[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-leicester-author-week-on-tour-2020":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Once again I headed out to Leicester for their brilliantly organised Author Week. This time it was 'Author Week on Tour' because they weren't busing in children to the Tigers Rugby Club but taking us out to the schools. But I was glad to spot a familiar hotel carpet:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/870649_original-76f1e40fd6.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nLeicester Author Week is part of the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.whatever-it-takes.org.uk/\">Whatever It Takes programme\u003C/a>, when Leicester decided they were going to do 'whatever it takes' to get their children reading. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/877773_original-b353167d3c.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nMy Author Week events always go well because \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/dan_routledge\">Dan Routledge\u003C/a> comes along with me, whether it's getting the kids to tell him their jokes or introducing me to school staff. Here's our first stop, at \u003Ca href=\"http://www.kingrichards.leicester.sch.uk/\">King Richard III Infant and Nursery School\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/871380_original-0a2a101810.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nI did a big assembly featuring \u003Ca href=\"https://jabberworks.co.uk/grumpycorn/\">\u003Ci>Grumpycorn\u003C/i>\u003C/a> and then worked with Years 2 and 3 on creating their own unicorn-themed picture books. Grumpycorn's perfect for this, in that it's all about someone trying to make a book. Here are some of the books we came up with, at King Richard III and at the second stop, \u003Ca href=\"https://mayflower.j2webby.com/\">Mayflower Primary School\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/872133_original-99e3ee5405.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/872289_original-833d4876df.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nA book's a book even if it's only two pages long! And an author is someone who has finished making a book. So here are several children becoming authors:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/871610_original-f7ee288308.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/871884_original-0247cf4196.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more under the cut!-->\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/872684_original-fe11e7cd0d.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/874879_original-dd8a4b5314.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nMy co-author Philip Reeve (and plushie Kevin) joined Dan and me on the second day, for events featuring the first of our Roly-Poly Flying Pony books, \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"https://jabberworks.co.uk/the-legend-of-kevin/\">The Legend of Kevin\u003C/a>\u003C/i>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/875037_original-25638d218e.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAfter our assembly, we led children in creating their own gameboards, which is very much like plotting a story, with a beginning and end that the players want to get to, with lots of wonders and perils in between. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/875446_original-eae8c576ad.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere are some of the gameboards from \u003Ca href=\"https://www.glebelands.leicester.sch.uk/\">Glebelands Primary School\u003C/a>: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/875714_original-7e2e0e8d90.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/875970_original-2766daa889.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/876200_original-3f3ad0c50e.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/876490_original-6cbab5c87d.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd some more from our afternoon visit to \u003Ca href=\"https://www.folville.leicester.sch.uk/\">Folville Junior School\u003C/a>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/876592_original-0e37421e67.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/877018_original-0485a17672.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/877234_original-dcb09590ba.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nI love seeing school art displays: their ideas, which media these use, and how. Here are some lovely polar bears on display at Glebelands:\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/872873_original-702715b29b.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd check out these mammoths made from plastic milk bottles:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/872989_original-6920fdabbc.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\\r\nAfter the last school on Friday, Philip and I were happy with how the day had gone, but very tired, and we celebrated with coffee and cake at the excellent \u003Ca href=\"http://www.merchantofvenice.co/\">Merchant of Venice cafe\u003C/a> by the rail station. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/877346_original-45f8775a3d.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nOne of the things I love about going to Leiecester is catching up with friends, and Philip was also able to catch up with relatives who live there, and take me along. Here he’s drawing with his littlest cousin:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/870658_original-8b73a4e85c.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nWe got to have breakfast with poet \u003Ca href=\"https://www.thepoetryofjosephcoelho.com/\">Joseph Coehlo\u003C/a>, who pulled out a great digital polaroid camera right before we left and gave us a picture. He's done this lovely new book with Tasmanian illustrator \u003Ca href=\"https://danielgraybarnett.com/\">Daniel Gray-Barnett\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/878044_original-a2021777a1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nI've had a lot of good curry dinners in Leicester (the best place for a curry) but I must say that the Nepalese food \u003Ca href=\"http://www.mumbaiinn.co.uk/\">Mumbai Inn\u003C/a> was the best I've had yet. I got to meet up with local author and university librarian \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/selinalock\">Selina Lock\u003C/a>, Juliet Martin (who used to help me with Author Week) and another author visiting for Author Week, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jonesgarethp\">Gareth P Jones\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/871073_original-6471bf13af.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHuge thanks to Dan Routledge, Sonia Dayal, Rebecca Partington and everyone on the Author Week team, and to all four schools for hosting me!","2020-02-08T17:14:00.000Z","leicester-author-week-on-tour-2020",[],"leicester author week on tour 2020",1776628730448]