Max Porter and Hilary Paynter recently visited Year 3 and 4 children at St Saviour’s Junior School to speak about their book about Solsbury Hill, The Hill, which is located near to the school. The children have been learning about this location as part of their local story topic.
Max and Hilary shared chalk and fossils which have been found on Solsbury Hill, and read a booklet from the 1920’s about Solsbury Hill, which formed part of the inspiration for the book. There were some fascinating facts, such as the chalk they found was 82 million years old!
Their book is illustrated using wood block printing. Hilary is a wood engraver and president of the wood engraver’s association. She shared how she creates the wood blocks for printing using boxwood, which is a great choice for making printing blocks as it is smooth and slow growing.
The children were impressed with how detailed the pictures were and thought they looked amazing! Mrs Lewis and Mrs Simpkins, class teachers, explained, “There was a historical battle on Solsbury Hill, which is believed by some to be King Arthur fighting with the Ancient Britons against the Anglo-Saxons, and this links well with our Anglo-Saxon topic, which is why Max was keen to share his book with the children.”