Rocket Pack 9: World Building
Our ninth Rocket Pack is underway! Our Rocket Packs are part of our packages for schools, to support our vision: to ensure every child can read through building a whole-school reading culture in primary schools.
Accompanied by an Inspiration Pack which contains two assemblies, a whole-class activity and a whole-school reading challenge, we deliver high-quality and diverse reading material to our Silver, Gold and Platinum Partner Schools, to promote an inclusive and engaging reading environment for children.
This “World Building” themed Rocket Pack, curated by author Peter Burns, is our 9th Rocket Pack – so far, we’ve sent over 22,582 books to over 302 schools across England!
To celebrate the launch of our latest Rocket Pack, in an exclusive author interview, we spoke to Peter Burns about his journey into the world of literacy and the inspirations behind his new book Shadow Thieves.
The world of Peter Burns
The theme of this Rocket Pack is world-building in children’s fiction – but before we hear about how Peter creates his fictional worlds, let’s take a look at his own literary world.
Peter is the author of 10 critically acclaimed non-fiction sports books, including When Lions Roared: The Lions, the All Blacks and the Legendary Tour of 1971 and This is Your Everest: The Lions, The Springboks and the Epic Tour of 1997 – both of which earned him a nomination for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.
Peter has, however, always wanted to write children’s books – so Shadow Thieves, his debut children’s novel, is “a dream come true”.
Creating vivid universes in children’s books
Inspired by authors like Philip Pullman and Jonathan Stroud, Peter set about creating his own version of Lyra’s Oxford in Northern Lights or Bartimaeus’s London in The Amulet of Samarkland. He “wanted a similar feel – where a recognisable city, or reality itself, has been played with in some way, making the setting as intriguing for the reader as the plot and the characters”.
Peter’s vivid world is enriched by its timeline – it’s one that “readers would largely recognise” but is changed “in some fundamental ways as a result of various moments in history going in different directions to the way they went in our reality.”
Allowing us insight into his writing process, Peter describes just how important it is for him to establish his fictional world first: “I think of it being the bedrock to the story and once you establish the rules to that world you can start thinking about all the adventures that might take place there. Nothing is off the table – as long as it makes sense within the rules you’ve set for that world.”
The importance of inspiring imagination in young readers
For Peter, world-building was a crucial part of his childhood ambitions to become an author. He “made up narrative arcs and explored thousands of imaginary worlds” as a child “all the time.” This initial spark of imagination “played a huge part in my dream to become a writer one day. I wanted to record these adventures for others to enjoy – and for me to revisit!”
Inspiration can come from anywhere, at any time. Peter regularly comes up with character names and writes them down “in the Notes app on [his] phone.” These range from the “everyman” Tom Morgan, to the eccentric Julius Knotweed.
Recognising the value of books when sparking imagination, Peter emphasises the importance of having access to books and storytelling, with some of his most vibrant characters being inspired by his favourite novels growing up.
Why reading builds empathy in children
Here at Bookmark, we want every child to have the opportunity to explore worlds just like Peter’s in Shadow Thieves.
Peter shares this ambition, describing reading as “one of the most absorbing, incredible activities you can do.” More than this, Peter believes that “reading teaches empathy. You’re in other people’s heads, viewing life through their eyes. It’s such an important way to learn about the issues that other people face and how they deal with them – successfully or otherwise.”
How Rocket Pack 9 supports primary school reading culture
Our Rocket Packs are an invaluable tool to ignite creativity and a love of reading in children. One pupil who received a previous Rocket Pack told us “One of the books has three stories in one! It’s magical. The book I am reading is so interesting”.
With over 22,000 books delivered so far, we’re excited to see how Peter Burns’ world-building themed Rocket Pack will inspire more children to explore fictional worlds, and empower them to build worlds of their own.
We’d like to thank Peter for this exclusive interview. To find out more about his latest release, Shadow Thieves, please visit his website here.
Find out more about our programmes
We partner with schools to develop a whole-school reading culture and provide one-to-one reading support.
