In this episode, Claire meets with the popular children’s author Tom Palmer. Currently, Tom is the author of forty-nine published books, including three Puffin football children’s series (‘Football Academy’, ‘Foul Play’ and ‘The Squad’) and a wide range of books published by Barrington Stoke.During his own school days, Tom struggled with reading, so his mum used his love of football to encourage him to read about his favourite sport in match reports, newspapers, magazines and books. This sparked his love for reading and eventually inspired him to become a writer himself.Tom began his career working in a bookshop and in libraries. He also worked for The Reading Agency and the National Literacy Trust before landing his first book deal with Puffin twelve years ago. He has been a full-time writer ever since.Alongside writing books, Tom visits schools and offers a variety of activities to engage the children in a positive conversation about reading and writing. He reads to the children, plays reading games with them and delivers writing workshops which he discusses in more detail during his conversation with Claire.Inspiration for his writing often comes from his real life – from his “complicated” childhood to his teenage daughter and pet dog Finn. Learning to read for pleasure gave Tom the “springboard” he needed to have a happier and more successful life, and he has plenty of practical advice up his sleeve to nurture writers in the classroom.KEY TAKEAWAYS• Read for pleasure.When Tom started secondary school, he wasn’t allowed to study English Literature or foreign languages due to his low academic ability in English and grammar. When Tom discovered reading for pleasure, this acted as a springboard helping him to improve academically and led to him becoming a much happier person. This is so important to remember for those children who do struggle with their reading and writing. Giving them opportunities to read about topics they love can have a significant impact. • Girls and boys often enjoy the same books.Tom has noticed that children are being encouraged to read more broadly rather than girls reading “books for girls” and boys “books for boys”. Tom has visited school libraries in the past that had separate sections for boys and girls, but he has been pleased to see that this is no longer commonplace. One publisher rejected a book that Tom wrote about a female footballer because Tom wouldn’t change his main character to a boy. It has since become his most successful book and has gone on to win four awards. • Organise a school visit from Tom. Schools can contact Tom to organise a visit through his website. You can also find lots of free resources linked to his books on his website. Many of his school talks are linked to World Wars 1 and 2, football and rugby, however Tom has happily focused on many different topics in schools. From his experience, school events have been the most effective when the children are familiar with him and his books as it creates a real buzz throughout the school. The first chapter of all of Tom’s books are available for free on his website so these are definitely worth sharing with your children before a visit. Teachers are welcome to email Tom with questions about his books too. • Advice to children who want to be authors. Write about what you love or what you hate. Write with passion. Write with power by writing about something that means a lot to you. Read lots of different books. If you start reading a book and you don’t like it, then work out why the book didn’t work for you. Was it boring? Did you dislike the characters? You can learn a lot from reading “bad” books to become a better writer. If you like a book, work out why you like it. Magpie what that writer does and create your own style from a blend of different authors that you love. • Writing workshops and engaging the children to write. Tom’s workshops are tailored to each school so that they link to relevant topics being studied. In one s