Ali Sparkes – Author Visit

We were delighted to welcome the children’s author, Ali Sparkes, to school on 28 November. Having published over 40 books for children, Ali shared her writing journey with us, including her early childhood writing which received rave reviews… but only from her friends! Ali talked to Year 9 about her latest novel, ‘100 Summers’, and gave students the challenge of figuring out a few ciphers. We were shown the obvious downsides of a code where 1=a, for example, and the advantages when you use a book as the decoding key – say, for example, one of Ali’s (as long as your friend/handler/boss has the same edition).

In the afternoon, Ali led a small workshop, giving students the opportunity to write their own title, blurb and first page and then vote on which one was the most compelling.

“I was grateful to attend the workshop in the afternoon. We voted on which front cover, blurb and short extract we liked most out of four of her books and then we paired and made our own title, blurb and short extract. It highlighted how important the front cover, blurb and short story are in influencing someone to want to read a book. I bought her book ‘100 Summers’ as the front cover looked very dramatic and mysterious and the blurb was very enticing! I can’t wait to read it!”

Holly Fry (9P1)

 Students are really fortunate to have opportunities like this, and we are grateful to Ali for coming to visit.