On Wednesday, 15th January, we were lucky and excited to be joined by local, award-winning children’s author and poet, Christina Gabbitas, who visited all our federation Schools. During the visit Christina shared two of her stories from the 'Felicity Fly' series, reading passionately with the character voices and singing some of the songs within the stories. The children absolutely loved listening to Christina, with Ralphie from Class 3 commenting, 'I loved Christina's enthusiasm. I really enjoyed the broccoli voice, it was really funny!'
Christina continued to tell the children about her own experiences at school and her journey to becoming an author. Christina advised that she writes about things that inspire her in the world around her and has written a lot of books for her own children. She talked to the pupils about her top writing tips, including making notes of the world around her in notebooks and carrying out research into topics that she enjoys. Christina then answered some great questions from pupils, such as:
- 'What was the most difficult book to write?' - Georgia (Class 2)
- 'Did you always want to be an author, even when you were at school?' Freya (Class 2)
- 'What do you enjoy the most about your job?' - Phoebe (Class 3).
Before Christina left, she shared her website, where children can find out more information about Christina’s early life experiences, her books and her journey to becoming an author. We were kindly gifted two of her books, 'Mohna Lott' (a book about a girl who moans) and 'Roo and Sarge' (two dogs in a local dog rescue home) to the school.
“I had an amazing time touring the four schools.
Visiting as an author is an excellent opportunity to help foster a passion for reading.
I truly believe in the magic of storytelling and the way it can animate characters. It's wonderful
to see that the children still cherish the stories I wrote over a decade ago.”