On Wednesday 19th February, Struan Murray came to our school to talk to the P5-7 classes and the members of the Reading Council, about his new book Orphans of the Tide that starts with a whale on the roof of a church. He told us about the main character who was an inventor and how the story takes place under the sea as well as in the last city in the world!
Struan told us he comes from a family of rowdy red heads and he is a scientist by day, but a writer by night. His favourite animal is the blue whale.
He shared with us how he liked comics when he was a child and how he liked to draw. He had his picture of Pingu and Pinga published in the official Pingu magazine when he was 7 years old. He wrote a newspaper called The Daily Sausage and he sold them to all the parents for 20p when he was at school in Edinburgh.
Struan liked to doodle as child and teenager and this helped to inspire him when writing stories. He also got inspiration from places in Edinburgh such as Deep-Sea World and the museum on Chamber Street.
Pupils learned about how the book cover of Orphans of the Tide was designed and voted for the one they liked best.
Struan then asked us to choose a character and setting for the type of story they wanted to create. We chose to have the story take place in a haunted library in a mansion, with a cook and a detective. This was fun and showed us how easy it can be to make up a story.
We were also very lucky to be able to buy his book and get it signed before it was available in the shops.
By Mason and Benjamin P7
Currie Primary School 
You must be logged in to post a comment.