Adopt an Author, the exciting school’s initiative that links local classes with children’s authors ended its 2018 scheme with a series of annual ‘Meet your Author’ Festival parties. With cake, pizza and pet beetles, it was a fun-filled finale to the 15th year of the Adopt an Author project.
With 110 children from four different schools (Stanford Juniors, Mile Oak Primary, Benfield Primary and Carden Primary), and four authors (including two returning adoptees, Rob Lloyd Jones and Alex Milway, and newcomers Imogen White and M.G. Leonard) taking part, classes adopted an author for eight weeks, writing them weekly emails and completing tasks set by their adopted author, the project coming to a close with the Meet Your Author finales.
Full of fun activities, such as historical journies, dress-up performances, quizzes and live drawing sessions, all with the wonderful authors, the children could share the enthusiasm for reading which the project helped to stimulate and nurture.
A Year 5 participant said: “I loved ‘Adopt an Author’ because I loved doing the tasks each week” whilst another from Year 2 told their author: “You have meant so much to me. You are the best author in the entire world.” Many of the participants expressed their new-found excitement in reading: “I can’t wait to read the next book, they’re really hooking me in!”, and a want to start reading and writing more often.
Adopt an Author is a Brighton Festival initiative that began in 2003, designed to develop relationships between classes of students and children’s authors with the aim to promote literacy and encourage writing. Adopt an Author is produced and delivered by Collected Works CIC, an award-winning reader development organization based in Brighton. The organization specializes in delivering innovative projects, events, and activities based around shared reading. Its largest projects are City Reads and Young City Reads which it delivers annually, alongside Adopt An Author.
Photo: Alex Milway and Benfield Primary Year 2