Three days in a row, at about the furthest end of the country you could find, and look at the marvellous comics the kids created in my Comic Art Masterclass. And wait till you hear how many books they bought!
Day one of my voyage to the North took me to Dukes' Secondary in Ashington, just north of Newcastle. In the past, when I've travelled this far north, which I first did at the behest of Hexham Book Festival, then for schools that wanted me back in Northumberland, I would fly. Indeed Newcastle airport and its Britannia hotel became very much a home from home for me. But this year is the year that I started selling books in schools, and as a result I have to drive. Five and half hours later and I'm in Ashington, and look at the lovely creations. I confess I had no idea who Nanny Plum was before this.
Being secondary school kids, they're less responsive to invitations to buy my books. The librarian had done her best, putting the word out in advance, but in the end only four kids bought copies of Richard The Third.
In Cramlington, also near Newcastle, the kids themselves were similarly unhurried when it came to buying books from me. But because I was working with kids on Pupil Premium, for whom there's a budget to get things for them that they might not be able to afford themselves, my librarian went very much the extra mile and bought a copy of Richard The Third for every single one of them. That's sixty copies of the book. I can't see any other school beating that in a hurry. And that's not all...
Eileen the librarian had not only made a display of blown up covers from my book, she'd made them into sweets! She's printed and hand assembed these lovely choccies, all for me! Cramlington officially wins Best School Ever. Though I am happy to open this up to competition.
Day 3 of my odyssey to the frozen north (which was far from frozen, sumer having finally decided to arrive at the weekend, it's been very pleasant throughout, and I've managed a nice walk every evening) took me to Carnforth, which is in the Lake District between Kendal and Lancaster. Nanny Plum proved herself to be the new Peppa Pig, in that as soon as the kids see her on a previous comic cover they can't think of anything funnier themselves. And Grandma gave me the one cover design that I didn't think was at all bad.
The celebrities these six groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Leonardo Dicaprio, Nicki Minaj, Boris Johnson, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Reynolds, and best suggestion of the week: Donna, one of the kids' mums.
