Just think – a published children’s author could be coming
to your school to inspire your pupils with their love of
reading and writing and putting your school on the map of
the book world. There’s nothing quite like it for upping the
WOW! Factor for English lessons!
So why not sign up to the Appledore
Book Festival?
Here’s how it works:
1. Express an interest
by e-mailing
here. It is
useful also if you designate a member of staff – a teacher
or librarian to be the contact for the event. This will
enable us to discuss the event with one person and ensure
that vital information does not go astray.
2. If you choose you can
disuses the programme with our co-coordinator or another
member of the committee. They would be especially interested
in discussing which genres of book that interest you, the
age groups and numbers of pupils likely to be
involved, etc, and although we can’t guarantee to meet
requests for authors we’ll do our best!
3. In May you will
receive a briefing pack with ideas for preparing for the
author visit, tips to make the day a success and ideas for
follow-up work.
4. In September you will
get a checklist and schedule for your author’s visit.
5. During the week
before the author’s visit Walter Henry’s bookshop will
supply a box of the author’s books for sale to children and
parents. We ask that these are put on sale for children and
parents. The authors will be happy to sign the books during
their visit.
6. During the author’s
visit they will be accompanied by a minder/driver from the
Book festival and in some cases a member of the Schools
Library Service will come to help out. The author will
normally present one talk to the selected audience but if
necessary can do two talks and stay for the day.
And the bottom line?
Well,
they do say that “quality doesn’t come cheap”. A
professional writer comes with a hefty price tag, plus
expenses, travel and accommodation
costs – but because the Appledore Book Festival has found
sponsorship for the school events the cost to the
cost to a school is
limited to £100 payable to the Appledore Book Festival. This means for example that
the cost for 200 pupils is less than one third the cost of
organising your own author visit.
For the Festival there’s benefit of reaching thousands of
local children who may not be able to get to see the authors
at the public events. For your school it’s a very special
day that will live for ever in the minds of your pupils …
