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Bonjour Jessica - Character Competition KS2 Winner review

Our congratulations again from us all at Poppy and Lord Ted HQ to the lovely Jessica Warren who attends Edge Hill Academy in Burton on Trent, Staffordshire and won the Key Stage 2 category of our competition with her character Rosie. I instantly connected with Rosie when I read it over lunch in the staffroom at her school and immediately put it to one side; that was the winner right there and then as far as I could see so my job from then on was to find one, out of the hundreds of entries, that could beat it. Many came close, very close, but Jessica’s description about a happy 8 year old girl with a hidden talent who lives close to Poppy’s Nanny and Grandpa meant I could instantly see how she can fit into the next story. It’s time to meet Jessica again and find out more about her and her character creation…


I got to meet Jessica at her family home in Burton with younger brother George and mum & dad, Ali and Glen not forgetting her pet guinea pigs, Jack & Nibbles. After a brief conversation Glen and I reminisced about our time working together many years ago at the local brewery, it’s a small world. George had drawn me a fabulous picture of Lord Ted which he presented me as soon as I walked through the door, which was worth a Lord Ted Fan Club badge on the spot. George had just celebrated his 7th birthday and also kindly shared some of his Lego stickers for Lord Ted.


Jessica will be 10 in October, just before our book launch party where she will receive a copy of the book with her name proudly displayed and her character, Rosie, written in the story.



Jessica keeps herself extremely active and busy. Her first love is gymnastics, and she has been attending her gymnastics club once a week since she was four, with many awards and certificates. She gained Winstrada Grade 7 in March, Winstrada being the international body for the promotion and development of recreational and therapeutic gymnastics and has recently set out a new grading system; Jessica is already more than halfway through the program. Also in March, Jessica was awarded Bronze Stage 1 from the Royal Life Saving Society. She loves her swimming. It seems March was the month of receiving certificates after I presented her with her Poppy and Lord Ted competition winners’ certificate at school, in front of all her excited friends, at the end of the month. Jessica has many friends but her best friends are Amelia, Charlotte, Emily, Izzy, Paighton and Summer. There is also a new love of horse-riding, and she has just started attending the Barleyfields Equestrian Centre very close to my local village of Hilton. And to top it all off Jessica has just joined the local Cubs with pottery making a new activity to add to her ever growing list.


Jessica enjoys indoor activities too of course with a real talent for sewing. I was shown two tote bags she had made which I honestly thought were bought, a real quality job, one of which she uses as her swimming bag. It was also lovely to hear how much she enjoys her reading, devouring books one after the other. Her preferred authors are David Walliams and Jacqueline Wilson with her favourite novel being The Butterfly Club, a brilliant story about a triplet called Tina but she is currently enjoying some of the Tom Gates Diaries by Liz Pichon.


At school Jessica is in Year 4, class 4SC with her teachers Mrs Sprenglewski and Mrs Caulton. I know that, along with her family, her teachers are extremely proud of Jessica’s achievements and excited to see her imaginative character come to life.


We spent a little time talking about Rosie so I could imagine her for myself, we don’t want to give too much away yet. My role is to make our readers imagine Rosie as Jessica intended so I will be working with her to make sure she’s happy before we go to the editing and publication stages.


Jessica loves travel with Cyprus and Dorset top of her list. When I asked her if she could go anywhere with anyone she wanted using the crooked door she thought for a while. Eventually it was Paris with her friend Amelia – good choice Jessica, à bientôt!

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