Members of Highfields’ Book Group celebrated their love of literature by taking part in the first ever Wolverhampton Children’s Book Award.
The group, made up of students from Year 7, were given the opportunity to meet a number of award-winning authors and nurture their own creative writing processes as part of the event, which was organised by Wolverhampton Grammar School.
Students were first asked to read five titles, before putting their knowledge of the texts to the test against other city schools in a quiz. After a respectable third-place finish, students were then invited back to a celebration event at Wolverhampton Grammar School, which was attended by all five book authors.
During the day, the young book lovers were given the chance to work with the authors on a number of creative activities linking to the subject matters of their books, including making light jars, creating their own languages and even taking part in science experiments.
The authors - including Christopher Edge, Jane Elson and Megan Rix - then gave talks about their working processes and inspirations behind their writing.
All students who took part in Wolverhampton Children’s Book Award had voted for their favourite book from the selection of texts they read, with the accolade presented to Jane Elson for her heartwarming book, 'Will You Catch Me?' on the day.
As she collected the winning trophy from the Mayor of Wolverhampton, she said: “I didn’t dare dream that I would win this award. Thank you to every child from Wolverhampton who voted for me.”
Highfields’ Lead Practitioner, Mrs K Allen, said: “The event was a fantastic celebration of the joy of reading, and the students and staff who attended thoroughly enjoyed it.”
