Miss L. Hall, Literacy Coordinator, Rawthorpe Junior School:  'Thank you for visiting Year 6 and inspiring them with your amazing workshop. The children loved reading Firestorm Rising and have enjoyed using it as a stimulus for their own spooky stories. As an ex Year 6 teacher you really understood how to hook the children in!'

Miss E. Nicholson, Literacy Coordinator, Castleford Park Junior Academy:  'The library visit with John was fantastic – the buzz amongst the children on the return journey to school was priceless. It was particularly rewarding to see children, who wouldn’t usually have this opportunity, so excited about their afternoon and reading in general. Several staff members mentioned to myself the following day just how excited the children were on returning to school and were eager to tell their classmates all about their afternoon at the library. From the very offset, John made the children feel so comfortable and welcome and they were engrossed when he began reading. A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon for both children and staff – we really hope to work with John again in the near future.'  

• A truly gripping story which will have you on the edge of your seat, as soon as you've picked the amazing, rare book up!'  William, aged 11
  

• I enjoyed acting as Tom from Firestorm Rising, which is one of John’s books. It was so much fun. – Year 4 pupil
• The thing I enjoyed the most was being able to meet a real life book author – it has inspired me! – Year 4 pupil
• What I enjoyed the most about meeting John was how he admitted he was weird. I also liked how he referred to us as his friends, this made me feel really welcome. One of the things I enjoyed was that when he read, he had lots of intonation and did lots of different voices and he has an amazing imagination. I feel very lucky to have met him and spend time in such an amazing library. – Year 6 pupil
• I loved the role-play we got to take part in – it showed me just how reading can come to life. The library was such a great place to be able to do this and I can’t wait to visit again! – Year 6 pupil
• My favourite part of the visit was creating our own monsters – I am going to use mine in the next story that I write. – Year 3 pupil
• I enjoyed seeing inside the library and getting to listen to a story there. The story was great! – Year 5 pupil