On Wednesday, we had a visit from Ann Cassidy who is a really successful children’s author. She has written loads of books for children and I was really excited about seeing her. I’ve seen her books in the library and was really pleased that she was coming into our school to talk to us.

We went into the library and sat down and I saw a lady sat at the front, she looked very sweet and like she wouldn’t hurt a fly. I was really surprised when she started to talk because she was talking about murdering people and breaking the law. That was not what I expected!

Ann Cassidy writes murder mysteries and she writes books about children going missing. She gets her ideas from newspaper stories that she reads (which is why all of the illustrations on the front covers of her books have got newspaper print in them). Ann has got a son and she worries all the time about him and one of the things she really worries about is someone taking him away from her – that’s what inspired her to write about children going missing. Forget Me Not is a story about this topic; a baby goes missing and it causes all kinds of mystery and unlocks dark secrets. We’ve got it in the library and I can’t wait to read it.

The other topic that Ann writes about is murder. Ann said that she used to be a teacher and she kept a list in her mind of all the students she didn’t like and would like to murder- Ann says that all teachers have a little list like that in their minds! One day when Ann was driving to work, she imagined she pushed a pupil she didn’t like off the top of a high rise tower block! Since then, all of the characters who get murdered in her books are pupils from her list.

Looking for JJ is a book about a young woman who murdered her best friend when she was young. She has now has now got a new identity but she is always worried that someone is going to find her out! It sounds like it’s going to be full of suspense. That’s the book I most want to read. I can’t imagine what it would be like to kill someone, let alone someone in my class. It must be so hard to leave all your family and friends and start a new life; especially if you’re worried all the time that someone is going to find you out!

I really, really enjoyed meeting Ann Cassidy and I’m so pleased I got chance to hear about why she writes the books she does. I’m really excited about making my way through her books now, I can’t wait to get started. Although, I can’t help wondering if she’s ever done any of these things she writes about…

By Grishma Ramesh, Year 9, Swindon Academy