Shrewsbury Bookfest rocks!

An amazing 850 children turned out for the Shrewsbury Children's Bookfest Book Award and The Skull in the Wood was one of the six titles nominated. Children from 32 schools in Shropshire read all the titles and voted on their favourite - Bomber Dog by the lovely Megan Rix. And in the run-up to the awards, schools put their hearts into bringing the books alive - making videos, creating artwork, putting on plays and writing poems.

Greenfields Primary School in Shrewsbury produced an utterly terrifying trailer which I'll try to post here soon. And Grace from St Lawrence C of E Primary School had winning entries in the both the art competition and the poetry competition. They're both incredibly atmospheric - I love them!

Tilda in Old Scratch Wood by Grace Keeling from St Lawrence C of E Primary School

And Grace's poem was also picked as a finalist. Well done, Grace!

I’m left right at the rim
Of the crumbling face
Of a part of the wood.
The breeze scuttles
Through my wild hair
But it nips on my skin
And tugs on the roots
Making them blood red.
I am ready to go home.
I was ready to go home
A long, long time ago.
There is a putrid stench
In the atmosphere, quite subtle,
Yet quite repulsive.
It is unpleasantly warm
Though my hands are still bitter and bleak
The piercing particles
In the scratching air,
I have no intention to move
Since Matt has vanished and left me here.
So now it’s just me
And Jez at my side
And she is the only one that cares.
It seems the hawkish, spiteful vegetation
Is observing me,
Watching me.
Swiftly I look at the foliage
I try to imagine them
Being thoughtful and generous,
But all I see is them crinkle with sin
And hiss with evil,
Unexpectedly a foul bloody stench
Fills my nose.
There is something dreadfully wrong,
I knew it all along.
Grace Keeling St Lawrence CE Primary School
Shropshire