Eric Liddell in Fife and Aston
I had a lovely message this week from students at Ladybank Primary School in the Howe of Fife. They have been reading The Race and they sent me some comments about it:
" Really enjoyed it! It was a book I read with my mum! We shared the story together and found it so interesting!"
" I thought that the book dealt with current issues, it really made me think about what people who have different skin colours go through."
"I thought the main character was super passionate about their hobbies! It taught me to be a bit more resilient in my own life!"
"I really enjoyed it, more than I thought. It was funny in some parts, it made me laugh."
"The book was very good. I would never have picked it up but I'm glad I read it with book group!"
What a lovely group of readers! I’m particularly glad that one of them found it funny in parts and that another read the book with his or her mum.
The next day I went to Birmingham to meet a group of interesting people at Aston University, where I had been asked to teach an undergraduate class. These students are working on a history workshop module, looking at how to apply historical skills in professional life, so my task was to look with them at how novelists reformat history for children.
We had a look at some of the documents and letters Eric Liddell wrote from China in the years after the 1924 Olympics (including some that haven’t yet been digitised) and how I adapted them in successive drafts for The Race. It was great to meet such a perceptive and thoughtful class who taught me as much as I taught them. Many thanks to Dr Brian Sudlow for the invitation!