ACS Egham had the remarkable chance to have guest speaker and universal book seller Jonathan Stroud give a presentation and writing workshops to the grade 7’s and 9’s. His current trilogy, the Bartimaeus trilogy, has been published in over 36 languages and over 37 countries like: Japan, China, Germany, Brazil, the USA, and some parts of Indonesia. When this author was four, he had the rather unusual desire to become a butcher. But, as he grew up, drawing comics, inventing games, and writing stories became his main focus. Jonathan Stroud started writing around the age of 8 or 9.

His first story, called Diamond Theft, incited the readers to “choose their own paths” through the story which lead to many different endings depending on the reader’s choices. Mr. Bowen, one of his teachers, has significantly encouraged Jonathan Stroud’s writing from that very early stage of life. Later on, Jonathan Stroud drew his own “pokemon type action cards” which were fiction beasts with energy levels and powers each differing from one card to another. He gets writing inspirations by great novel writers like Philip Pullman, Dianna Wynne Jones, and Neil Gaiman.

He portrays his fiction books as having “the fantasy on the edge” which makes the readers question themselves about the characters. His main character, Bartimaeus, is a mere image of himself as he grew up: a frightened but quick-witted child. Currently, Jonathan Stroud finds interests in drawing, playing the piano, hiking, and running.

Some of the student comments were:

“ I enjoyed writing stories using the techniques Jonathan taught us.”

“I liked the way Jonathan read to us from his new book, Heroes of the Valley.”

“It was fun to write our own stories and read them out loud.”

The grade 7’s with Ms Ide and Ms Loveday are currently composing short stories and sponsoring a contest of illustrations to be featured in the booklet of short stories that will be the end result. Look for the in-school publication of the Booklet of Short Stories in an upcoming web article. For further information about upcoming books or workshops, or to communicate personally with Jonathan, visit http://www.jonathanstroud.com/