Please get in touch below if you’re interested in school/library visits or workshops. My events are suitable for Key Stage 2 or 3, from Y3-8. I offer both virtual and in-person visits and can be flexible with timings and content so let me know what you need!
My school visits are a challenge: can you work out how the trick is done?
We’ll do some tricks together and then try to work out the secret.
I promise, for health and safety reasons, that none of the tricks will involve tigers, chainsaw juggling, or tiger juggling. Probably.
How good are you at solving mysteries? How good are you at being a detective? Discover how working out the method behind a magic trick can teach valuable problem-solving skills.
Or try a creative writing workshop. Write stories together as teams and then pitch your ideas to the rest of the class.
Learn about the power of misdirection and sleight of hand in storytelling.
Interactive Q&A sessions. Ask whatever you like! (The Q&A sessions work best when classes have prepared their questions beforehand. For both in-person and virtual sessions I’m very happy to speak with multiple classes at the same time.)
A lot of children’s books are about magic. Bookshops are full of protagonists with special powers and characters who discover they are part of a hidden magical world. The Great Fox Illusion isn’t like that. There are no special powers in this book. No shortcuts to success. Flick is a girl with a prosthetic leg who cannot wave a wand to solve her problems. The Great Fox Illusion is about a different kind of magic.
In this story, the world-famous illusionist The Great Fox has left behind some hard puzzles to solve. Flick and Charlie have to enter his old house and work out the method behind a series of magic tricks. All the answers are right in front of them, but the whole point of a magic trick is to hide the secret of how it works. It wouldn’t be much of a trick if it was obvious how it was done, would it? So, Flick and Charlie are faced with what appear to be impossible challenges. Where do you start in working out how a trick works? As the story progresses, we watch them break the puzzles down, isolate the details they understand and then work from what they know to try and figure out what they don’t. They do not rely on casting a spell or using their powers as the ‘chosen ones’. They learn how to solve problems for themselves. More than that, they acquire skills in overcoming difficulties that seem impossible to surmount – as problems so often do. They gain an understanding that will help them cope with all sorts of everyday challenges. That method – break it down, isolate the details you understand and then work from what you know to try and figure out what you don’t – works everywhere. I think it’s the kind of magic that we all need.
Download The Great Fox Illusion class discussion guide
Download The Great Fox Illusion class poster
Virtual School Visits
Option 1: 30-minute author presentation OR Q&A session: £75.
Option 2: A full hour author presentation and Q&A session OR creative writing workshop: £120.
Option 3: Flexible zoom sessions. Tell me what you need.
In-person School Visits
Option 4: 40 – 60 minutes: £150 + travel and accommodation expenses.
Option 5: A half day visit: £250 + travel and accommodation expenses.
Option 6: A full day visit: £400 + travel and accommodation expenses.
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