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"The children really benefited from hearing about the writing process from the author's point of view, especially about her struggles, which the children could relate to. The session was delivered with such enthusiasm and energy and the children felt comfortable sharing their ideas with Helen. The resources were inspiring and appealing and the whole class really enjoyed the morning." St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, 2025 |
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"We encourage our children to have aspirations for the future and having a local author in to visit is a great example of this."
Amanda Dickinson, Headteacher, Seaton St Paul's CE Junior School, Workington |
"The children really enjoyed the sessions. I noticed some excellent engagement from children who don’t always engage in the same way. They liked seeing the books you had enjoyed in the reading session and hearing you read an extract from your book was good. As for the writing, they really enjoyed that session and enjoyed the activity.
I hope you get lots of bookings! Thank you so much! We sold all the additional five copies I got from you! I may have to sell the school copies next and then buy replacements!"
Helen Harrison, Headteacher, St Matthew's CE Primary School, Westnewton
I hope you get lots of bookings! Thank you so much! We sold all the additional five copies I got from you! I may have to sell the school copies next and then buy replacements!"
Helen Harrison, Headteacher, St Matthew's CE Primary School, Westnewton
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" The children have not stopped talking about your visit and Lucy!! They all loved the workshop, the quiz was great and pitched well to all levels and the writing character profile prompts were great! We thoroughly enjoyed today; it was very inspiring for our budding authors."
Victoria Baker, KS2 Teacher, Raughton Head CE Primary School |
"Thanks so much for coming. The kids loved having you in, and were buzzing about it all day.
I was really impressed with the way you pitched it - bang on for their age. You definitely won around the reluctant readers and have certainly inspired some of the keen readers to want to become writers themselves (not to mention me!!!)
I particularly liked the editing task at the end. The buzz that (name) and (name) got when you were genuinely impressed with their edits has really skyrocketed their writing confidence, so thank you."
Kirsten Fletcher, Deputy Head, Hunter Hall School, Penrith
I was really impressed with the way you pitched it - bang on for their age. You definitely won around the reluctant readers and have certainly inspired some of the keen readers to want to become writers themselves (not to mention me!!!)
I particularly liked the editing task at the end. The buzz that (name) and (name) got when you were genuinely impressed with their edits has really skyrocketed their writing confidence, so thank you."
Kirsten Fletcher, Deputy Head, Hunter Hall School, Penrith
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"Year 5 students at the school used Little Pearl as inspiration to write and produce a performance poem which was presented to Helen during the visit. SHE WAS NOT expecting this!"
Derwent Vale Primary School, Great Clifton |
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Morland Area CE Primary School (& others) Gifted & Talented Day
"I was just talking to the group who came to this and they loved it!"
Lynne Wade, Headteacher, Kirkby Stephen Primary School |
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"The session really inspired our children and gave them belief that anyone can become a story writer! They were enthused to read all of the stories that you suggested and we have a waiting list of children wanting to take the books home. A great session which I would highly recommend!"
Sam Fitzsimons, Stanwix Primary School, Carlisle
Sam Fitzsimons, Stanwix Primary School, Carlisle
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Zoom visit
"Thank you so much for visiting with us today! They loved asking you questions and finding out all about your books, published and upcoming! The students had so much fun and of course after meeting you, Petra, and Bella... we had to go on your website and see more pictures of the dogs!" Mrs Russo, second grade teacher, Forest Elementary School, New York, USA |
Zoom visit
"The children absolutely loved chatting to you today. It was just wonderful watching how engaged they all were. I know they were buzzing about meeting Petra and Bella. One of the girls absolutely adores your books. Her mum told me today she’d booked some riding lessons for next month because she is so keen."
Mrs Cotterell, Year 3 / 4 teacher, Woodside Primary in the Forest of Dean
"The children absolutely loved chatting to you today. It was just wonderful watching how engaged they all were. I know they were buzzing about meeting Petra and Bella. One of the girls absolutely adores your books. Her mum told me today she’d booked some riding lessons for next month because she is so keen."
Mrs Cotterell, Year 3 / 4 teacher, Woodside Primary in the Forest of Dean
Zoom visit
"The children loved the whole process from researching about (and reading) your books to having the Zoom meeting with you. I think the children found it really interesting to hear about where your ideas come from and that some of your ideas are inspired by real events. A lot of the boys were also interested in reading some of your collection, particularly the Dalmatian that Lost its Spots."
