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Last week, children’s author Jennifer Bell introduced a range of her books to our Junior Prep.

Working first as a children’s bookseller at the famous Foyles bookshop in London—where she won Children’s Bookseller of the Year at the British Book Awards (2012)—Jennifer first began writing during her spare time, even at lunch breaks! This was how she wrote her debut novel, The Uncommoners: The Crooked Sixpence, which would later become Waterstone’s Children’s Book of the Month and a Sunday Times bestseller. Since then, Jennifer has written two sequels, and the series has been translated into sixteen different languages.

In 2020, Jennifer took to writing full-time, and has since published a new series: Agents of The Wild, as well as another title, Wonderscape (2020). During her talk with our Junior Prep, Jennifer explored her journey to becoming a writer, outlined where she finds the inspiration behind her books, and introduced her most recent work: Magicalia (2024). This latest novel will be coming out in May this year, and many of our pupils are already looking forward to purchasing their copy! All the pupils particularly enjoyed the interactive side of Jennifer’s presentation—they loved answering her questions about all-things fantasy, and were very keen to volunteer for her Magicalia-inspired survival game!

Later on in the Library, the many pupils who purchased one of Jennifer’s books were able to get their copies signed. Thank you to Jennifer for her fantastic presentation, and for inspiring our young readers to immerse themselves in such great reads.