Climbing some Broad-Stairs!!!

What a wonderful week spent touring schools in East Kent... Braodstairs, Margate and Ramsgate hosted some great events with showcases at Bromstone Primary, St Lawrence College, Haddon Dene and Wellesley House!!! Here are a few pictures to provide a taste of some really inspiring moments... more to follow soon :)

 

Avid readers that couldn't wait to start... straight after I signed their books!!! Fantastic stuff



Year 6 students at Haddon Dene in Broadstairs

 

Good to meet Ellie and Henry Uden at Haddon Dene School

 

Another photo opportunity during the book signing event at Haddon Dene

 

A break from signing books to answer some questions posed by school councillor Gabriella

 

I love reading stories written by children following my presentations. It means a lot to know that my visits have potentially inspired a new generation of authors! Here is an adventure story presented to me by pupil Tommy-Lee at Bromstone Primary School.

 

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the event organisers that made my visit to East Kent very memorable:- Ellen Rowe, Headteacher at Haddon Dene... Hannah McDermott, Literacy Lead at Wellesley House... Maria Stanley, Literacy Co-ordinator at Bromstone Primary... and Helene Cohen, Head of English at St Lawrence College Junior School.

 

And to finish things off this week... I thought I'd share a sneak preview of the first character sketches created by my illustrator Abie Greyvenstein for the fifth Bradley Baker book, which is planned for release some time next year. Please keep this to yourselves though... it's top secret!!!

 

"Bradley Baker and the Sentinel of Aakoria"... character sketches designed for the 5th book in the series... due to be released during 2014

 

Hope you enjoyed this week's BlogSpot... looking forward to my creative writing workshops with the children at Pinhoe C of E Primary over the next few days. I'll catch up again same time next week and tell you all about this latest book publication project with local schools.

 

Best wishes for now, DLJ

 

 

Great to be back in Plymouth and Exeter...

Wow... what a fantastic start to the new academic year. I journeyed back down to Plymouth this week to visit three more primary schools and what a great response to my showcase presentations!!!

 

Children from St Paul's Roman Catholic Primary School were happy to see me again when I returned for their book signing event on Monday, which was held in the library. All four Bradley Baker books were in great demand and I signed lots of copies for all the pupils... with copious amounts of smiling faces from children leaving with books tightly clutched to their chests.

 

On Tuesday I paid my first visit to Horrabridge Primary School, which is part of the Tavistock learning community. This event was organised following my appearance at the Children's University Graduation Awards at Plymouth University, where I attended as Chancellor for Torbay. Here are some of the children at Horrabridge with their signed copies of the Bradley Baker adventure books.

 

Later on Tuesday, I received an urgent call from St Paul's RC with more book orders from some of the children... so I headed back over to sign more copies before my next school visit to Laira Green near Plymouth's city centre in the afternoon. I had a great time at Laira Green School and here are some pictures taken by the teachers...

 

The audience really liked my author presentation!!!

 

Bradley Baker disappears down the plughole!!!

 

The boy hero reappears for a quick photo opportunity!!!

 

 

Here are some of the pupils representing their KS2 year groups during the book signing event in the school library. Each year group received a full set of Bradley Baker books, which were generously funded by the senior management team at Laira Green school.

 

You can see the full web report about my visit to Laira Green School in Plymouth by clicking on the following link: http://lairagreen.com/2013/09/20/visit-by-author-david-lawrence-jones/

The end of the week soon came around and I completed my school events with a return visit to Pinhoe C of E Primary in Exeter. I showcased my Bradley Baker books before the summer and I was invited back to host a series of creative writing workshops. The first session lasted all Friday morning and I worked with the children to help them create characters for a story, which they will write and publish in a school book. Looking forward to returning a week on Monday to continue with the project and I'll display some of the pupils excellent work on this blog in due course.

That's all for now folks! Thanks for popping by and I'll catch up with you all after my trip to Kent next week, where I will be visiting four more schools in the Ramsgate and Broadstairs area.

Best wishes, DLJ :)

And then there were four...

Hello everyone.... it's been a while since my last blog post and it's great to be back on line to share some recent activity from my wonderful world of writing!!! It has been a very productive summer... I finished the fourth book and I'm looking forward to the UK release on 30th September. Signed "First Edition" copies are available from the website... here's a link if you'd like to order your copy before the official release date; http://www.bradley-baker.com/book_shop_8.html

 

And then there were four!!!!

 

Interest in the new book has been very positive and has resulted in a date being set for the US launch. I'm looking forward to attending New York Public Library in New York 16th December.

The new academic year in the UK started this week and I have resumed my popular author visits to primary schools. Demand for my interactive showcase presentations is overwhelming and I already have a diary full of events leading up to Christmas. If you would like to organise an author visit to your school, please get in touch as I a few slots to fill. I stayed local for my first two schools with a visit to Pennycross (pictured) and then onto St Paul's RC in Plymouth. The reception from both schools was fantastic and I'd particularly like to convey special thanks to Sarah Pope at St Paul's for organising an absolutely brilliant event.

I will be travelling further afield to other counties within the UK over the coming weeks, with tours planned for Kent and South Yorkshire. These will be followed by more events in Devon and Gloucestershire.

 

The plot lines for the new book include some carefully researched adoption issues that affect the boy hero and I'd like to that the senior management team at FFC for their kind support. In turn I am very pleased to continue my support for Families for Children throughout 2013/2014.  I'm also looking forward to advocating my new role for the charity and an official announcement will be made over the new few weeks.

 

My world is full of fantastic stuff and there's lots going on behind the scenes. I'm looking forward to sharing my incredible journey with you over the coming months. It's good to be back!!!!

 

All the very best for now and thanks for reading my latest BlogSpot, DLJ :)