Year 4 Meet Author Jenny McLachlan!

Year 4 had a fantastic opportunity to take part in an online author visit with Jenny McLachlan. The session was highly engaging, and the children thoroughly enjoyed learning about her writing process and the inspiration behind her work.
Jenny shared how The Land of Roar was inspired by her own life experiences. We found it particularly interesting that many of the characters are based on real people, including Arthur, who is inspired by Jenny herself, Rosie, who is based on her older brother, and Grandpa, who is inspired by her mum – who once dressed as a gorilla to pick her up from school!
She also explained how her travels, including visits to Australia and a range of islands, influenced the imaginative settings in her stories, from rivers to magical landscapes.
During the session, the children took part in a quiz to discover which character they were most like – many were able to predict their results with confidence! They also enjoyed asking thoughtful questions, gaining a deeper insight into Jenny’s life as an author and her creative process.
The children then demonstrated their creativity by designing their own dragons, complete with names and special powers, which Jenny praised enthusiastically. They also created new characters by combining ideas, inspired by characters such as Mitch (the Merwitch) in her story. We were excited to learn that Jenny’s favourite character is Wininja.
Overall, this was an inspiring and memorable experience that encouraged the children to think creatively and develop their own storytelling ideas.