Posted on 2nd May 2012

There was an awed silence in the library yesterday as pupils from all year groups got to meet famous author, Darren Shan.

More than 200 pupils lined up excitedly to meet Darren and to get him to sign their books. Some of the audience had even drawn pictures of his characters for him to take away.

Darren officially opened our school’s new library and read extracts from some of his books. He also answered the children’s questions about being a writer and told them a little bit about his upcoming series of books about zombies.

Darren said: “I think about my books as being ‘fantastical’ instead of ‘horror’. Although they are gory, I like to write them about characters that would make life more interesting and exciting if they were real.

“I aim to write the books that I would have liked to read as a child.”

And his aim is obviously working…

Rebecca is in year nine. She said: “I’m really excited about meeting Darren. I’ve read the whole series of books in ‘The Saga of Darren Shan’. I really like things about Vampires and I think his books really connect with teenagers.”

Thomas is in year seven. He said: “I hadn’t been reading much recently because I couldn’t find anything I was interested in. I like reading much more again now that I have read Darren’s book.”

Ms Tear, Head of English, said: “Darren was fascinating and he obviously enjoyed meeting our pupils.

“His passion for his novels was inspiring and he took a great deal of time and trouble to sign all the pupils’ books and answer their questions thoughtfully.

“The pupils’ enthusiasm for Darren’s work was equally inspiring: it was lovely to see boys and girls from all year groups and to welcome back some of our ex-students who joined us from Wyke.  It was a memorable afternoon.”