World Book Day

As ever, Strand came alive this World Book Day with characters galore from our favourite children’s books. Staff and children alike put their all into dressing up, and as usual, capes and tails were seen flapping wildly in the typically blustery conditions during our fabulous whole school parade. Why is it always so windy on World Book Day? Tino in Year 4 stood out dressing up as a whole bookcase, and Asia and Zack in Year 3 came as characters they have recently come to love since discovering the ‘Amelia Fang’ series of books by Laura Ellen Anderson. Thanks to Mr Thorne, Year 3, 4 and 5 were lucky enough to meet and listen to the wonderful Laura when she spoke to the children about her books in the afternoon. The children learned so much from her about how to create characters and devise intriguing plots for their stories. She even modelled how to draw her characters and the children had a go for themselves. To find out more about the afternoon from the author herself, check out her latest blog entry in which she talks about her fun afternoon at Strand! Not only did Strand have one amazing author for World Book Week, but on Monday, Years 4, 5 and 6 were treated to another of our favourites, Piers Torday, the creator of the fascinating ‘The Last Wild’ series. Piers talked to the children about the influence his childhood has had on his stories, and how he uses and embellishes his own experiences to start thinking about plots. He also discussed the importance of settings and maps, and how they are often his starting point; in his first book ‘There may be a castle’, he immersed himself into a forest world and the ideas started to flow. Children from across the school have since looked at other maps in our favourite books and begun to create their own. Watch this space for the authors of the future!