Booked for World Book Day 2024 and 2025
Recommendations
"I thought Alice was fabulous and really motivated our children! My TA’s are in full agreement. She was so personal and on their level."
Mrs Palmer, Reception teacher, Barton Seagrave Primary
"We liked it when she showed us how she made her books. We got to draw animals and decide what they did that was funny. I really liked when we did a Questions and Answers."
Year 2 student
More references available on request.
About me
I am a children’s author based in Hertfordshire and have written over fifty books for children, including picture books, reading scheme and middle grade. Titles include the bestselling Dark Unicorns series (Scholastic), and picture book, The Leaf Thief with illustrator Nicola Slater (Scholastic 2020), which has sold across the world and been translated into fifteen languages. My school visits (Reception-KS2) tend to include an introductory assembly as well as workshops with individual classes.
I feel passionately about books, stories and writing and would love to come to your school to generate enthusiasm and excitement around the subject.
In the past I have worked as a professional librarian, a website editor and an Outreach manager for a university, so I have a background of working in schools.
I am DBS cleared and have liability insurance through NAWE.
About my author visits
I like to meet as many of the children as possible and will happily work with any Primary School year group, including Nursery and Reception.
A ‘typical’ visit would include a morning assembly, followed by workshops with each year group in their classrooms, but I am happy to work with an individual year group or key stage if you prefer. Workshops I have given include the following:
Foundation: Book reading, acting out stories, Q&A
KS1: Acting out stories, Creating a class poem, Character Workshop, Magic Story Bag workshop.
KS2: How an author works, Story Dice, The Cut Ups, Character Workshop.
Maybe you would like me to focus on a particular subject? Or you currently have a particular focus, such as editing or writing? Please let me know as I do like to work with individual schools to tailor a suitable programme.
I am also happy to talk to group of adults about writing for children or run a picture book writing workshop.
I am based in East Hertfordshire but happy to travel, particularly in London and north Essex. I will go further afield but may need to charge for an overnight visit. I charge £450 plus expenses for a full day.
Alice was absolutely amazing and the children loved her workshops. I really enjoyed how Alice started the day talking about the journey of writing a book and this definitely inspired some of the children to become authors one day. I have heard praise from every teacher who observed Alice's workshops and they said how engaged the children were during her sessions. Alice catered for a range of ages and the children thoroughly enjoyed her workshops. Thank you again for enriching the children with a love of reading and I would love for Alice come back to us soon!
What a lovely lady. The children thoroughly enjoyed and engaged in the workshops led by Alice. I would most definitely recommend Alice to others