On Thursday the 21^{st of} October, I visited the author Lesley Berrington in Cherry class and in her assembly to Year 2 to learn more about her work. Lesley Berrington is the author of the Hattie and friends book series.

In Cherry, Lesley read the class A Day at the Zoo. Lesley explained that she based Hattie (the main character) on her daughter, Harriet. Sometimes the book characters are based on people she’s seen or are just made up. Lesley showed the children some special rocks that have pictures of the people in her books painted on them. She let them take some out and guess which book the character on the rock comes from. Lesley then handed out the books and some puzzles. The children looked like they were enjoying it a lot. Soon, they were chatting and having fun. After they tidied it away, they got the chance to ask some questions. Lesley said she didn’t always want to be an author but does enjoy being one because she likes going to events and meeting children. It can take a year altogether to make her books as working with the illustrator also takes a long time. Before long, Lesley had to go to the Year 2 assembly. But the class enjoyed her stay.

At the assembly, Lesley introduced her notebook where she creates her ideas and stories. To plan a story, she writes a list of things she wants to happen in her book. Lesley always makes her books twelve pages and 50 words long. Lesley then splits her notebook into the pages of the book. Once she has planned out each page section, she writes it out again -this time with less mistakes. Once the story is perfect Lesley types it into her computer and then prints it off. Lesley then works with the illustrator, Karen Middleton, to create the pictures of the characters. Lesley then showed a sketch of Toby (one of her characters) to Year 2. Toby was based on her nephew. She explained that you should always pick the right illustrator and illustrations you want. Lesley showed Year 2 some of the drawings. The first ones that she showed were pencil drawings. She told us that she writes a list to Karen Middleton about what she wants the character to look like. Then she showed us some drawings in colour. Her illustrator uses watercolours for the illustrations. The children were very impressed with the watercolour pictures. Lesley said the cost for one illustration is £100! Once Karen completes all the pictures, Lesley takes the book to a designer printer company. There they print the pages out with Lesley checking for any mistakes. Lesley showed the children 3 printed pages, one with an example of a mistake on it. Once Lesley is happy there are no mistakes, the book is then officially printed! Lesley sells her books online, through shops and book festivals. To end the assembly, Lesley read A Day at the Farm. The Year 2 classes looked like they were really interested in the books.

  The Interview

Erin: Are you going to expand your Hattie and Friends series?

Lesley: I am hoping to get a TV show of Hattie and some board books of it.

Erin: How did you do research on the books?

Lesley: Once, I went with Karen to a special school to see what equipment they use.

Erin: Did you encounter any barriers when you published your books ,and if so, how did you overcome them?

Lesley: Yes. There were lots of new things to learn like printing the designs that I at first didn’t know how to do.

Erin: Do you plan your writing amounts each day?

Lesley: I don’t. I just write at any time.

Erin: Have you got any tips for the future authors out there?

Lesley:  Practice and read lots of books.

by Erin (Birch Class)