I had a wonderful World Book Day yesterday (despite being dressed as the Hairy Fairy!), thanks to the lovely children and staff at Barton Primary School on the Isle of Wight, who invited me in to read my books and lead some related craft activities.

I read Isabella, Rotten Speller with the Year 1 and 2 children who then went on to create their own fabulous self-portraits out of letters. I was so impressed with how they ‘got’ the concept of making pictures with letters and even extended the idea in ways I hadn’t thought of. We then created ‘letter landscapes’ for the portraits to live in – the seaside, the countryside, night-time and the garden – again, I was so impressed with the children’s creativity and enthusiasm.

Here are some of the nearly-finished pictures:

I also went into Reception Class to talk about what fairies are like (not as big as me, apparently, despite my convincing costume) and read Hairy Fairy to the children. They made some spectacular Hairy Fairy bookmarks, with glittery pipe cleaners and other assorted bling. They were just a bit too gluey to photograph while I was there, but they’ve promised to forward me some pictures when they’re dry.

Thank you Barton for a lovely World Book Day – I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!