Reading for pleasure with Venessa Taylor
Tuesday 6th April at 11:00am
Streamed live on both Kirklees Libraries YouTube channel, Twitter and Facebook page
Venessa Taylor is the author behind new junior reader series, All Cultures United: Baller Boys. Aimed at encouraging young boys to find pleasure in reading, the football themed stories are written with young readers in mind.
Schools:
This session is ideal for KS1 and KS2 perfect for encouraging reading for pleasure. If you’re a teacher who’d like to get involved with your class, drop us an email so we can give you a shout out! lal@kirklees.gov.uk
Venessa Taylor is the author behind new junior reader series, All Cultures United: Baller Boys
Venessa Taylor brings two decades of experience as an inner-city primary school teacher and assistant headteacher to the creation of the Baller Boys series.
Aimed at encouraging young boys to find pleasure in reading, the football-themed stories are written with young readers in mind. Born and raised in London, Venessa continues her legacy and passion as a literacy leader through her creative writing.
One of her proudest career achievements was successfully raising the standards of reading across KS2, with a focus on reluctant readers and improving boy’s engagement in reading for pleasure.
Venessa researched and identified what students would respond best to in terms of content, characters and setting. She soon realised that what the boys wanted to read about was not readily available, so took the challenge upon herself to inspire and encourage more young people–boys in particular-to read.
About Baller Boys
Baller Boys tells the stories of the players of the fictional under-nines football team at All Cultures United Football Club.
The book All Cultures United, addresses issues inner-city children face both in and outside of school as well as overcoming their individual personal challenges.
The culturally diverse team are brought together and united by their love of football, their club, and how the boys live in the hope of being developed by Coach Joe and spotted by the local football legend who is Coach Reece, all to receive the accolade of being a ‘Baller Boy’. Baller Boys Books
Watch introduction here:
Watch this adventure on catch up here:
Easter Challenge
Why not have a go at creating your own player for the AC United football team (see the image on the right for more details)! Venessa would love to see your work so please feel free to send your creations to our email address – lal@kirklees.gov.uk and we can forward them to her or you can send them to Venessa’s Instagram – @ballerboysbooks.
