We take our hat off to teachers on World Book Day
Posted by Kay on March 7th, 2023
Scores of excited children, dressed up as their favourite characters greeted Richard when he visited Coleshill Infants on World Book Day. Yes, it’s that time of the year when children across the country (with a little help from their parents) dress up in all sorts of interesting and inventive costumes with a least a nod to their favourite book. And, as any author will tell you, sometimes their costumes can be rather elaborate and not entirely practical – it’s not unusual to see kids trapped inside carboard structures twice their height or lugging around vast papier-mâché props and still be expected to manage a full day’s lessons too. Trying to work out which characters are on show is a huge part of the fun, but it’s also a test of your knowledge of the world of children’s books – as well as a test of your diplomatic skills!
And this time Richard was faced with something different – every single child was also wearing a Captain Bobo captain’s hat!
Yes, each and every one was wearing their very own Captain Bobo hat, which they had carefully cut out from the template on our website and then decorated in their own choice of colours.
It was a truly special sight to see 3 Harry Potters, 2 Cinderellas, a Wally and a host of tigers, astronauts, clowns, footballers and bears, all trooping into Assembly wearing their Captain Bobo hats. If only he’d been able to photograph it.
As well as reading the first Captain Bobo picture book story Bananas! he also talked to the older children about Tigeropolis and explained about how that series was inspired by his first ever encounter with a real tiger in the wild, deep in the Indian jungle.
Richard also had the honour to help judge the school’s craft book challenge where the children had to create potato characters from their favourite books – every entry was a potential prize winner with some truly creative entries.
Later in the day Richard was delighted to spend time with the children at Holmer Green Junior School. This time it was all about tigers. He read from the Tigeropolis books and answered questions about tigers and conservation. It’s always great to see how much the children care about conservation and how they relate to the Tigeropolis stories.
We are always interested in hearing from schools about possible author visits: for more information see Contact An Author.