Sir Lenny Henry Shares his Books with Harmony Year 4s

Nearly 300 Year 4 children at six Harmony Trust academies across Oldham and Tameside were treated to an amazing visit from author Sir Lenny Henry.

Children from Northmoor, Richmond, Greenhill, Alt, Westwood and Greenfield academies attended a very special event led by Sir Lenny Henry at Northmoor Academy.   Over 800 Harmony Trust pupils from Derby also joined the event online in their classrooms.  Organised in conjunction with local booksellers, Madeleine Lindley as part of The Harmony Trust’s ‘Read, Achieve, Succeed’ strategy, Sir Lenny came and spoke to the children about reading, writing and his journey to becoming an author.  He went on to read excerpts from his book ‘The Boy With Wings.’

Sir Lenny told the children how reading was his best friend when he was a child growing up in Dudley and he credited his Auntie Pearl with opening up the world of reading to him by taking him to the local library.

The children were able to ask Sir Lenny about his writing process (which involved lots of Jammie Dodgers), Comic Relief, his books and his heritage.  They even created a story with him about a boy named Joe who lives underwater and has special, superhero powers.

Jessica Hainsworth, Director of Education for The Harmony Trust, and co-founder of the ‘Read, Achieve, Succeed’ strategy said: “The children had a fantastic time at the session and listening to Sir Lenny Henry’s description of his relationship with reading and writing has inspired our children to want to write more.  Diversity really does matter in children’s literature, and it was wonderful to bring Sir Lenny’s experience and stories to our children, who absolutely loved hearing about Tunde’s adventures.”

The children agreed with pupils from Greenhill Academy commenting:

Reem: “I like how Lenny's stories are set in a school, we could relate to this.”

Musa: “I liked that we found out what inspired Lenny to write his books.”

Madeeha: “I liked him as he was very funny.”

Rachelle Carter from Madeleine Lindley added: “We were delighted to work with The Harmony Trust to bring another author to visit the children, especially one as inspirational as Sir Lenny Henry.  We know that visiting authors add another dimension to reading for children and they can inspire children to look at literature in a different way.”