In October 2022 I visited two schools in Lancashire to trial my latest book in the Little Witch Who Wanted to Be Good series which will be called “Esmeralda and the Readies” and will be out before Christmas 2022 and available to buy on our web site www.thereadiesclub.com
The illustrations for this book have been done by STEVE ENGLISH, a professional cartoonist from Norfolk. See a picture of him at work!
Steve has followed the original designs of my niece Jessica, but also created some new characters too like Big Ted and his gang and Basma and the Khan family. His illustrations are really great! Here are a few examples from the first story in book Two in which Sam, the alligator has a prominent role.
Do you think you can guess what the story might be about from these illustrations? Write to: LittleWitchWhoWantedToBeGood@gmail.com
Meet Big Ted and his gang who Esmeralda has to stand up to in Chapter One of Esmeralda and the Readies.
Schools’ visit to trial the new book
One of the schools I visited was Stonyhurst, St Mary’s Hall (SMH) the preparatory school for Stonyhurst where I met the children of Lower Prep. See below. You can see what fun they are by their photo below.
Stonyhurst St Mary's Hall, Lower Prep
The Other school was St Joseph’s primary school (SJ), the villages school of Hurst Green, near Clitheroe. It was great meeting them. and I was really impressed by all the children and their class teachers, Mrs Mann from Stonyhurst St Mary's Hall and Mrs O'Connor from St Joseph's.
St Joseph's have recently been studying Stone Age - see below their lovely photo.
St Joseph's RC Primary School, Hurst Green, nr Clitheroe, Lancs
Penny, one of St Joseph's pupils went one better than everyone else and wrote a fantastic story herself.
Penny pens a new adventure for Esmeralda and her friends!
ESMERALDA SAVES THE TREEES
By Penny
The aunts rushed downstairs one windy, wet morning, for a cup of tea.
“What a lovely day,” said Aunt Agatha.
“My favourite!” replied Aunt Hepzibah.
Suddenly, a flier crashed into their window which said, “
Buy a Brand New Book Now! Only £5
“A brand new book!” squealed Aunt Hepzibah.
“We’ve go millions of those,” replied Aunt Agatha.
“Exactly, we’ve got loads. We could sell them and become rich!”
“But we don’t have any paper,” sighed Aunt Agatha.
“I’ll just magic up a chainsaw and we can go outside and chop some trees,” declared Aunt Hepzibah.
So Aunt Hepzibah recited her spell and magicked up a chain saw.
Eeny, meeny, miny, mo,
Here’s a chainsaw –
Here we go!
“Hooray! Let’s go chop down some trees!”
Broom, broom, screeched the chainsaw as they started chopping.
Esmeralda, Angela and Clare were walking home when they saw Esmeralda’s aunts.
“Stop!” demanded Esmeralda. “What are you doing?”
“Chopping down trees, so we can make spell books,” stated Aunt Hepzibah.
“So we can become rich,” added Aunt Agatha.
“But, if you cut down the trees, we won’t have any left,” said Angela sadly.
“I didn’t think of that,” muttered Aunt Agatha.
“Well I don’t care,” said Aunt Hepzibah.
Just then, Aunt Hepzibah saw the scariest thing she had ever seen. A baby bunny.
“Aahhhhhh,” screamed Aunta Hepzibah running away.
“What’s wrong?” questioned Esmeralda.
“It’s too scary,” squeaked Aunt Hepzibah.
“It’s just a little rabbit,” laughed Esmeralda.
“I won’t cut down the trees if you just get that creature away from me,” pleaded Aunt Hepzibah.
And that is just what Esmeralda, Angela and Clare did.
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What did the pupils of Stonyhurst St Mary's and St Joseph's say about book two of The Little Witch Who Wanted to Be Good" which is called "Esmeralda and the Readies?"
“I would recommend this book because it makes people who are mean be nice and kind ( Lulu aged 8, SMH)
“It’s very good” (Marey, aged 8 SMH)
“I would recommend this book because it is funny and Sam saves the day” (Ellie, aged 7, SJ)
“I would recommend the book because it is funny” (Oliver 7, SJ)
“I would recommend this book because it is very funny” (William aged 8, SJ)
“It’s fantastic” (Musa aged 8, SMH)
“It’s pretty good” (Zach aged 8, SJ)
“I would recommend this book to other people because I like the book” (Ella, aged 8, SJ).
“I would recommend this book to other people because I like it when Sam scares the bullies away” (Raphaela aged 7, SJ).
“Yes I certainly would recommend the book because it is quite funny and cheerful (Celia, aged 9, SJ)
“Yes because it is really good” (Charlie 8, SJ)
“”yes, because it is a good book (Ava A aged 7, SJ)
“Yes I love it because Big Ted is like my friend” (Agatha, aged 8,SMH)
“Yes, I would recommend the book because it has a little girl who wants to be good but her aunties don’t want that” (Lucena, aged 8, SMH)
WHY DON'T YOU WRITE AN ESMERALDA STORY TOO? The best one will be put on the web site. Wrote to LittleWitchWhoWantedToBeGood@gmail.com
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