Author Visit

Class 2 were delighted to receive a visit, in the week following World Book Day, from a local author, Claire Barker. Claire has written two series of books aimed at 7 to 9 year-old children. She introduced the children to some of the animals that live with her at her house in the countryside in North Devon and explained how these animals had provided the inspiration for her first series of books, about a dog that becomes a ghost and the other ghost animals that he meets. The story, ‘Knitbone Pepper, Ghost Dog’ is the first in a series of five books and several of the children in class 2 have begun reading this series, or her other series about a mischievous little witch called Picklewitch and a boy she befriends, called Jack. It was fascinating to hear about how Claire develops her ideas for stories and how long it takes her to write them – sometimes redrafting them 15 times! The children of Class 2 were keen to share some of their own story ideas with the award-winning author and she has promised to send them an autographed poster if they do.

The visit was kindly arranged by the Owl and Pyramid bookshop in Seaton, who also generously donated a signed copy of each of Claire’s books to the school for our school library.