On 11 November 2019, Mo O’hara , an American author, visited Juniors and put on a ‘play’ about her bestselling book, ‘My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish’. The book, the author stated, was inspired by a real life story of Mo O’hara and her brother when they were 9. Apparently, she shocked her goldfish to life (after it died) with a battery, and it worked. Luckily, the goldfish lived normally afterwards. However, Mo wanted to exaggerate and make her fictitious goldfish a zombie after the process.
Mo O’hara was born in Pennsylvania but she moved to the UK since she wanted to live abroad. Before she became a best-selling author, Mo was an actress and a comedy performer in theatres around London. She performed regularly at Edinburgh and London comedy festivals. After touring the UK as storyteller, her love for children grew and her first book was released: ‘My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish’. This book was followed by sequels.
During her visit, after her exclamation and story about the inspiration of the tale, Mo started a roleplay with the students. Each was performing as one of her characters (Mark, Tom, Frankie, Sami, Pradeep and Pradeep’s little sister). Four students volunteered. Not by choice, 6.2 teacher Mrs.Dogan was put in the role of a small infant. The roleplay was pretty ridiculous, even though the students had one line.
Students in Juniors (and infants) had a chance to buy her books. Her book ‘More People To Love Me’ was recommended for infants and her other books for juniors.
The author also leaked some information on a new book she is releasing called ‘Agent Moose’ and how excited she is for its release.
Attending the event myself, I can say it was like most annual authors visits. Nonetheless, Mo O’hara had more humour and interactive activities in her performance.
The day finally ended, leaving students thinking about the eventful day. The day was full of joy, happiness and laughter for students and staff alike.
There is only one question left: who will be the next author visiting?
