Last time in Borders...

How sad to hear that Borders, the US bookstore, is in receivership in the UK. I really liked Borders’ shops. I can remember the first one I ever went in was on Oxford Street in London. It was so huge!  What impressed me was its range of books. It knocked spots off its rivals because it didn’t just stock the usual stuff. It had interesting imports I’d never heard of and also carried several titles of lesser known authors, rather than just the odd one or two.  I also liked the department store feel to it - I could have a coffee in Starbucks, buy cards from Paperchase and read the New York Times all without leaving the premises.

Good luck to all the staff in all the branches I’ve met, especially most recently in Leicester, Leeds and Preston.

I am currently reading Rowan the Strange by Julie Hearn published by Oxford University Press

Gwen Grant

At a time when library services are being cut throughout the UK and professional school librarians replaced with ‘helpers’ this poem written by Gwen Grant is a timely reminder of how important - no - vital - libraries are to people and communities.

Reproduced by kind permission of Gwen Grant.

My Library Home

When they tell me to ‘Attach Birth Certificate Here,’

I ask them which one they mean,

The first one that simply affirms I have been born

Or the real one, where under ‘Place of Birth’

I have written ‘Library.’

For it was amongst these book-lined shelves

I was born to an awareness and understanding

Of what men and women, boys and girls, get up to

Plus all those other things we’re told that flesh is heir to.

I took down those books, held them, read them.

And loved them so much, I hugged them.

I read about everything,

Love and hate, life and death,

War and peace, sorrow and joy, crime and punishment.

I read about mountains and valleys, cities and jungles

And how man was just a pinprick of light

In a vast darkness.

Or, maybe, a pinprick of darkness

In an ocean of light.

I learnt about creatures that walk, crawl,creep, swim and fly

And how a sudden, surprising spark of affection

Can be a connection between them and us,

Us and them.

Which was why, under ‘Nationality,’ where it said

‘Tick any one of the countries that follow from A to Zed,’

I ticked them all instead,

For I am every colour and race, creed, dogma and faith.

Is that hard?

Not when you’ve got a library card.

So that’s my real home, for me and generations before me,

Together we speak for those yet to come.

Unless you’re going to succour them, love them, encourage them,

Build them and fill them, or shine ‘em up,

Please leave our libraries alone.

Copyright 2009 Gwen Grant

To find out more about poet and children’s author Gwen Grant, visit her website www.gwengrant.co.uk

Thank you so much to Leicestershire County Council Library Services for choosing ‘Do Goalkepeers Wear Tiaras?’ as one of their November Books of the Month.  Recommended for 8 + the review reads:

‘A great start to a new football series and one for the girls. Pielichaty writes superbly for this age group, identifying well with common fears and feelings, resolving issues in a thoughtful yet pacy manner. This title explores the feelings and attitude of a very frustrated young girl, Megan, desperate to play high quality football but unable to get into her school team. A very enjoyable short read.’

‘Pielichaty writes superbly for this age group.’  Superbly. Am liking that adverb.

Coming to a book shop near you...

Six members of the SAS (Scattered Authors’ Society) invaded the Borders bookshop in Leicester today.  The children’s section will never be the same again!  Children, teachers and parents flocked round to meet Leila Rasheed, Pippa Goodhart, David Calcutt, Susan Price, Linda Chapman and er… me. The idea was to show what a bunch of gifted, talented and, let’s face it, damned fine writers we are in the Midlands.  We were even on the telly!  BBC East midlands Today interviewed us.  If only I’d worn my tiara!

Leila talking books

We thrive on chaos!

Ormesby Cheeleaders warm up...

I was met at Middlesbrough Station by my librarian escort for the day, Michelle Mollan. Michelle was very sensibly carrying a copy of my book and a picture of me (the one where my face Iooks like I fell asleep on a sunbed) to wave in case of emergency. Luckily she recognised me despite having my lobster face wrapped in a grey wool scarf.

