Award-winning author Andy Stanton is visiting schools in the Highlands and Islands as part of the 20th anniversary of the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour.
So far this week he has visited Glenurquhart, Culbokie, Dornoch and Halkirk Primary Schools. Today (wed) and on Thursday he will be at schools in Orkney, moving on to Shetland on Friday.
The Children’s Book Tour is supported by Scottish Friendly and organised by the Scottish Book Trust. The tour visits both primary and secondary schools, and has enthralled more than 100,000 children since it began in 1998.
Mr Stanton has been a film script reader and a cartoonist, as well as a writer. His nine-part Mr Gum series has won two Blue Peter Book Awards and the Roald Dahl Funny Prize.
In his interactive sessions, he is inspiring pupils by talking about his own journey to becoming an author, including hilarious examples of what he wrote when he was at school and his first book, You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum! He is also giving pupils practical tips on using just one idea to start a story and what to do when you get stuck writing a story.
Marc Lambert, chief executive of Scottish Book Trust, said: “We’re delighted to host Andy Stanton for the 20th anniversary of the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour. Andy’s events are always highly-energetic and full of fun facts, and it’s wonderful that the tour will be revisiting the Highlands, Orkney and Shetland.”
