Books galore at this year’s BookFest

Every child involved in a BookFest event was given their own book, personally dedicated to them by the author themselves, all bought and paid for by Children’s BookFest.

We welcomed 27 authors overall, including locals including Kieran Larwood, MG Leonard and Neal Layton, as well as those from further afield such as Kate Wakeling, Sam Sedgman and Onjali Q Rauf, and it was a joy to have so many of them buzzing about spreading the book-love.

Maz Evans brought blue skies and balloons to the pupils of Jessie Younghusband, as well as a bucket load of energy and fascinating insights into the Maya people that populate her latest trilogy.

Donald Vass, Teacher Governor at Jessie Younghusband, was also impressed with the individual attention Maz gave each of the children who came to have their book signed, saying, ‘Maz was great at asking the children what other authors they were enjoying, and sharing book recommendations based on this as well.’

Joseph Coelho, former Children’s Laureate, spent the day at Kingsham Primary School, entertaining and inspiring children from age 5 right up to age 11. He captivated them with his charm and charisma, encouraged audience participation and answered a myriad of questions, before signing each and every one of the books CBF bought for the pupils, which in the case of Kingsham totalled over 250.

This combination of having an author coming to your school to give an inspiring presentation, followed by the gift of a real-life book you can keep and return to whenever you choose, is absolute rocket fuel to the burgeoning imaginations of our children.

And as Katherine Rundell said on Radio 4 recently, ‘the imagination is not some optional extra which we can humour in our children but safely discard in adulthood. No, imagination is at the very heart of everything.’