I did a lovely online Zoom event with lots of students at Birkenhead Park School in the UK this morning. It was brilliantly organised. Usually, with virtual events, all the students are in one room, and when it's time for Q&A they come forward one at a time to ask their questions. That's absolutely fine -- it's the way most events HAVE to be set up. But in this case they set up video feeds in about 10 or 12 different rooms, allowing even more students to participate. And they asked their questions through a CHAT function on Zoom, which meant we didn't have to wait between questions (sometimes it can take up to a minute for one student to return to their seat after asking a question, and for the next to come forward -- and occasionally it can be tricky hearing the questions, so I have to ask for some to be repeated), so I was able to answer a few more of them than normal.

The session flew by for me, and I was genuinely surprised when the teacher told me it was time to end -- I thought we had another 10 or 15 minutes to go! I've posted a couple of photos from the event, which the school shared on Twitter. I had to chuckle at my expression in the first -- it looks like the kids have caught me unawares!! :-)

If YOU happen to be a teacher or librarian (or if you're a student who wants to show this to your teacher or librarian), and are interested in contacting me to enquire about the possibility of arranging an online event, please feel free to reach out and drop me a line using this email address: [email protected]

I don't charge, and I'm happy to tailor events according to the ages of the children involved, and focus on a school's series of choice (most want me to focus on Cirque Du Freak, but I'm happy talking about ANY of my books). I don't say YES to every request, but I don't say NO to too many either -- helpful hint: a deciding factor for me can be the number of children involved -- the more the merrier, as far as I'm concerned!