Storytelling Fun with Berlie Doherty

Last Friday the Y5 Junior school students had a wonderful visit from author Berlie Doherty, best known for writing over 60 children’s books that have twice won the Carnegie Medal (in 1992 for ‘Dear Nobody’ and in 1987 for ‘Granny Was A Buffer Girl’). As a long-standing friend of the school, she was delighted to talk to the girls about the process of writing, how she started out and reading a portion of her book ‘Street Child’ to the class in an enchanting storytime session.

Budding authors and book-loving Y5 students Katie, Erin, Ruby and Asha were among the girls who loved hearing all about how some of their favourite books were written. Katie said, “I really enjoyed reading her stories because they’re really adventurous and fun, and you can picture the scenes really well.” They also enjoyed listening to Berlie explain how she actually started writing at the age of 5 for a local newspaper, as it showed them that they could start developing their creative writing skills at a young age like her.

Now, it’s safe to say the girls are hooked on her books like ‘How Green You Are!’, ‘Deep Secret’ and ‘Far From Home’, and are eagerly writing their own stories.