THE HUNGRY DRAGON: Children on their way to or from school are facing a new danger – a dragon with a rather healthy appetite. Can he be stopped?
THE DRAGON’S AWAKENING: Unlike his friends, the dragon’s not been given a part in the school nativity play. Has he been excluded because he’s different? Follow his efforts – sometimes funny, sometimes downright dangerous – to be part of it.
Wanda Pierpoint was born in Birmingham and as the eldest child often entertained her siblings and cousins with stories, most of which she created herself. Her first job was at Cadbury Brothers working in the offices where she learnt shorthand and typing before training as a primary school teacher.
Whilst teaching she continued telling stories, and writing plays for children to act in and encouraging them to express their own feelings and life experiences in verse and writing.
‘The Hungry Dragon’, was first told when she was unexpectedly given a class of children at the end of the day. With no lesson planned she started the story, drawing upon the expressions and reaction of the children and with absolutely no idea where the story was taking her. It was so well received that she repeated the story to many more groups of children over a twenty-five year period. One child asked her to write the story down so that she could read it on her own. The promise to do so has now finally been kept and ‘The Hungry Dragon’ was born.
A second book has been completed tracing the dragon’s efforts to be part of the School Nativity Play and a third one, tracing the origins of the dragon, is in the process of being written.
Wanda loves reading and walking, especially with her dogs. She now lives in Tamworth and teaches part time at a local school. She is also a poet and her first collection ‘Cobwebs In The Hedgerow’ was published in 2021.
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