Patron of Reading
We introduced the idea of having a Patron of Reading at Fishbourne Primary School back in September 2019. A Patron of Reading is a school's special children's author, poet, storyteller or illustrator – someone who supports and encourages a culture of reading for pleasure at our school.
Our first Patron of Reading was Sophy Henn who we approached as a result of her stunning picture book: Super Duper You! Sophy worked with us for six years, right up until 2025 when our Elephant Class who had been in Year 1 when she arrived, left us to start their new adventures at secondary schools, all with the gift of a genuine love of reading! Elephants were always special to Sophy, as they and their teacher, Mrs Harris, featured heavily in the Pizazz series. During this time, we learned so much about the writing and illustrating process, we had sneak previews of upcoming books and even had the opportunity to attend an awards ceremony with Sophy!
Fast forward to 2025, when we met Smriti Halls as a result of another incredible book: Bee You! Smriti first visited our school back in October 2025 as a visiting author with Chichester Children’s Book Festival and shared this book for the first time with our little fish in Key Stage 1. We instantly fell in love with Smriti and quickly learned that all of Smriti’s books share similar themes of: creation, uniqueness, kindness and hope. We knew that Smriti would be a wonderful Patron of Reading and approached her to ask if she would consider it. After visiting our school, Smriti could see the powerful links between her work and ours and agreed that she would love to build this special relationship with us. In February 2026, she made her first official visit as our second Patron of Reading and we are super-excited for what the future has in store!
Smriti Halls is an internationally bestselling, award-winning children’s author. Since publication of her first picture book in 2012, she has had a U.S. Number One bestseller and been published in more than 40 languages, from Arabic to Afrikaans and from Catalan to Korean
With a cast of characters as varied as mischievous monsters and disgruntled geese, she explores relationship and identity; the personal and the political; how it feels to be in your own skin — and in someone else’s. Her books, often fast-paced and funny or lyrical and tender, are always full of hope and heart and speak to the child in all of us.
Smriti is the winner of several national, international and regional awards, and has been shortlisted for a Book of the Year at the British Book Awards (Nibbies) and three times shortlisted for Oscar’s Book Prize. Five of her books have been nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal and The Little Island (illustrated by Robert Starling) is a Sunday Times Book of the Year.
At the moment, we are enjoying getting to know Smriti and learning about her incredible collection of books.
Keep checking in with this page to see how our relationship develops over time.
If you would like to learn more about Smriti, please do check out her website: www.smriti.co.uk
Tuesday 17th March 2026
Smriti’s first official visit as our Patron of Reading!
We celebrated by all wearing our pyjamas to school because we ALL love a bedtime story. Smriti met the whole school at once and shared with us her stunning book ‘One in a Million’ before then meeting each class individually and spending time getting to know each other. We celebrated Smriti’s arrival with hot chocolate and iced buns! We also launched Smriti’s very own postbox for our little fish to keep in touch and send their fan mail! We will be emptying the post box once a half term, bundling up the mail and sending it off to Smriti!
