And The Winner Is...

Here at the Weald it seems we have barely had time to catch our breath, what with all the celebrations for Weald Book Week and of course, the culmination of the Weald Book Award with all the wonderful presentations from our primary friends and the announcement of the winner.  Mrs May's costume is a clue...though we're not entirely sure if she's holding her bokken quite right...

Huge congratulations to our winner as voted by you: Chris Bradford with Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior.  A worthy winner!

Here's what some of you said:

"It was a great celebration to finish off a great book award."

"It was a real treat for our pupils to perform in front of so many people. We all thought the Weald’s ‘Great British Book Off’ was very entertaining, too."

Well done to all the students who took part, read the books, had such wonderful ideas and opinions, and stood up to share them all at the presentation evening.

We're already looking forward to next year's event.

2014 Nominee Chris Bradford Visits the Weald

Chris Bradford is a true believer in ‘practising what you preach’ – this made his visit to The Weald a much anticipated event.  Since one of the titles in his award winning Young Samurai series has been nominated for The Weald Book Award he was invited to come and talk to Year 7 participants and pupils from Year 6 feeder primary schools.  

He explained that he trained in iaido (samurai swordmanship), karate, ninjutsu and earned his black belt in Zen Kyu Shin Taijutsu.  Previously he had trained in judo, muay thai and kickboxing.  He wore full Samurai robes and wielded his very own Samurai sword.  Students were invited to discover the skills needed to become a young samurai at Samurai School and treated to an authentic samurai sword display and a dynamic all-kicking, all-punching book reading.

His best-selling books are published in over 20 languages and have garnered more than 25 children’s book award nominations.   Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior was deemed one of Puffin’s 70 Best Ever Books, alongside Treasure Island and Robin Hood.