Daisy Meadows is our new author of the term. However she is not one author but a collection of four!! The ladies have chosen to write the fairy adventure books under a made up name, or pseudonym. Their real names are Narinder Dhami, Sue Bentley, Linda Chapman and Sue mongredien. There is a large selction of the very popular fairy stories in the library and classroom reading corners.

Tom Palmer

Tom Palmer is the author of over 45 books for children, the majoirty of which are sport themed, mainly football. In fact it was reading about football that changed his life. He wasn't a very enthusiastic reader when he was young as he found it very difficult. His Mum encouraged him to read newspaper articles, magazines and books about football, gradually he began to love reading as he wanted to find out more about his favourite sport. He went to night school to enrol on A Level courses when he was 21, 5 years after most of his friends, and began a degree course in European Literature when he was 24. He had several jobs before becoming an author including milkman, warehouse worker, book salesman, librarian and audiologist for The Royal Institute for the Blind. Whilst he was working he wrote various books and was fortunate to have a football story printed by Puffin Books. Since then he hasn't looked back and still continues to wirte, promote reading for pleasure and visit schools to enourage children to read. When Tom is not writing he loves to travel to different countries to have many experiences that he can hopefully include in his stories. When he has time he loves to run especially fell running near where he lives.

Tom has a fantastic website full of lots of great information, fun activities and free reads, take a look when you have spare time.
www.tompalmer.co.uk

Josh Lacey

Josh Lacey is our author of the term. He was born in London in 1968 and has lived in the city most of his life. He loves books and spent the majority of his childhood immersed in them, diapppearing down rabbit holes, into wardrobes, exploring unknown countries and far away galaxies. In fact anywhere your imagination could take you. He mainly writes storeis for children however in the past he has been a journalist, teacher and screenwriter. The title of his first book is called 'A Dog Called Grk'. It is about a boy called Timothy who finds a lost dog on his way home from school. The Grk series of books are set in different countries around the world - from New York to Rio De Janeiro, India to Italy. Follow Timothy and Grk on  their adventures. For more information go to the website joshlacey.com.

Cressida Cowell

CRESSIDA COWELL

Cressida was born in London in 1966. She spent a great deal of her time with her family in London and on an uninhabited Scottish Island. The island was very windy and stormy. It did not have any roads, shops, houses or electricity. Without electricity there was no television, telephones or computers either. The family built a house from local stone and used candles for light. As there was not much else to do Cressida would draw and write stories. Her Dad would tell her tales about dragons that used to live on the island and Vikings that invaded it. These tales undoubtedly gave her the ideas for her book series ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ which she began to write in 2002. There are now twelve books, the third film is due to be released in 2019. Cressida is also the author of the Emily Brown books which have won multiple awards.

For more information about Cressida visit her website, www.cressidacowell.co.uk

JK Rowling

JK Rowling is the author of probably the most successful series of books that have appealed to both children and adults – Harry Potter. There are seven books which have enthralled and captured the imagination of millions as well as eight films. There is even a theatre show in the West End called Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. What do you know about JK Rowling?

Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born near Bristol in July 1965. Her father was an aircraft engineer and her mother a chemistry technician in the local secondary school.

Unsurprisingly she loved reading and wrote her first book when she was only 6 years old, it was called Rabbit. When she was 11 she wrote a story about seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them. She would spend every spare moment reading and writing notes for story ideas.

She went to Exeter University and studied French and Classics. Part of her course involved her living in Paris which she describes as ‘one of her favourite places on earth.’

After finishing her course she moved to Portugal to teach English as a foreign language where she met and married her future husband. They had a daughter in 1993. Unfortunately the marriage did not last and Jo came back to the UK and chose to live in Edinburgh. She carried on teaching and sent the first three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone to many publishers. One of them responded and the rest is history.

Jo also writes books under another name, Robert Galbraith, they are crime novels for adults featuring a private detective.

In 2001 she married again and had a daughter and son. She continues to live in Scotland.

Jill Tomlinson

Welcome back to school for the new academic year. Our new author of the term is Jill Tomlinson.
She was born in 1931 and did not intend to becoma a writer, in fact she trained as an opera singer. Whilst her voice was maturing she decided to have a family. However she did not manage to return to singing as she became ill and was forced to look for something else to do. She decided to begin a journalism course and by the third lesson had changed her mind again and focussed on writing for children. Jill soon found that it was not easy to persuade publishers to print her first story, The Bus Who Went To Church, but at her 17th attempt she did manage to persuade a compnay to do it. She loved animals and subsequently wrote many stories about them. Arguably her most famous book is The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark. Jill loved reading her stories to children and would quite often visit her local primary school to read to them. She was bubbly, caring and funny children loved her.
Unfortunately she suffered from multi sclerosis and died suddenly in 1976. Over 40 years after her death the books are still well loved, classic stories and continue to be read today.

Malorie Blackman OBE

This term the focus author is Malorie Blackman OBE. She has written over 60 books for children and teenagers which have been translated into 15 languages. Malories loves science and computers and sometimes uses these subject as a base for her books. In fact before she became an author she was a computer programmer. In her free time Malorie likes to write poetry, compose music, play the piano and play computer games. In her role as Children's Laureate,  (from 2013 - 2015), Malorie promoted reading and reading for pleasure at every opportunity. She is passionate about reading and responds to anyone who says they do not like reading by saying "you haven't found the right book yet".

 Come to the Library and have a look at what there is to borrow, you may just find the 'right book for you'.

Adam Blade

Adam Blade is our author of the spring term. He is the author of the very popular series Beast Quest and Sea Quest.

These fantastic adventure stories follow the main character Tom as he tries to save Avantia from evil forces. Tom also embarks on seemingly impossible quests to solve problems. There are magical beasts, dragons and evil enemies included in all the stories which make them very exciting to read.. There are many books to choose from in the Library as well as in class book corners.

 ADAM BLADE FACTS

Adam is in his late twenties and was born in Kent. The inspiration for his books came from his fascination of a sword and shield that hung in his father’s office along with paintings that his father completed of historic English battles. As a child he often imagined himself in the battles as a hero warrior saving the day.

Adam’s parents were both history teachers and artists and their influence can be seen in the way Adam spends his free time. He loves to visit museums and ancient battle sites. As far as hobbies are concerned Adam takes part in football and fencing. He also spends a great deal of time looking after his pet tarantula Ziggy and his capuchin monkey Omar.

If you would like to have a look at the Beast Quest website where there is further information about the book series and games to play go to www.seaquestbooks.co.uk.

Is this the face of Adam Blade?

There have been suggestions that Adam Blade is not the author of Beast Quest. It is actually a pseudonym for four authors who collectively write the stories and publish the books under the name of Adam Blade. This remains a mystery as it has not been confirmed or denied.