Year 6 pupils at Durlston Court School are thrilled to have had their collaborative book published. During lockdown the pupils in form 6L took it in turns to write a chapter each of their novella entitled ‘Small Town Boy’. Their story has now been turned in to a published book and the children are so very excited to see to their book available in paperback and on Kindle through Amazon!
In January of this year the children returned to school, for one day before the government announced lockdown and home learning recommenced. On this day Ms Jane Aspin-Locke, Head of English asked Callum “Where have we got to with our class novel?” Callum Murray misunderstood that she was talking about the book they were reading and replied “Are we writing our own novel?” Ms Aspin-Locke thought this was, in fact, a great idea and started to plan a very different lesson! The class drafted their ideas and Callum came up with the title ‘Small Town Boy’ and set off writing the first chapter. The next day, the school, along with the country, went in to lockdown and Durlston began their Spring term of home learning, with full days of live teaching, on demand content and video catch up and feedback with the class and teachers. The pupils in 6L also continued to write their novella.
Callum, age 10, commented
I spent most of the next week getting my ideas and imagination on paper. It was tough, but I wanted to leave the opening chapter with options for the next writer to add their own ideas and if they wished, change direction.
The story takes place in ‘Normalville’ a boring bleak town where everyone lives the same way, except Felitia – an unusual girl who makes her own rules and follows no-one.
Each Friday that followed, a new pupil was chosen to write the next chapter and the class would share the story so far, suggesting edits and making changes as they went. The final paragraph was written on the final day of lockdown!
During the weeks that followed, with publishing help from Darin Jewell from Inspira and support from illustrator Nanou Blair Gould, the book was published and is now available for sale through Amazon both in paperback and as a kindle edition. Callum commented “What I loved the most is that the whole class were involved from beginning to end. Everyone had a part in the book and to have this now in print is so exciting”.
Ms Asplin-Locke commented “I am unbelievably proud of this class. They have shown so much resilience, collaboration and creativity under challenging circumstances. The book ‘project’ got us through each week”.
All proceeds from the book will be donated to Honeypot Children’s Charity
“Small Town Boy” is available in paperback from Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Small-Town-Durlston-Court-School/dp/B0924121JJ
This novella can also be downloaded as an e-book from Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Small-Town-Durlston-Court-School-ebook/dp/B0924ZR2NF
(The Audio version will be out in June)
Prologue
Hi, I am Brian. I am 14 it is 1985 and I live in Normalville where everything is the same. I mean everything. The houses are in neat little rows, all identical, like rows of Lego bricks. Gardens are tended with the same level of care, the grass cut always on a Sunday. Everyone drives the same type of car, Austin Metros, and of course they are the same colour, black. You see for a small village in the Highlands of Scotland it is quite large with 1,944 people living here. It is more of a small town than a village. We have two small schools which are identical, the teachers look the same, teach the same topics and the only thing they do not share is a sense of humour.
I long for some excitement and to be different, yet if I try something out of the ordinary, I am told off by, my parents, neighbours, schoolteachers, shop owners and other kids. I would love to have the same freedoms as my sister...
