Author Event at The Earls High School with Jennifer Killick

We were very excited to take twenty-eight of our Year 7 & 8 students from Ridgewood to an author event at The Earls High School, with Jennifer Killick. She talked about her brand-new book, launched today, a spook-tastic adventure called The Witch in the Woods. Jennifer gave a presentation about her new book and discussed her aspirations for writing. Jennifer was a World Book Day author in 2024 and is well-known for her Dreadwood series which has sold over 100,000 copies.  Her writing is funny, exciting and engaging, perfectly suited for children aged 9-12 and ideal for older reluctant readers.

Jennifer took us on a journey into the weird world of Serial Chillers, by reading an extract…

Welcome to Hazard. An ordinary town where strangeness is a way of life. A town where sink holes appear with no warning, where people go missing way too often and where things really DO go bump in the night …

To Travis and his classmates, Hazard is home. But when they’re set a school project to investigate the history of the town, they soon realise that something strange and alien lies beneath Hazard. What can they learn from their investigations into the mysterious witch in the woods? And – if the witch really does exist – will they make it home to tell the tale…?

Jennifer is such a prestigious author and listening to her inspirations for her literary career were really interesting. She talked about people and places and more importantly, books that shaped her growing up. She referred to books such as The Lord of the Rings, Watership Down and Return to Oz to name but a few! She had an interactive quiz to work out which character you would be from her book and played a new take on the Rock, Paper, Scissors game with Wolves, Witches & Weirdos instead! Two Ridgewood students were able to ask her questions in the Q&A session at the end, which was wonderful to watch. Both students were confident in their delivery, well done! This was a fantastic opportunity for the students to meet the author and be inspired to develop their own reading and writing skills. Every child received a personalised, signed copy of her new book, fresh from the press!

As always, our students behaved impeccably and represented Ridgewood really well. Our thanks go to Dave, the Site Manager at Newtown Primary, who drove The Earls High School minibus, to ensure we arrived safely and on time. Thanks also go to the Dudley Children's Book Group who made this event possible; Thank you, Mrs Bartlett & Mrs Woodward. We wish Jennifer Killick every success in the future!