Toppsta - Childrens Books – Reviews

Venessa Taylor brings two decades of experience as an inner-city primary school teacher and assistant head teacher 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 as a literacy lead in schools, through her creative writing. One of her proudest career achievements was raising the standards of reading, literary engagement and attainment across the school with a focus of engaging boys and reluctant readers. 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.