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      • Year 1/2 Lessons
      • Sarah McIntyre - The New Neighbours
      • Oliver Jeffers - Here We Are
      • Alex T Smith - Foxy & Egg
      • Mini Grey - The Last Wolf
      • Mini Grey - Toys In Space
      • Mini Grey - Hermelin
      • Year 3/4 Lessons
      • Philip Reeve - Oliver and The Seawigs
      • Philip Reeve - Pugs of The Frozen North
      • Jacqueline Wilson - Lizzie Zipmouth
      • Michael Morpurgo - Pinocchio
      • Michael Morpurgo - The Fox & The Ghost King
      • Michael Morpurgo - The Dancing Bear
      • Year 5/6 Lessons
      • Jamia Wilson - Young, Gifted and Black
      • Philip Reeve - Mortal Engines
      • Anthony Horowitz - Stormbreaker
      • Michael Morpurgo - Arthur High King of Britain
      • Cressida Cowell - How To Train A Dragon
      • Michael Morpurgo - The Wreck of Zanzibar
      • Jacqueline Wilson - The Illustrated Mum
      • Author Interviews
      • Alexander Gordon Smith
      • Alex T Smith
      • Ali Sparkes
      • Anne Cassidy
      • Andy Mulligan
      • Andy Riley
      • Andy Seed
      • Anthony Horowitz
      • Anthony McGowan
      • Ben Lyttleton
      • Cath Howe
      • Cressida Cowell
      • Christoper Edge
      • Dan Freedman
      • Emily Lockhart
      • Fleur Hitchcock
      • Frederick Forsyth
      • Geraldine McCaughrean
      • Gill Lewis
      • Gillian Cross
      • Guy Bass
      • Henry Winkler
      • Holly Bourne
      • Holly Webb
      • Jacqueline Wilson
      • Jamia Wilson
      • Joseph Coelho
      • Julian Clary
      • Karen McCombie
      • Lauren Child
      • Maz Evans
      • Michaela Morgan
      • Michael Morpurgo
      • Mini Grey
      • Oliver Jeffers
      • Pete Johnson
      • Philip Reeve
      • Robert Muchamore
      • Roger Stevens
      • Sally Gardner
      • Sally Nicholls
      • Sarah McIntyre
      • Sarah Rubin
      • Sibéal Pounder
      • Sophie McKenzie
      • Steve Cole
      • Stewart & Riddell
      • Teri Terry
      • Tony Ross
      • Zaro Weil
      • Credits
      • Project manager and all video content - Bob Usher LGfL Content Manager
      • Live events co ordinator and author and publisher liaison - Caroline Horn ReadingZone
      • Additional project development support - Phil Hedger CEO - LEO Academy Trust
      • Literacy resource development - Nadine Williamson Director of Literacy - LEO Academy Trust
      • Literacy resource development - Christopher Perrott Vice Principle (Curriculum) - Cheam Common Junior Academy
      • Literacy resource development - Isabella Adams Cheam Park Farm Primary School
      • Website design and construction - John Laker AdEPT Education
      • Inclusion material development - Adam Gordon LGfL Inclusion Manager
      • Additional project development support - Laura Smith LGfL Learning Resource Consultant
      • Teaching material portal creation - Bradley Dardis LGfL Learning Resource Consultant
      • Feedback

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      For more information about the Dyslexie font click here .

      Using Point is extremely simple: when the user hovers the cursor over a word, Point displays a small box containing symbols illustrating the meaning of the word. Learn more about Point here .

