A World Book Day recommended read
It’s World Book Day next Thursday (March 4th). Have you had the letter from school to take home telling you there’ll be a voucher for a £1 book? If so, did your Mum roll her eyes and go: ‘What? Again? We’ve still got the one from last year.’ Hope not!
World Book Day is great. If you’re dead lucky, like the kids at Erdlington Hall Primary in Birmingham or Cotgrave and Dayncourt Schools in Nottingham you’ll be having that most awesome of events: AN AUTHOR VISIT FROM A REAL LIVE AUTHOR WHO ISN’T DEAD OR ANYTHING AND I’M NOT EVEN KIDDING after which life will never be quite the same again.
The least you can expect on WBD is that you’ll be asked to dress up as a character from a book. This is where female teachers start foraging at home for their pointy hats so they can be Winne the Witch for the eighth year running. Blokes tend not to bother at all. ‘What are you dressed up as, Sir?’ (In my imagination, all children address male teachers as ‘Sir’. See: A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines for literary references to this) . ‘What are you dressed up as, Sir?’ asks the Year Four boy, resplendent in fake beard, over-sized pale blue cotton shirt (belted at the waist) brown breeches and his sister’s Ugg boots, staring at his class teacher.
‘A teacher,’ replies the witty teacher.
‘From which book?’
‘I dunno. Harry Potter?’
‘Which teacher from Harry Potter?’
‘You tell me.’
‘I can’t think of one that wears an Adidas tracksuit.’
‘That’s cos you’ve no imagination, lad. Who are you supposed to be anyway?’
‘Leo Tolstoy.’
‘Right. Course you are.’ Pause.’You need to get out more.’
I dream of being a £1 book. Alas, the closest I’ve got to it is being chosen as a Recommended Read. It happened with Starring Sammie from the After School Club series and has happened this year with Do Goalkeepers Wear Tiaras? I’m not quite sure what being a Recommended Read means. I’m grateful and happy and over the moon to be chosen but does anyone know about them? The Recommended Reads are quite difficult to locate, even on the World Book Day website. For those curious enough to try it go to: www.worldbookday.com and click on the section listed as ‘schools and children’ then click on ‘author details’ then click on the P on the alphabet at the top (ignoring all other letters) and there you’ll find me next to the legend who is Sir Terry Pratchett. You will then be able to open an extract from the book and read an interview about me. Do Goalkeepers Wear Tiaras? doesn’t seem to have any other worksheets or activities but maybe you have to be logged on or pay a tenner or something for that. Anyway, have a peep. What else are you going to do on a soggy afternoon?
Now, when you’ve got your WBD £1.00 book voucher, be sure to take it to that rare thing called a book shop.
bookshops look like this
You can check out the Waterstone’s website to find out where I’ll be on Saturday March 6th if you want to not only spend your WBD voucher on one of my books but also to have it signed (absolutely free of charge) by me. I’ll be with Alan (Dirtie Bertie) MacDonald in the morning and all by myself (sob) in the afternoon.
(The answer is Nottingham 10.00 am – 12.00 noon then 1.30 – 3.00pm)
You should visit this bookshop too←. It’s in a village called Lowdham in Nottinghamshire and a very nice lady called Jane runs it. Tell her I sent you.