Ella on the Outside was published in 2018. One of its big themes is friendship. In my story, Ella takes a while to discover the right friend. As I visited schools to introduce the story, I found myself reflecting on what a real friend is and talked a lot to children about it. Their ideas were amazing.
I decided to collect children’s ideas on a real friend. I asked each child in my workshops to complete this statement: A Real Friend is like………because…………
I asked children to think of an image- an object, a colour, something everyday, something extraordinary….I now have a fantastic collection.
These answers are never altered; they are in the children’s own words.
One day, I hope to do something with all of them so they can all be studied and appreciated.
Until then, I have been posting one a week on Twitter. They are under #ARealFriend.
The slate was my Grandad’s, used to learn to read and write.
Below are some of my favourites:

If you would like to send me a Real Friend of your own, you can use the contact page on this website. I’m always keen to collect more!