And so on to Ormesby Comprehensive. My mission for the day: to work in the library with two groups of Year sevens and a Year six group from the nearby primary school. My visit coincided with BBCs Children in Need day so there were plenty of sweets and Pudsey bear stickers flying around courtesy of Angela the school’s keen and kind librarian (kind because I just know she’s going to stock all my books from now on…)

What was great about Ormesby was that the year 7s weren’t a bit reluctant to participate in the embarrassing things I ask kids to do. More boys than girls were willing to be cheerleaders at ‘half-time’ during my Girls FC talk. They were also fascinated by my toy microphone (age 3+) though i was a bit miffed when one boy pointed out they had them in Poundland and I’d paid £6 for mine in John Lewis! In the second session, Daniel asked me such an amazing question about cliffhangers and writing series I bought him a book as a prize.  That lad’s a star for the future if I ever saw one.  What was also delightful was one girl’s expression throughout the second session. She had read one of my books and was so overawed that I, the person who had written that story she had read, was actually IN THE ROOM.  Her face was a picture as she tried to put the two things together. Aww!

I finished the day with creative writing. The Quest always goes down well and today was no exception with children from Ormesby Primary inventing money spouting volcanoes and rivers of human blood… nice.

Before I knew it, it was time to pack my pom poms and overpriced microphone and head back to the station. This time, the trains were running as smoothly as if Mussolini himself were on the platform. I changed at Darlington and had time for a raspberry muffin and cappuccino while I began Coraline by Neil Gaiman. I got so engrossed I didn’t want to catch my connection. I’m glad I did though. I ended up sitting with a bunch of guys on their way to London to watch the rugby international (England v New Zealand) at Twickenham.  Out came the plastic cups. Out came the champagne. Being the gents that they were, they invited me to join them. How could I refuse?  That’s the thing with trains. You never know what’s going to happen.

‘I think the flying rats should go here…’

Cleadon Village Primary working those pom poms

I have to admit, it didn’t start off well.  My journey to Hartlepool was grim, with delayed trains and missed connections and rain, rain, rain all the way.  I made it in the end though and the view over the marina from my hotel room window cheered me up no end.

The next morning, after a cooked breakfast served by Premier Inn’s finest waitresses I was raring to go.  Senior librarian Kathryn Armstrong picked me up. As a bonus, the one-and-only Korky Paul (www.korkypaul.com) was sitting in the back seat, guaranteeing a sparky start to the day.

My first venue was Cleadon, just outside South Shields.  Cleadon Village Primary School has a brand new state-of-the art building with curved walls and pleasantly patterned carpeting. All the children wore black plimsoles, I guess to protect the pleasantly patterened carpets, and had the coolest purple sweatshirts. Hello to all the Y5s and Y6s I met and thank you for buying so many books!

After lunch it was a short drive to St Oswald’s in Hebburn. I was their third visiting author of the week but the first Y5 & 6 had met. Once again they were a great audience and I was impressed by how attentive and enthusiastic they were (unlike the teacher who spent most of the hour on his laptop!).

I arrived back at my hotel about 4.30 with plenty of time to relax and see the sights. The historic marina area looked really interesting with the black sails of the Victorian warship HMS Trincomalee looming behind the museum buildings. Unfortunately it was too dark to see it properly so I ended up across the road in Asda instead.  I live life to the max, I do.

Next morning I was up and packed and off to Middlesbrough. ‘There are some lovely buildings here,’ I told the taxi driver as we drove through the old town. I think he thought I was being sarcastic. ‘Nobody ever says that about Hartlepool,’ he said.

The train journey from Hartlepool to Middlesbrough takes just under half an hour. It’s not the prettiest landscape I’ve ever passed through but so what?  It was interesting looking out at old wrought iron bridges and derelict, abandoned warehouses and buildings; a reminder of a region with a proud industrial heritage.

view from the train

Y6 slaving away..

Old Basford Primary and Nursery School isn’t in the plushest part of Nottingham but the children were as delightful as any I’d met.  A sea of blue and white in assembly made me feel instantly at home. It was like being at a Town match but without the pies.  I then met the two year six classes. What stars they were. Keen, well mannered, inquisitive and friendly - and that was just the teachers. The kids were even nicer!  Hello to all of you and thank you for making me feel so welcome.  I hope you finish your editing on Go Jordan Go.

