Everyone in Primary 6 and Primary 7, including the teachers!, were absolutely captivated by Cathy MacPhail on Friday 2nd March. She showed us the winning book trailer made by some S2 pupils for her book Out of the Depths, and read part of the story, a really creepy way to begin the session. It was fascinating to hear how she had come up with the idea to begin with, and then as she thought more about it and started writing, that it was not just a single book but a whole series about her main character Tyler Lawless, heroine to the unlawfully dead.Tyler can see dead people, and makes the mistake of telling people about what she sees until all her friends desert her, and she has to change schools as her crazy stories are causing so much trouble for everyone. The new school seems fine to start with, and then Tyler starts seeing people who aren't there, who cannot be seen by anyone else......
Tyler reappears in Secret of the Shadows. This time the story is not set at school but during the summer as Tyler and her Great Aunt Bella are clearing out her Gran's house to sell it after her death. Tyler's bedroom is incredibly cold, and the door keeps closing even when it has been propped open, and there is a feeling of being unwelcome here. Aunt Bella falls ill, and Tyler is suspected of causing her illness, after all, no one believes a word she says about the evil presence lurking in the house. This book has only just been published and it was very exciting to get our hands on a book which had not quite reached the shops yet!Cathy encouraged everyone to come up with their own "what if?" moments. The ideas for the haunted library and its disappearing pupils were great fun, but I will think twice about getting in a lift again.....
We all had a fantastic time and thank you to Cathy for giving us such a spine tingling author visit - with not a vampire or zombie in sight.
For more information, look at www.cathymacphail.com
