Visting authors

The Two Steves, writers Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore, entertained Year 7s on 9 February at the Joint Schools’ Author Visit, organised by the Librarians of OLA, Abingdon School, the School of SS Helen and Katharine. In front of a large audience which included pupils from other local schools, the children were, at first, unsure that were allowed to laugh since the duo were performing like a comedy act. But whilst telling anecdotes they revealed how experiences can feed creative writing. These authors of over 130 books entertained and inspired whist talking about three of their most popular series: the Challenger series which features daredevil teen hero Luke Challenger, and the iHorror and iHero series which are interactive stories where the reader is the Hero/Hunter and decides what is going to happen in the story. The Luke Challenger series take classic stories (The Lost World, King Solomon’s Mines and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea) and brings them into the 21st century. These would suit a reader with stamina, whilst the iHero series, with fantastic manga illustrations by artist Sonia Leong, will be ideal for reluctant readers. Many of their titles are also available as ebooks.