Genius ideas from visiting writer Ali Sparkes

Year 7 and 8 students had the pleasure of meeting award-winning writer Ali Sparkes when she visited Beaumont last week. Ali has had over forty books published and during her visit she introduced us to her fast-paced adventure story Car-Jacked. The book's main character Jack is a home-tutored child genius who finds himself on the run with bank robber and car stealer Ross as they try to evade the police, the bad guys AND Jack's pushy, over-protective mum. The story follows the pair as they use their very different talents on a breathless chase from Scotland to London. 

Addressing students and staff in the hall, Ali set the scene as she read extracts from Car-Jacked and then went on to describe some of the research behind the story. As Jack has an IQ of 170, Ali contacted real-life child geniuses via Mensa (The High IQ Society) to ask what it was like to be super brainy. Ali also auditioned and appeared on the television quiz show The Chase. She explained that her hopes for success were high as she had previously appeared on Eggheads and had won her head-to-head round on art and books. Sadly, Ali had to confess that her time on The Chase was much more gruelling and that she only got two questions right! Fortunately, she explained, being a writer means that any experience, however  negative, can be turned into material for her books! 

Continuing the quiz theme, Ali's presentation included a How Clever Are You? quiz for the audience. After testing students on maths, books, pi and Jupiter's moons, Ali declared that Beaumont is 'full of geniuses'! There was even a Quiz the Teachers round with top spot going to Mrs Bennett for her knowledge of crepuscular creatures and the Jovian planets! Ali rounded off her talk by encouraging our students to celebrate their 'brainy side'.

Students described Ali's talk as 'brilliant', 'inspiring' and 'very funny'. They loved all the crazy/cute kitten pictures Ali used in her presentation and also the vivid description of her own 'monster mother moment'! 

Ali spent a very busy lunchtime in the library, meeting students and signing copies of her books. She was also interviewed by members of Beaumont Book Club. 

We would like to say a big thank you to Ali for visiting us at Beaumont School. The library has a wide selection of Ali's books, including her latest title Thunderstruck...why not give one a try!