Author of the Term

Our 'Author for the term' aims to foster a love of reading for our children. We will choose a specific author for each half term to encourage the children to widen their reading and to experience different genres of books.

Spring 1 - Lynley Dodd

Dame Lynley Stuart Dodd, born in 1941, is a New Zealand children's book author. She worked as a teacher before writing her own books. She is both an author and an illustrator and her books are enormously popular as rhyming stories. She is best known for her Hairy Maclary and Friends series, and its follow-ups, all of which feature animals with rhyming names, including Slinky Maliknki, Von Krumm -and many others!

Her books have sold over five million copies worldwide. In 1999, Dodd received the Margaret Mahy Award.

    Click to Read Along: Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy

Autumn 2 - Julia Donaldson                                                          

Julia Donaldson has written some of the world's best-loved children's books, including modern classics The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, which together have sold over 25 million copies worldwide and have been translated into over one hundred languages. Further books include Room on the Broom, Stick Man, Zog and The Smeds and the Smoos – all of which have been made into much-loved animated films. She was the UK Children’s Laureate 2011–13 and has been honoured with a CBE for Services to Literature. Julia and her husband Malcolm divide their time between West Sussex and Edinburgh.

Autumn 1 - Oliver Jeffers

This term we will be sharing children's books written by the author Oliver Jeffers. Oliver Jeffers is an artist, illustrator and writer from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He is renowned for his beautifully illustrated picture books, for both children and adults. These books are so popular, in fact, that they have been translated into over fifty languages and sold over 14 million copies worldwide.

Despite a lot of his work being seen as children's literature, Oliver Jeffers has stated that whilst his books are enjoyed by children, they are for everyone. 

If you have any of these books at home, please send them in to share with the class.