Authors Online Profile
Catherine Bruton | Author
Catherine Bruton is an award-winning author of novels for young people including No Ballet Shoes in Syria, We Can Be Heroes, Another Twist in the Tale, and Following Frankenstein.
Online Introduction
What I can do for you
Option 1. This often works particularly well for classes who are reading one of my novels ‘No Ballet Shoes in Syria’ ‘Another Twist in the Tale’ or ‘Following Frankenstein’ but can also work for groups who don’t know the books. This can be 30/ 45 or 60 minutes
- 10 minute intro themed around ‘Top tips for being an author’ in which I introduce the book, inspirations, research and writing
- Five minute reading from the book
- Followed by a Q and A session. This works really well, particularly if students have prepared questions in advance
Option 2. Alternatively, I can run a writing session. This requires 60 mins
- Themed around one of my books.
- Students produce writing live in the session and share their work
- For ‘No Ballet Shoes in Syria’ I run a session on ‘Telling a Story using 4/5 objects’ by the end of which they will have written an opening and one/ two paragraphs and planned the rest of their story
- For ‘Another Twist in the Tale’ and ‘Following Frankenstein’ I run a session on ‘Spin Off Stories’ by the end of which students will have written a complete story/ poem
- For each, I talk a bit about the book, inspirations, research etc and read short extracts
- Students write in short bursts –2 minutes at a time with very clear framework/ scaffolding to ensure success for students of all ability levels
- Students get chance to share their work with the class