Good luck to the girls’ football team, too. Keep in touch and let me know how you get on.

impressive pupils

impressive displays

The Angel of the North

I’ve almost finished my school visits for the year.  At the beginning of the week I’ll be in Old Basford, Nottingham working with KS2 pupils on ‘You are the Author.’  ‘You are the Author’ is based on a short story I wrote for 7-8 year olds called Go, Jordan, Go where the children have to design the cover, blurb, illustrations and layout for the work. Looking forward to meeting everyone. Pencils at the ready, guys.

On Thursday and Friday 19th and 20th of November I’ll be taking part in the  Northern Children’s Book Festival, visiting Cleadon Village Primary and St Oswald’s in Hartlepool first and Ormesby Comp in Middlesborough on the Friday.  Hartlepool is famous for its townsfolk hanging a monkey during the Napoleonic Wars, having mistaken it for a Frenchman. Strange but true. Not sure what Middlesborough is famous for. Sacking a perfectly good manager in Gareth Southgate perhaps?  Anyway, can’t wait to see everyone in the north-east.  Haway bonny lads and lasses!

On Sunday November 22nd I’ll be with other children’s writers signing books and mingling at Borders Bookshop in Leicester from 11.00 AM to 1.00 PM. Please come along and say hello if you are in Leicester that day.  I’ll be with David Calcutt, Susan Price, Linda Chapman and Leila Rasheed.

After that it all goes quiet until March. That means I can get on with the Girls FC series and make my editors happy. They’ve already designed the covers to books 8-11. All I have to do is write them.  It sounds so simple, doesn’t it?  I wish.

Galpharm Stadium

I’ve just watched Town on the tell- eeee … and we won six-nil.  That’s 6-0.  It could have been 10, we played so well.  Loads of accurate passing right across the width of the pitch resulting in so many attempts on target I lost count - 19? 20?  At least two of the goals came from confident, well placed throw-outs by Smithies. Gary Roberts and Peter Clarke were like fireworks zipping through the midfield the whole of the match. Poor Wycombe Wanderers didn’t know what had hit them.

Man of the Match: Gary Roberts

Looking good for the clash against Leeds in a few weeks time…

Ball skills demo by Katie Nutter

Just back from a fantastic day with the staff and Year Six pupils at Whitechapel Middle School in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire.  The headmaster, Mr Drapan, wanted a full-on day of  writing based on a football theme and guess what… he got one!  We kicked off in assembly with pupils reading extracts from my Girls FC series, an ex-pupil who plays for Leeds Carnegie Ladies Reserves demonstrated her ball skills and I did a short introduction to the background to the books. Mr Drapan himself read an extract from ‘What’s Ukrainian for Football.’ He read it beautifully - and far better than I could have. Partly that was because he’s an experienced head who has been reading extracts in assemblies for decades but it’s also because Mr Drapan’s parents were from the Ukraine and the story is extra special to him.  In fact, he helped me with my research!

After assembly Y6 returned to the hall and we looked at developing characters in stories. The pupils had to make up a ‘Star Player’ for a team just like in my books, giving their character a name, position, likes, dislikes and so on.  Before we had time to draw breath it was back to classrooms in English groups and on to the writing tasks. Each group chose something different - designing a cover, writing an introduction to a new Girls FC book, composing a match report, coming up with an original storyline.  It was brilliant to see how engaged everyone was in the tasks.  I came away with half a dozen new ideas I’d pinched… I mean, borrowed…

Lunchtime was equally as hectic with just enough time to eat my meatballs and pasta before signing books and postcards.  After that, i visited two more groups and finally we gathered in the hall where shining examples of work were read out.  Thank you to everyone for making the day such a blast.

Mr Drapan reads from What's Ukrainian for Football?

Whitechapel Middle's awesome readers prepare...

'How do you spell Shevchenko?'