Catherine MacPhail

Catherine MacPhail joined us for a morning on 19 th October to speak to all of the children in Years 6, 7 and 8. There was a frenzy in the few weeks before her visit to buy and read her books.

Catherine writes real-life stories with strong characters who are placed in situations that we can easily identify with. Her first book appeared in 1994 entitled Run Zan Run and was a huge hit. The story came about as a result of Catherine’s daughter, Katie, being badly bullied at school. The book tackles the subject well and with its short chapters (a feature of all her books) is easy to get into and enjoy. 21 books later Catherine is still writing compelling stories for readers aged 11 to 14. Her next novel is about a boy who is also a spy and has to deal with all sorts of unexpected mysteries. This is no Alex Rider, with special training or gadgets, just an ordinary boy. The first book in the series called Nemesis arrives on the shelves in 2006.

Catherine spoke to two groups of children and she was fantastic at explaining how to get a story started and how to end each chapter with a cliff-hanger. She was such a great speaker and inspired many of the listeners to go off and put pen to paper. Many of the ideas for her books, including Another Me, Dark Waters and Roxy’s Baby, were explained and we all felt that we had a good idea how a story can be put together. Catherine signed copies of her books for the children before heading back to London and then home to her beloved Scotland. We thank her enormously for bringing the power of the written word to life.

For more information about the author go to: www.macphailbooks.com