Award-winning children's author Alan Gibbons visited Sevenoaks on Thursday 9 June to give a full day of workshops for the Lower School.

When we first heard of this character, he seemed like a normal, everyday writer. Alan. Nothing special, right? Well this man was quite the opposite of what you’d think. Witty jokes and humorous impressions flooded in one after the other, making everyone laugh. He captured us all with his many different books, and especially the news about his Blue Peter Book Award, in which he saw off competition from famous writers such as Michael Morpurgo. After the talk, pretty much the whole of Year 8 seemed in line to buy a book from him. Yes, he was that good!

And those lucky people who managed to will not be disappointed. His novel An Act of Love is a gripping, adventurous and thoroughly enjoyable book that we couldn’t put down. It’s a story about terrorism told from the point of view of a solider and explores how not all enemies have to hate each other. All in all, his visit and his books were thrilling and he and they will appeal to teenagers everywhere. Alan Gibbons kept us all laughing long after his talk ended. Unlike others, he expressed his views on writing in a humorous and interesting way. Who’d have thought someone called Alan could be so exciting!

Rhea Patel, Oscar Gay and Michael Campbell