Author Visit: Dan Freedman
On March 4th, all of Years 7 & 8 enjoyed a visit from the author Dan Freedman. Dan spoke to them of his long history as a sports journalist attached to the FA, and the England team, showing him on a tour to South Africa and meeting Nelson Mandela. He also spoke about his books, and his struggles to write as someone with ADHD, but how his English teacher believed in him and helped him write. He said that even today when he has a story idea he meets that teacher to flesh out his ideas – speaking of how important teachers are in young lives. Dan has written a series of books about a boy who loves football – the Jamie Johson books – which was then made into a series by the BBC.
He also spoke about his book 50 ways into Football, outlining all the different professions involved with football. Dan encouraged the students to ask frequent questions, and told them that the Librarian, Mrs Roche, would choose the pupil who had asked the best questions to earn the prize of a signed football he had been given by the FA. As you can imagine, lots of great questions were asked, but the most interesting and detailed question was asked by Rohan in Year 7. The session ended with Dan signing books for students who had bought them, and there are also copies available in the library.
