Some of my fans at Tendring Tech. College

Who said that Year 7′s and 8′s don’t find books ‘cool’ anymore?  Who said that Year 7′s and 8′s think that author visits are boring? Who said that Year 7′s and 8′s don’t have any imagination and have lost their sense of humour?

Whoever said these things has obviously not visited Tendring Technology College or Billericay School!

During a hectic week I performed the Mokee Joe and Bonebreaker presentations to around 1200 Year 7′s and 8′s at these two wonderfully enthusiastic schools. Michelle Grosvenor and Jacqui Clare are the school librarians and their immense enthusiasm for all things literary has obviously rubbed off on the pupils under their care. All of the presentations proved to be great fun with pupils joining in at every opportunity. 

Fab audience at Billericay

We visited both of these Essex schools last year and were so taken up with the then Year 7′s we asked if we could come back…this time seeing the new Year 7′s and our ‘old friends’ in Year 8.  The visits worked a treat and four very happy days were spent by Kath and I in the good old county of Essex….though I have to say that November is not the best month to visit Clacton-on-Sea! Our only other disappointment was that we failed completely to spot Gavin and Stacey as we wandered up and down the Billericay High Street searching out a nice coffee shop!

Since the visit we have received lots of great e-mails to the website and a big ‘thank you’ for all of those…I will try to reply to them personally as soon as time allows.

During our last day on Friday – Children in Need Day – we sold over a hundred books to the Year 8′s at Billericay and this raised one hundred pounds for this lovely charity (we promised the day before to donate one pound for every book sold).  So well done to the book purchasers on that day!

Say....'Scabbajack'!

Oh well…we’re home again and for once I’ve got time to write!  I intend to work really hard on completing the much-awaited fourth Mokee Joe book; wouldn’t it be great to have it with me for our Essex trip next year?  Yes…Michelle and Jacqui insisted on yet another return visit…and with such wonderful hosts and so many keen fans waiting for us…how could we refuse!

See you all again soon.

Pete in Kent

Apart from gale force winds, driving rain, freezing temperatures, traffic mayhem, a dodgy sat nav and getting lost more than a few times, our ‘London Renaissance Learning Week’ was a fab experience and Kath and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!

We started off the week getting lost in Lewisham, but we finally arrived at St Matthew’s Academy and delivered the goods…a real ‘Mokee Joe blast’ and the pupils loved it. I’ve already had lovely e-mails from some of the pupils there…thank you and hope you enjoy the books.

The next day saw us escaping the chaotic central London traffic as we made our way down to Kent to visit two sites at the Malling School and Holmesdale Technical College. Bernadette and Caroline are two VERY enthusiastic AR ladies and they were perfect hosts. The two performances went extremely well and I left Kent to head back to the Big City with adrenaline still pumping…or was that just the thought of getting stuck in the Blackwall Tunnel again!!!

Thursday was ‘AR Symposium Day’ and over to the Renaissance Learning HQ  in Docklands to talk to around 50 teachers and librarians…a real pleasure for me I have to say after presenting to so many children day in and day out (though I never tire of it!) The adult audience seemed more than happy to hear me enthusing about my books and my work and judging by the rush at the end to get signed books and posters, I think we had gained more than just a few fans! I’m really looking forward to keeping in touch with all the new friends we made and to visit their schools when the opportunity arises.

Our final day saw us at Woodhill School in Woolwich….oh no…through the Blackwall Tunnel again…Kath calls it the ‘Blackhole Tunnel’ and she really hates it…she’s little bit claustrophobic! But the school was fab and the Years 5 and 6 made a brilliant audience. Will I ever forget little Skye looking up at me with my Mokee Joe outfit on including huge platform shoes to make me seven foot tall!  She seemed so far below me when I looked down on her. Thanks, Skye, for being such a sport.

…In fact, a BIG ’thank you’ to everyone for making our ‘Renaissance Week’ so enjoyable and a special BIG ‘Mokee Joe thank you’ to Christine Brooks of Renaissance Learning for being such a great host…I have to say it was a real treat having TWO ladies looking after me for the week…how lucky am I?

Mokee Joe towers above Alison Adam

After the hot and humid weather of Abu Dhabi, it came as quite a shock to the system to be back in the UK and heading north towards Scotland’s capital!

We left downtown Rotherham after lunch on Friday and travelled to Edinburgh along the rollercoaster A68 via Jedburgh, finally arriving in driving rain at our first school, Cargilfield Prep.  A warm welcome from the headmaster and  a subsequent hot meal (and a little drink of course) soon restored Kath and I to good spirits. The next morning heralded a very successful presentation in the very apt Gothic chapel and the Cargilfield pupils were soon under the spell of Mokee Joe and Scabbajack. A big thank you to John Elder and his staff…and a special mention to Kari Gillespie, for being wonderful hosts and looking after us so well.

Next, we were on our way  to our ‘old friends’ at George Watson College. A new venue in the music school worked a treat and our audience of P6′s loved every moment of the 75 minute fast-paced dramatic presentation. For old time’s sake, I changed myself into the seven-foot-tall monster, Mokee Joe. I’d forgotten how tall Mokee Joe really is…and even more so….how small Alison Adam really is…see pic.  Alison and her team always give us the most amazing time at George Watson, and this visit was no exception…a HUGE thank you to everyone!

Our final visit of the week was to a school in the most amazing location…Belhaven Hill in Dunbar!  Wow! The pupils there are more than lucky to have views from their classrooms out over wonderful beaches to the clear sea beyond  (watch out…I’m getting poetic!) I don’t think anything could have prepared the pupils for the impact of my spooky, humorous presentation…they seemed spellbound and almost trampled the poor librarian at the end in their rush to sign up for books. Another huge thank-you to Innes McGaskell and  our ‘trampled’ librarian friend, Amanda Parks.

Before returning back down the A1 to South Yorkshire, we sampled the best fish and chips ever in a wonderfully old-fashioned ‘chippy’ in Dunbar and then spent a lovely evening with Kari Gillespie and her family in Edinburgh.

The truly wonderful thing about being an author (in my case, anyway) is that we get to meet so many interesting and amazingly friendly people. The Edinburgh trip served to confirm this and with all schools requesting return visits next year and Mokee Joe 4 on the way etc…next year’s Edinburgh venture should prove the best ever.  Kath and I can’t wait!!