![]() ![]() Our group enjoyed reading it tremendously and eagerly awaited a glimpse behind the curtain into how it was written. Telling a story of foundlings and class struggles in the 18 th century, this marvellous book won the Whitbread Prize when it came out in 2000 and is studied across the UK. Gavin has published more than 50 books for children over her career and we asked her to talk about her much loved, and much studied, novel Coram Boy. ![]() This is demonstrated by the wonderful and instructive visit from Jamila Gavin which our PGCE course was lucky enough to host. Short of dusting off the Year 9 ouija board, there might be some barriers to talking to Jane Austen or Dickens but this is not to say there is no hope for any author. Philip Pullman probably has a lot on his plate and some authors have even gone so far as to die to make themselves difficult to contact. If your class is working its way through Harry Potter then the likelihood of convincing JK Rowling to come round for tea and a bit of a chat is somewhat remote. The antidote to this narrative isolation is simple: ask the author! Our own associations and impressions are valuable, as are those of our students, but author’s intention and background are often equally fascinating. We become involved with the characters and the plot, but it is much harder to step back and examine the thoughts and feelings of the mind that created them. It is sometimes a little too easy to forget the living, breathing person behind the books we read. ![]()
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