Did you enjoy the book? Explain your answer if it is yes or no.Yes. Moving to England was not easy. Floella was the first person in this country to appear on TV with beads in her hair, but Floella didn't just appear in children's TV shows, she started making them as well - which means that as well as being on the TV herself, it became her job to help other people also appear on TV. Was the plot exciting, thought-provoking, serious or light-hearted (or any mixture of these)?At first it was sad because Floella’s dad had to leave. Then their mum left and they were babysat by their evil aunt. It was happy when the family got together again. Readers get to know a little of Dame Floella Benjamin's brothers and sister - Ellington, Sandra and Lester whose mother they call Marmie, in affectionate terms, who met Dardie aged 19, all of which I think is just lovely. The memoir starts with Life in Trinidad and it feels quite uplifiting in some ways and warm. There is much enjoyment for children to get their teeth into and so much knowledge to be gained about food and other parts of the culture. No matter where you're from, whatever your culture, it shows that some things are the same the world over, such as baking. This is one of the beauties of this book, it starts off showing that there are similarities in life, after all, who doesn't at the very least, like cake or ice cream? It has such a positive feel to it for children to read about that is heartwarming as it will make it easy then for children to warm to it. Then there's school life, so some of this will be familiar to children too, although there are some changes, but this is where it's interesting for children, and it was for me growing up too, as I grew up without the fear of the belt, whipping down on me, but in the 60's, 70's this seemed more like the norm.

All upcoming public events are going ahead as planned and you can find more information on our events blogFloella Benjamin, a celebrated writer, actress and television presenter, originally published her memoir Coming to England for junior readers in 1995. This attractive picture-book version simplifies her tale, making it accessible to a much younger audience. The story begins in Trinidad, where Floella lives with her parents and five siblings, and describes her move to England in 1960, aged 10, as part of the Windrush generation. The simple text provides just the right level of detail, selecting elements of Floella’s tale which young children will understand, such as moving home and starting a new school. I love the illustrator’s vibrant colours in the book when Floella’s talking about Trinidad and the way the colours change in England. Her changing schools’ moment is something I can empathise with.

We spoke to her about how she did it and why it's so important to get stories for children right... The Library's buildings remain fully open but some services are limited, including access to collection items. We're In a way, it was the same when I was writing my novel Coming to England for older children, which doesn't have even one racist word in the book. But if I was writing it for adults, then I'd use stronger words to give the real feeling of what it was like. You can't even tell 10 or 11 year olds what it was truly like. I wouldn't want to burden them with it.

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In 1960, at the age of 10, Floella moved here to the United Kingdom. She says she did not feel welcome in the UK and that she found it really hard to fit in. When Floella grew up, she met the Queen. She became a Dame. Today she works as a politician at the House of Lords, trying to influence all our lives for the better. Everyone should read her inspiring story. I liked reading about your journey to England, I went on a ferry to France. It lasted for a night, not fifteen days! When Floella left school she went to work in a bank, but what she really wanted to do was show business - acting and singing in front of an audience, either on TV or in a theatre. Floella went on to appear in many different shows, and when she was 27 years old Floella became one of the presenters of a children's TV show called Play School . It's one of the most popular children's TV programmes ever!