Wallsend pupils meet authors of children’s books in fun yet educational experience

Pupils of a school in Wallsend, were recently visited by well-known children’s authors as part of an educational workshop. 

St Aidan’s Catholic Primary School in Wallsend took part in discussions and workshops with Marie Basting and Ben Davis, where inspiration flowed from both sides. 

Year 3 and Year 4 pupils were given the opportunity to chat with Basting about her humorous yet educational books which include Princess BMX, My Family and Other Romans and Auntie Medusa and Me. 

Pupils from Year 5 and Year 6 participated in a workshop at The White Swan Centre in Killingsworth, with Ben Davis, who is known for writing books for older kids, including the Lenny Lemmon series, the Joe Cowley series, as well as My Embarrassing Dad’s Gone Viral and more.

The school, which is part of the Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust, gave pupils the opportunity to ask questions to the writers, discuss their work and listen to extracts from the books being read by the authors.

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Year 6 teacher Maria Nicholson, said of Ben Davis: “He writes the Lenny Lemmon stories, which are very funny, but he spoke about My Embarrassing Dad’s Gone Viral.

“We listened to excerpts from his stories, and we had the opportunity to ask questions about what inspired him as a writer. We shared our ideas to build a new character with him.”

While the experience was certainly fun for the children, it also proved to be educational, as pupil Flora said: “You get to understand how a story starts”, while another pupil Matthew, added: “I like learning about the people behind the stories.”

Another pupil Genevieve said: ““I love hearing how they decided to write books, and they are really entertaining to listen to”, and pupil Reuben said: “If you see a new or different author, you are inspired to read their books and read more for fun.”

Mrs Nicholson spoke of the importance these visits are to children, as she continued: “The author was very funny, and the children were really engaged with him. He helped them understand that stories can come from the smallest of ideas and grow into something that takes you much further than you’d imagine.”