Do you work for a school, library, club or community organisation? Are you interested in arranging an event, workshop, question and answer session or a talk with one of our authors?
Well now you can! Our authors are available for a wide range of different events from charity appearances to opening libraries, attending festivals to hosting workshops in schools or community centres.
If you are interested in finding out more about our author packages, then simply contact us on eventsmttsk@mail.com and we’d be happy to answer any of your questions and provide you with further details.
All requests for appearances are not guaranteed bookings. Our authors can decline a request for an appearance for any reason. Appearances are currently limited to Scotland, Wales and England.
Below is the Guide to C.S. Woolley’s Children’s books and workshops. Each of our authors differs on the events they are willing to attend and the services they offer.
1. About the Author
C.S. Woolley (Caroline Sarah Woolley) was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire and raised in the nearby town of Wilmslow. From an early age she discovered she had a flair and passion for writing. This was fuelled by winning local poetry and short story competitions during her years at Mottram St. Andrews Primary School.
During high school, she continued to write and found her time split between acting, writing and her studies. At 14 she began writing novels. University did nothing to change her love of writing. C.S. spent a year reading Law at Manchester Metropolitan University before changing her mind and moving to read English at Hull University. After graduating she moved to Nottingham for the cricket at Trent Bridge.
In 2010, C.S published her first novel, Nicolette Mace – The Raven Siren: The Kevin Metis Saga. Since 2010 she has published books in six series – The Chronicles of Celadmore, The Mysteries of Stickleback Hollow, The Children of Ribe, The Children of Snotingas, Shakespeare Simplified and Nicolette Mace: The Raven Siren. She has also been part of several charity collections and has done a range of different books for Foxton Books.
C.S has also acted in several plays and a feature film, Weekend (2011).
2. Aims of the books
The children’s books by C.S. Woolley have been written to combine literacy with history to help engage children with historical subjects and provide teachers with resources to help meet the requirements of the national curriculum.
They have been written to help encourage those with dyslexia to discover a love of reading, even though it is difficult – something that C.S. Woolley has overcome and talks about in her video in which she discusses dyslexia and her books – the Children of Ribe.
3. Dyslexia and Reluctant Readers
“One thing a lot of people don’t know about me is that I’m dyslexic. When I was young I loved reading but I often found it to be really hard work. From the words moving around the page, to fonts being difficult to read and having to re-read paragraphs several times to try and understand what the author was saying – I didn’t know that everyone else didn’t have the same problem; I was pretty sure that was what reading was supposed to be like. I didn’t find out that I had dyslexia until I was 17, when my school tested everyone for it.
Though, I’m not sure I even knew that dyslexia existed before my school tested people for it. But suddenly it made sense why I constantly confused words like who and how (and still do), I understood why I had to really concentrate on reading. The thing is, it never stopped me reading. It didn’t mean I was stupid or slow, I still got 11 GCSEs, 5 AS-Levels, 1 Key Skill Award and 3 A-Levels, but I finally understood why some people hated reading and why books were something that they avoided.
My mother loved reading and used to take my sisters and I to the library every weekend when we were small and she couldn’t afford to buy us lots of books. When we were older and had pocket money to spend, my mum used to take us to the local independent bookshop every Saturday so we could find something new to read (I read the Saddle Club books and Animal Ark books in droves). I also had access to the library at my primary school and later, my secondary school. For me I had to read, even though it was hard (and still is), and it’s something that I realised so many children and adults have missed out on because of dyslexia.
When I started writing the Children of Ribe books I wanted to create something to make it easier for dyslexics to read. Granted it’s not going to instantly turn everyone into readers, but for those children who want to read and love stories but struggle every time they pick up a book, it was these kids I wanted to do something for. So what did I do? You may notice that the font on the cover is Vikingy and decorative but it’s hardly a friendly font, this was chosen for effect rather than utility, but on the inside of the book I went with a font that completely changed my life when I found it.
That may seem like a rather grand and dramatic statement – but I’m not kidding. Times New Roman was the bane of my existence. I found it so difficult to read and Cambria wasn’t much better. However, back in 2007 I was introduced to Calibri. This was a font that suddenly I could read, that didn’t make me want to curl up in a ball and cry. When I looked at it on a screen it didn’t dance in the same way that other fonts did. It made reading things so much easier. So when it came to the Children of Ribe, the text was set in Calibri. I got a few other people I knew who were dyslexic to have a look at it and they all said it was easier to read than other fonts they had seen. It may not be universal, but if it makes it easier for just one child to read for themselves then it’s a step forward. I also set the type slightly further apart than you would ordinarily find in a book, this stopped lines merging together for me, yes the words still move but it was much easier to keep track of where I was in a sentence and I didn’t jump a line or end up reading the same line four times.
But these books weren’t solely written to just reach out to dyslexic children. I love Viking culture, I’m British (I have English, Welsh and Scottish blood), I’m descended from Norman Vikings and Danish Vikings, to me it’s part of my heritage and I even studied Old Norse and Old Icelandic as part of my degree. With these books I wanted to share my love of Viking culture with children and show them how exciting and fun it could be. Not by focusing on battles and historical fact, but by creating a tale of magic and wonder that brought together Danish folklore and other little bits of folklore from across Europe and some bits of my favourite fairy tales.
I didn’t do this just to share my love of mystical mythology, but also to help kids to engage with what they are reading. To feel a surge of pride when they recognise something from the story of Sleeping Beauty in an event that happens in FATE, telling their parents that they know the difference between a forest troll and a mountain troll, learning that because one witch is evil doesn’t mean all witches are, and that it can be hard to stand up for what is right sometimes, but someone has to do it.
