Laura James Visit

About Author

Laura James's love of storytelling began at an early age and led her to undertake a degree in Film Studies and an MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University. Laura's debut novel Captain Pug was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize in 2017. She lives near Bath with her two dachshunds, Brian and Florence.

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Details

Laura James's books include:
Captain Pug
Cowboy Pug
Safari Pug
Pirate Pug
Fabio: The Case of the Missing Hippo, Fabio: Mystery on the Ostrich Express

Age ranges: 5-9

Preferred event: Talks

Number of sessions: Max 3

Size of audience: As many as possible

Author's home area: South West England

Regions she will visit: UK

Fee: Min. £200 per day, plus travel/accommodation expenses

Links: http://laurajamesauthor.com

Contacts details: Email: [email protected]

Event information

Experience
Standard school visits and workshops

School's preparation
I expect the audience to be aware of who I am, what I do and, hopefully, to have read something I’ve written. Sale of books is a must.

Author's preparation
I will have discussed beforehand with the teacher / librarian what they want out of the session.

Event details
I will talk about what drew me into writing and particularly what inspired me to write my series The Adventures of Pug and Fabio: The World’s Greatest Flamingo Detective. I use a PowerPoint presentation to help illustrate this and involve the audience by asking them questions about their writing / pets etc. Then I will read them a taster of Pug / Fabio’s latest adventure.

Together the children and I will create some characters and a plot / mystery so that the children can come away with ideas on how to start writing their own stories. We will end with a quick pug / flamingo related quiz and any questions and a book signing. I can offer a Pug, Fabio or combined event as you wish.

Materials available
I need the ability to show a PowerPoint presentation (ideally with a clicker) and a flip chart and pen. There are fun activity packs on my website, which you can download for free. These are a good way of getting the

Testimonial
'The younger pupils at Papplewick School were entertained on Monday, 12th November when Laura James, author of children’s book Captain Pug, came to the school to talk to them about her books. Laura was sure of the boys' attention right from the beginning when she gave them a selection of cowboy and pirate hats, sheriff badges and bandanas to wear - all of which feature in her stories of Pug.

'After Laura had introduced the boys to two of her characters, Pug and Fabio, she read excerpts from her books. Probably the best part of the morning for the boys was when she asked them to think of creating their own characters for a mystery book.'
Headmaster Tom Bunbury added: 'The results were certainly different - we had a hamster called Whizz who was in danger of being eaten by Archie the elephant but was saved by Bruno the detective!'
School House Magazine following a visit to Papplewick School, Berkshire.

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