up with some wonderful scenes! Take a look at these! Pigsticks and Harold have so many new friends:

 

And next week…Gecko class and their adopted author Alex will meet for the very first time at a very special party! Maybe Alex will share a few more sneak previews of his new book with them.

Looking forward to it, Geckos!

Team AAA xx

Superheroes & Sidekicks

Brunswick Primary were delighted with the newsletter that Jennifer sent to them last week. They said that they had loved working on their superhero characters…and hope that one of their characters might appear in one of Jennifer’s future books!

They also had lots of fun thinking about the origin behind their characters, and also a possible sidekick (as they were so inspired by Jess, Dexter and Bob!)

Here is some of their wonderful work:

Jennifer sent them this congratulatory note: 

I wonder what villains Jaguar class will come up with?! Or if any superhero and sidekick stories will start to bubble away in their brains?

Team AAA xx

Chapter One: The Very First Sentence

Last week, Lorraine set Year Six the challenge of writing the opening sentence to their own fantasy stories, building on all the work they have done so far. Both classes came up with some wonderful sentences:

Lorraine was really impressed. So impressed…that she wrote two separate letters, one for each class! To the first class, she sent:

To 6BT she sent this feedback: 

She also sent word of their next task:

Its so interesting that Lorraine has suggested writing the ending, before the middle! I wonder if lots of writers work in this way, giving themselves something to work towards so that the story doesn’t get confused!

Good luck, Year Six.

Team AAA xx