ONE of the country's most popular children's author has visited Norton Primary School as part of Ryedale Book Festival's outreach programme.

David Almond’s debut novel Skellig, was awarded the Carnegie Medal and Whitbread Prize for children’s fiction nearly 20 years ago and is still widely read all around the world. During his visit David answered questions about all of his books, including Skellig, which Year 3 pupils had just finished reading in class.

Deputy head teacher Madeline Griffin said: “We loved how he made the writing process fun and how he explained that ordinary real life experiences can be used to create wonderful storylines.

“I hope that one day some of our pupils go on to become renowned writers just like him.”

Sarah Tyson, who organised the event as part of the Ryedale Book Festival school outreach programme, said: “Although I have been trying to get David Almond to Ryedale for some time, we did not have much notice about this visit, so I am delighted that Norton was able to welcome him, even though it was SATs week for their Year 6 pupils.”

On Friday, September 22, the book festival team will welcome Lauren Child back to The Milton Rooms to speak to Key Stage 2 pupils, and for two to seven year olds there will be the chance to watch a performance based on the book “Oskar’s Amazing Adventure.

The annual poetry day and Grand Final of the P-Factor performance poetry competition will be held on Friday, October 6. This year the special guest will be performance poet Mandy Coe from Manchester whose poetry for children has won many awards.

For more information go to ryedalebookfestival.com or email schools@ryedalebookfestival.com