This morning, years 3 and 4 had a visit from a famous author/illustrator.
Shoo Rayner is a British children's author and illustrator. He was born Hugh Rayner to a Norwegian mother and a British father. His nickname, Shoo, was coined while his family lived in Pakistan. His nanny, Uppa, was unable to pronounce the name "Hugh", so she called him Shoo instead. Years later, he had his name legally changed to Shoo. Rayner lives in the Forest of Dean, with his wife and two children. He has three cats - Shula, Fizz and Fizz’s kitten, Mister Darcy. His first published work was a set of six stories for the Oxford Reading Tree called Lydia.
Shoo has said that The Ginger Ninja is his favourite book, both because the Ginger Ninja is the character most like him (Rayner himself had bright red hair as a child).
All of Rayner's books were designed to be both easy to comprehend and entertaining for children who are learning to read on their own. They feature short sentences, short chapters, and almost comic-book-like illustrations.