      • Home
      • About this Resource
      • Lessons
        • Year 1/2 Lessons
        • Sarah McIntyre - The New Neighbours
        • Oliver Jeffers - Here We Are
        • Alex T Smith - Foxy & Egg
        • Mini Grey - The Last Wolf
        • Mini Grey - Toys In Space
        • Mini Grey - Hermelin
        • Year 3/4 Lessons
        • Philip Reeve - Oliver and The Seawigs
        • Philip Reeve - Pugs of The Frozen North
        • Jacqueline Wilson - Lizzie Zipmouth
        • Michael Morpurgo - Pinocchio
        • Michael Morpurgo - The Fox & The Ghost King
        • Michael Morpurgo - The Dancing Bear
        • Year 5/6 Lessons
        • Jamia Wilson - Young, Gifted and Black
        • Philip Reeve - Mortal Engines
        • Anthony Horowitz - Stormbreaker
        • Michael Morpurgo - Arthur High King of Britain
        • Cressida Cowell - How To Train A Dragon
        • Michael Morpurgo - The Wreck of Zanzibar
        • Jacqueline Wilson - The Illustrated Mum
      • Authors
        • Author Interviews
        • Alexander Gordon Smith
        • Alex T Smith
        • Ali Sparkes
        • Anne Cassidy
        • Andy Mulligan
        • Andy Riley
        • Andy Seed
        • Anthony Horowitz
        • Anthony McGowan
        • Ben Lyttleton
        • Cath Howe
        • Cressida Cowell
        • Christoper Edge
        • Dan Freedman
        • Emily Lockhart
        • Fleur Hitchcock
        • Frederick Forsyth
        • Geraldine McCaughrean
        • Gill Lewis
        • Gillian Cross
        • Guy Bass
        • Henry Winkler
        • Holly Bourne
        • Holly Webb
        • Jacqueline Wilson
        • Jamia Wilson
        • Joseph Coelho
        • Julian Clary
        • Karen McCombie
        • Lauren Child
        • Maz Evans
        • Michaela Morgan
        • Michael Morpurgo
        • Mini Grey
        • Oliver Jeffers
        • Pete Johnson
        • Philip Reeve
        • Robert Muchamore
        • Roger Stevens
        • Sally Gardner
        • Sally Nicholls
        • Sarah McIntyre
        • Sarah Rubin
        • Sibéal Pounder
        • Sophie McKenzie
        • Steve Cole
        • Stewart & Riddell
        • Teri Terry
        • Tony Ross
        • Zaro Weil
      • Search via Key Stage
      • Credits
        • Credits
        • Project manager and all video content - Bob Usher LGfL Content Manager
        • Live events co ordinator and author and publisher liaison - Caroline Horn ReadingZone
        • Additional project development support - Phil Hedger CEO - LEO Academy Trust
        • Literacy resource development - Nadine Williamson Director of Literacy - LEO Academy Trust
        • Literacy resource development - Christopher Perrott Vice Principle (Curriculum) - Cheam Common Junior Academy
        • Literacy resource development - Isabella Adams Cheam Park Farm Primary School
        • Website design and construction - John Laker AdEPT Education
        • Inclusion material development - Adam Gordon LGfL Inclusion Manager
        • Additional project development support - Laura Smith LGfL Learning Resource Consultant
        • Teaching material portal creation - Bradley Dardis LGfL Learning Resource Consultant
      • Feedback
        • Feedback
      • Accessibility
        • Accessibility

        Using Point is extremely simple: when the user hovers the cursor over a word, Point displays a small box containing symbols illustrating the meaning of the word. Learn more about Point here .

Ali Sparkes

Ali Sparkes meant to be a superstar singer and actress by now, but that never quite happened...probably because this was in the olden days before StrictlyPopXTalentIdol. She could have done it otherwise.

After many drama school rejections, National Service as a Pontin's Bluecoat (where she became the spangle-clad assistant to a juggling unicyclist – frighteningly, there is photographic proof), a stint in cabaret and then singing in cheesy cover bands, Ali finally got a proper job in local newspapers before absconding to the BBC in the late 1990s.

Click here to read more

Ali Sparkes
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Ali Sparkes Interview

Ali Sparkes

Ali Sparkes meant to be a superstar singer and actress by now, but that never quite happened...probably because this was in the olden days before StrictlyPopXTalentIdol. She could have done it otherwise.

After many drama school rejections, National Service as a Pontin's Bluecoat (where she became the spangle-clad assistant to a juggling unicyclist – frighteningly, there is photographic proof), a stint in cabaret and then singing in cheesy cover bands, Ali finally got a proper job in local newspapers before absconding to the BBC in the late 1990s. A bit of local radio presenting and producing followed before she chucked in the day job and started writing comedy stuff for Radio 4 (Woman's Hour and Home Truths).

She also knocked out twenty-two quarterly magazines for BBC Radio Solent, prompting a series of similar BBC local radio magazines around the UK, and she learnt how to edit, take photographs, and create crosswords along the way. But since The Shapeshifter: Finding The Fox came out in 2006, she's found her groove. If you were to snap her in half she would read CHILDREN'S AUTHOR through the middle like Brighton rock.

Although it would probably be a bit difficult to read, what with the blood and entrails and all that...

Ali currently has twenty-two children's fiction titles published by Oxford University Press including her SWITCH series, her Blue Peter award-winning novel Frozen in Time, and her heart-stopping new adventure series about a group of teenagers with special powers, Unleashed.

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