Mr Pritchard, Year 4 teacher, Salterford House School, Nottingham
"The children loved the whole process from researching about (and reading) your books to having the Zoom meeting with you. I think the children found it really interesting to hear about where your ideas come from and that some of your ideas are inspired by real events. A lot of the boys were also interested in reading some of your collection, particularly the Dalmatian that Lost its Spots."
Mr Pritchard, Year 4 teacher, Salterford House School, Nottingham
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Zoom visit
"I used two of Helen’s books in my Year 2 class last term: 'A Tale of Two Shoes' and 'The Dalmatian that lost its Spots'. The pupils absolutely loved them and so did I! 'A Tale of Two Shoes' provided so many fantastic opportunities for meaningful and engaging cross-curricular work. We ‘kicked off’ our topic with a wonderful ‘wear your favourite shoes to school day’, wrote descriptions of our favourite shoes, created ‘WANTED’ posters, designed our own shoes, investigated shoe sizes in school and so much more. The children were so excited to ‘meet’ Helen via Zoom and loved having the opportunity to ask her some very thoughtful questions, as well as meet her beautiful dogs. I couldn’t think of a better way to inspire, engage and motivate our pupils. We are all looking forward to reading more of Helen’s books this year!" Mrs Payton, Year 2 teacher, St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Workington |
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Zoom visit
"Our school was lucky enough to have the opportunity of a virtual author visit in the Summer Term in connection to our reading 'A Tale of Two Shoes'. Our Year 2 children were enthused by the fact we were getting to meet a real-life, local author and loved the opportunity to learn and ask questions about how to become a writer. The children engaged in a session where they could learn about the process of writing a story from the plan to the finished, published product. From the session, our children worked hard to produce newspaper articles reporting the exciting events the two shoes went through and were proud to display these in our school. The story was thoroughly enjoyed by all the children and shared with their families. The children felt that the characters were exciting and relatable which was supported by clear morals running through the story." Mrs Mossom, Year 2 teacher, Fairfield Primary School, Cockermouth |
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"We read 'A Tale of Two Shoes' in September as it fit in so well with the other book, ‘Planet in a Pickle Jar’ that we had started the term with. This book by Martin Stanev also has a hard hitting message about the damage we are causing to the planet and what we can do to help. Both books running side-by-side has been excellent. I read 'A Tale of Two Shoes' over the course of a week and the children were genuinely excited to see what was going to happen to Shane and Sheila. Each time I put the book down and left it on a cliff hanger, the children were disappointed that I stopped reading.
It's been excellent to fit in with our current learning about the environment and what we can do to help future generations. It has generated talks about reduce-recycle-reuse. The 'Planet in a Pickle Jar' book has run alongside it and enabled us to do a little DT project about what we would preserve in a ‘pickle jar’ for future generations. Other activities we've done based on 'Two Shoes' are:
Mrs Jones, Year 3 / 4 teacher, St Catherine's Catholic Primary School, Penrith (visit organised by Penrith Library)
It's been excellent to fit in with our current learning about the environment and what we can do to help future generations. It has generated talks about reduce-recycle-reuse. The 'Planet in a Pickle Jar' book has run alongside it and enabled us to do a little DT project about what we would preserve in a ‘pickle jar’ for future generations. Other activities we've done based on 'Two Shoes' are:
- Written questions that we would like to ask the author on a shoe template.
- Predicted what could happen to Shane and Sheila at different points in the book.
- Written speech bubbles between Shane and Sheila, and Sheila and the cat.
- We are going to do a book review of ‘A Tale of Two Shoes’.
- We are also going to learn about the features of a diary entry and then write a diary entry as one of the shoes.
- If time permits, it would be interesting to make a sea turtle out of rubbish.
Mrs Jones, Year 3 / 4 teacher, St Catherine's Catholic Primary School, Penrith (visit organised by Penrith Library)
Zoom visit
Booker Hill School used A Tale of Two Shoes for World Book Day 2025 in connection with their Careers Week. All classes read the story in the days leading up to WBD and came into school on the day wearing odd shoes, odd socks; and something recycled from a friend, charity shop or passed down from a parent or sibling. Lots of the children joined in and because they had read the book, they understood the meaning behind this.
