My World Book Day Whirlwind!

Wheeee! *flump*

That’s the sound of me coming back down to earth after an AMAZING two weeks visiting schools. Today is the first day I’ve been at my desk for ten days, so there’s a whole pile of stuff for me to catch up on, but here is a quick round-up of where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing…

In the past two weeks I have:

visited seven schools
driven something like 400 miles
given a presentation to and fielded questions from approx 1,300 children, aged from 3 to 13
run workshops with approx 400 children, aged from 5 to 18
drunk approx 25 cups of tea
got lost once (in Reading)
handed out around 100 Electrigirl badges
signed I-don’t-know-how-many copies of A Library of Lemons, Electrigirl, Looking at the Stars, and The Great Howling Mystery
smiled my face off
had a BRILLIANT time!

A huge THANK YOU to all the staff and librarians at the following schools who have made me feel so welcome and helped ensure everything ran so smoothly: John Mason (Abingdon), Little Ilford (Ilford), Ilford Ursuline Academy (Ilford), Burford School (West Oxfordshire), Leighton Park School (Reading), Avishayes Primary School (Chard, Somerset) and Headington Prep School (Oxford). I’d also like to thank the booksellers who support these events, sometimes whizzing books over to a venue with very little notice, and often having to deal with children who haven’t brought in the right money or have changed their minds about which books they want!

Below is a selection of photos from the past two weeks…

Workshop - a brave volunteer reads out his work — Workshop – a brave volunteer reads out his work

Workshop - I gesticulate a lot — Workshop – I gesticulate a lot

Always delighted to find a reserved parking space! Schools, this is how you make your author feel special!

Very comfy B&B in Chard, though outside was blowing a gale... — Very comfy B&B in Chard, though outside was blowing a gale…

You never know what you'll get for lunch, but this school did a VERY tasty Caesar Salad and pancakes! — You never know what you’ll get for lunch, but this school did a VERY tasty Caesar Salad and pancakes!

Workshop with Year 1 - writing a poem about slugs! — Workshop with Year 1 – writing a poem about slugs!

A class from another school wrote about bogeys...! (Don't ask me what Pooping Mare was) — A class from another school wrote about bogeys…! (Don’t ask me what Pooping Mare was)

A workshop with Y2 - storytelling with my magic box full of objects to help us tell the story — A workshop with Y2 – storytelling with my magic box full of objects to help us tell the story

A surprise when I opened the staff room fridge... — A surprise when I opened the staff room fridge…

And meeting one of my favourite characters, Anthony Lockwood (from Jonathan Stroud's fantastic Lockwood & Co series) on the stairs! — And meeting one of my favourite characters, Anthony Lockwood (from Jonathan Stroud’s fantastic Lockwood & Co series) on the stairs!

A schedule from just ONE of my days... — A schedule from just ONE of my days…

To top everything off, I received a small flurry of photos yesterday of children dressed up as ELECTRIGIRL! And not only that but my friend Mairi’s daughter Ana appeared on BBC Breakfast with my book! I was SO excited – take a look at these amazing outfits!