Article by Katie, Room 20.

A few days ago we were lucky enough to have the fantastic New Zealand author, Brian Falkner visit our school to talk about the books he has written.

He shared how good authors find their ideas. Brian entertained us with stories of his childhood and how these have shaped the themes of some of his books. He told us that the first thing you need to think about as a writer is: What If…

He says a good author is always trying to think of a story, like looking around at everyday things and asking, "what if...?"

Another thing he talked about was emotions. Every good book has strong emotions that want to make you read more. He also said a good story needs characters to experience strong emotions.

One AMAZING trick he could do was say hello in nearly every language! He challenged the audience to call out names of countries and he would reply “Hello” in the language of that country. We tried really hard to think of obscure countries, but he could say “Hello” to all of them!

After his visit, I went to the school library to see if we had any of his books and luckily there were lots! I borrowed “Maddy West And The Tongue Taker”. I’ve just finished this book and I LOVED it! It's about a nine-year-old girl who can speak every language in the world, even ancient scrolls that no one could read. She goes on an adventure with a very talented monkey, a super strong wrestler, and a stowaway ninja. A great read that is now in my Top 3 favourite books.

Overall Brian Falkner is a great author and I definitely recommend reading some of his books.