Nothing inspires children to read like hearing an author talk with enthusiasm about books and reading – if that author can communicate well and develop a rapport with the children, which is exactly what Andrew Norriss can do. Andrew was a teacher before becoming a writer, can also act and is passionate about books and reading. These ingredients together with the fact that Andrew has given over 100 talks in the last 2 years means he is not just good at talking to children in school, he is great. He doesn’t just talk he inspires.
When Andrew started giving talks a few years ago he would spend a whole day planning and practicing a talk before going into schools and arrive home exhausted. Now, with so much experience he can adapt each talk to suit the children and situation that he finds and when he was led out in assembly recently with no prior warning, it wasn’t so much what shall I say but how long would you like.
When Andrew talks to, or rather with, a group of children something magical can happen. Andrew is speaking from his heart when and the children pick on his enthusiasm. They love the extracts that he reads from his books and he leaves them fired with enthusiasm. In fact Andrew has taken to hanging around for a while at the end of the day as invariably a red-faced panting child will arrive having run home and back in record time as they hadn’t had money to buy a book and they were so desparate to get one. And the magic doesn’t end there. Having read one book most children, and their parents, will want to read the rest as is evidenced on the Amazon pages.
For more information about Andrew Norriss’s school visits go to http://anorrissbooks.wordpress.com/
