Tigeropolis – School Book Tour marks publication of “Caught in the Trap”
Posted by Richard on April 15th, 2019
World Book Day 2019 (Thursday 7th March) was a perfect opportunity to mark the publication of the latest in the Tigeropolis series – “Caught in the Trap”.
In the run up to the big day I visited fourteen schools in just over six weeks, covering schools in and around London, in Kent and in Central Scotland. It was great to find so many children so keen to learn more about tigers and conservation.
From Ealing to Edinburgh, via Maidstone and Islington I was asked about how I came to write the series and about the threats to tigers in the wild. The children are always fascinated to learn that the Tigeropolis stories were inspired by my first encounter with a real tiger in the wild in India. I never tire of telling the children about tigers and how important they are as a ‘keystone’ species in conservation. A favourite moment in each talk is when I show a picture of Vijaya and her three little cubs. Invariably the whole assembly (300 children or more) goes “Ahhhhhh”, and you know the children just want to reach out and cuddle them.
So any teachers, or parents, out there looking for an interesting and inspiring school talk feel free to check out my page on Contact an Author: https://contactanauthor.co.uk/author/324/r.-d.-dikstra or contact me via the enquiries link on this website.
PS – Congratulations to :-
- Colinsburgh Primary, Fife
- Headcorn Primary, Kent
- Kingswood Primary
For gaining the Society of Authors ‘2019 Reading for Pleasure’ Awards.
It’s a scheme I support. All the schools I visited in 2018/19 had a real commitment to improving literacy and in fostering a love for reading, but I could only select three to recommend for the awards. After much deliberation, and a bit of soul searching, I finally decided that these three schools were just that bit more special and went the extra mile in what they did, and therefore they were my nominees this year.
PPS – If you didn’t already know we now have a Tigeropolis Activity Book – puzzles, quizzes and fun facts featuring all the main Tigeropolis characters