The book was used to inspire a range of activities across the school:
Booker Hill School used A Tale of Two Shoes for World Book Day 2025 in connection with their Careers Week. All classes read the story in the days leading up to WBD and came into school on the day wearing odd shoes, odd socks; and something recycled from a friend, charity shop or passed down from a parent or sibling. Lots of the children joined in and because they had read the book, they understood the meaning behind this.
The book was used to inspire a range of activities across the school:
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* Reception children used junk modelling to make shoes out of recycled materials.
* Year 3 designed their own shoes. * Year 6 designed their own shoes and made them from materials in the recycling bin. They also drafted stories as sequels to A Tale of Two Shoes and photographedtheir shoes outside with a view to making their own books. In addition, they used the image of the turtle as their inspiration for a piece of artwork for British Science Week. They had just completed two units of work on Environmental issues so this fitted in perfectly. * Children in Yr 1 to Yr 6 submitted questions to Helen ahead of meeting her in a virtual visit to discover the story behind the story. “The children have all really enjoyed your book and it fitted really well with our ethos, our focus on sustainability and our careers week. Thank you for your emails and support with this event - it was great to have something so relevant and unique to focus on this World Book Day. We have had many children telling us they want to write stories, make books and be authors following your live sessions and one child who sometimes struggles to fully engage with school lessons went home and made their own book! ” K White, Year 6 teacher, Booker Hill School, Buckinghamshire |
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"We booked Helen as part of our drive for developing a love for writing, as well as providing writing opportunities for all. She was fabulous at engaging the children, leaving them wanting to read more of her books.
Helen had wonderful classroom presence and the presentation hooked the children, making them excited to get writing. She inspired the children with wonderful ideas for their own writing, plus she clearly modelled how to structure ideas and thoughts throughout the writing process, allowing the children to understand how authors begin to write their stories. The children were eager to impress Helen and working alongside her allowed the children to feel like real life authors themselves." Holly McClure, Seaton Academy, Workington |
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“The delivery of the Reader Leader training was engaging, energetic and warm. Everything was relevant and explained in detail. There was a perfect balance between the presentation, discussion and activities. The PowerPoint was excellent and I could have listened to Helen forever. This course was exceptional—the best I've observed in my 25-year teaching career.
The impact has been incredible and immediate. Afterwards students came up to me and said they would also visit their primary schools to offer help. The boys said they could peer tutor students who struggle and those international students with little English. Many of the Year 7s who were involved in the training day read aloud in class the very next day with more confidence, volume, pace and expression. They are excited to continue on their journey.” Zoe Bettinson, Head of English, St Bees School, Whitehaven |
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"We were delighted to welcome award winning author Helen Haraldsen into school this morning, to deliver her Business of Books workshop to a group of our Year 9 students. The workshop has been designed to inform students about the publishing process and to explain how authors use English, maths and IT in their careers.
The activity was in three parts. It started with a behind the scenes look at the publishing process, before moving onto a budgeting and decision-making challenge and finishing with a “Dragon’s Den” style session where groups had to pitch their launch plan. It encouraged and displayed the importance of critical thinking, decision making, problem solving and financial literacy. Sessions of this nature provide invaluable information to our students about how their work in the classroom, can link to the world of work. Developing links between our departments, their curriculum and the world of employment is something that we are always keen to keep developing." Tim Robinson, English Department, Cockermouth School |
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"Our year 4 children completed Helen’s Writer identity unit in the Autumn term and what a great way to help them understand the process of story writing ready for the year ahead. Helen helped the children understand that their real-life experiences can help shape stories they write in class, and that not all stories have to come from the depths of our imaginations.
The unit is very carefully designed so that children explore what is important to them, what makes them unique and how they can use this information to plan stories. The children loved having the time to think about how their own identities fit in with storytelling and Helen helped bring the whole process to life! I would highly recommend Helen’s workshops - not only because they provide great insight into real world story writing but because Helen is fantastic with the children. Our year 4’s really looked forward to Helen’s sessions and often commented how much they enjoyed them! Since working in our classes, the children have also taken to reading Helen’s books as they are now very real and relevant to them. Not only has Helen inspired a love of writing in our children she has also helped to inspire their love of reading. I can’t recommend her enough." Hayley Hodgson, Deputy Headteacher, St Begh's Catholic Primary School, Whitehaven |
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