I also tried to think of the parents when I was writing these books – if they were going to read them to their kids, then I wanted them to be able to enjoy the stories too (my mum has been my yardstick for this) – but I also wanted to create something that was affordable. Parents have a hard enough time with kids, making sure they eat right, taking them on days out, replacing the brand new pair of trousers they just bought because their child fell over and ripped them to shreds, children are expensive and I know there are parents out there that struggle with what they can and can’t afford. I didn’t want to create something that was going to add to that bill in a hefty way so I have done my best to price these books at an affordable level.”
4. The Children of Ribe
The Children of Ribe is a Viking Saga for children bringing the culture and mythology of the Danish Vikings to life. The book series has been influenced by Enid Blyton, Arthur Ransome, Susan Cooper, J R R Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.
Based in Denmark during the time of the Vikings, these books are tales of magic and danger that are suitable for children from the ages of seven and up to read on their own but also perfect for people to read to children from the age of 4.
The Children of Ribe is a modern fairy tale that brings elements of Danish folklore and mythology to life mixed with elements of Viking culture. These books have been designed to help children with dyslexia to read.
The series is set in Viking Denmark long before they set sail to try and find out what lay to the west of their lands. The series aims to provide fictional books that are not only enjoyable for children to read, but are also as accurate as possible to help support the National Curriculum of the United Kingdom. The books feature information on:
- everyday village life
- Viking mythology
- the culture of farming
- the difference between men and women
- weapons used in battles
- historical place names
- Old Norse character names
- the culture of warriors
- Beliefs
- Other cultural elements
- Wildlife and threats
The Children of Ribe series currently features the following titles:
- FATE
- WAR
- WIFRITH
- DOUBT
- SKÅNE
- SHIPWRECKED
- FEAR
- HOME
- The Arm Rings of Yngvar Collection (Books 1 to 8)
- TREASON
- MURDER
- SEDITION
5. The Children of Snotingas
The series starts in 626AD as the influential kingdom of Mercia is just beginning to form. Set in Snotingham (now known as Nottingham) the series follows the children who live in the settlement through the battles and betrayals that saw King Penda create the most powerful Anglo-Saxon Kingdom.
Step back in time to the age of King Penda, when the kingdom of Mercia was born.
Life in Anglo-Saxon England is far from fair. There are strict classes that all people fall into. At the top there are the kings, then the thanes. After the thanes come the warriors, then the ceorls, and at the very bottom are the slaves. Women are not equal to men; and then there are the prisoners.
The books, like the Children of Ribe series, have been formatted to help children who have dyslexia to be able to read a little more easily and give them an opportunity to engage with literature. Why children with dyslexia? You can read about it in C.S. Woolley’s own words here or you can see her talking about it (and reading) here.
The Children focuses on a select number of children and a sprinkling of adults that you can read more about in our characters section below.
The Children of Snotingas series aims to provide fictional books that are not only enjoyable for children to read, but are also as accurate as possible to help support the National Curriculum of the United Kingdom. The books feature information on:
- everyday village life
- the different classes that existed in Anglo Saxon society
- the different duties and jobs of these classes
- the difference between men and women
- weapons used in battles
- historical place names
- Anglo Saxon character names
- People that were alive at the time and shaped the fate of the country
- Marrying between tribes and nations to try and forge alliances
- Beliefs
- Other cultural elements
- Wildlife and threats
The Children of Ribe series currently features the following titles:
- WYRD
- HILD
6. Workshops
C.S. Woolley offers a wide range of different workshops for children for classes of year 3 and up. Each workshop is designed for no more than 48 children at a time and each workshop lasts for 45 minutes. The price is £1.88 per child per session with a minimum cost of £37.60.
The workshops currently offered are as follows but if a school or library has specific areas that they wish to cover, additional workshops can be devised at no extra cost. If you want more details on the workshops then please feel free to email eventsmttsuk@mail.com
- Reluctant Readers Workshop
- Viking Storytelling Workshop
- Strong Female Characters Workshop
- Writing Against Stereotypes Workshop
- World Building Workshop
- Writing your own Fairy Tale Workshop
- Heroes & Villains Workshop
- Heroes, Villains, Anti-Heroes & Anti-Villains Workshop
- Plotting and Planning Workshop
- The Importance of Description Workshop
- Writing What You Know Workshop
- Fan Fiction to Original Fiction Workshop
Up to five sessions can be booked per day though we tend to advise no more than four.
7. Workbooks & Future Publications
Coming in early 2020, there will be workbooks for FATE, book 1 in the Children of Ribe series, WYRD, book 1 in the Children of Snotingas series ae well as new workbooks for the Merchant of Venice. Each of these workbooks will be available for Key Stage 1, lower 2, upper 2 and Key Stage 3. These workbooks will be expanded to cover other titles in C.S. Woolley’s historical series and modernised Shakespeare texts.
C.S. Woolley has over 40 historical children’s book series planned, all of which are due to have at least 1 title published in by the end of 2021. These series all follow “The Children of” title pattern. The next series that is due for publication is The Children of Danelaw which focuses on the arrival of the Vikings in Britain and will take readers through the first raids to the arrival of William the Conqueror.
Books are available direct from Mightier Than the Sword UK. For all visits books will be available for pre-order. We advise pre-orders to be made as soon as possible by those interested in purchasing them so adequate stock can be provided on the day.
