Text 1: The hall before the fair, by Megan Price

An original contemporary blog post.

By half past eight, the school hall was already full of tables. I had volunteered to help set up the book stall, which sounded simple until I saw the boxes. They were stacked almost to the ceiling, and every one seemed to contain a different sort of book.

We worked along the tables, sorting paperbacks into piles and sticking handwritten labels on the boxes. Mrs Evans kept checking the clock. “Doors open at ten,” she reminded us, though nobody had forgotten. A box marked “Stories” turned out to be full of cookery books, and we had to start that table again.

For a while, the room seemed more crowded than organised. Then a family arrived early and asked where to put their donation. We found a space, and suddenly the stall looked as if it belonged there. By the time the first visitors came in, the labels were straight and the books were easy to browse.

I had expected to spend the morning carrying boxes. Instead, I spent most of it talking to people about what they liked to read. When the hall filled with visitors, I stood behind the stall and felt proud that we had made something welcoming from all that mess.

Text 2: The cake table, by Owen Hughes

An original contemporary magazine article.

My sister and I were in charge of the cake table at our village school fair. At first, it seemed an easy job: lay a cloth, arrange the cakes, wait for people to arrive. But the cloth kept sliding off the trestle, and a breeze from the open doors lifted the price cards and sent them skittering across the floor.

We pinned the cloth down with tins and tucked the cards beneath the cake plates. Then we arranged the cakes in rows, leaving a clear space for the queue. From the doorway, the table looked neat. Up close, one chocolate cake had leaned against its neighbour and left a dark mark on the white icing.

Just before opening time, the head teacher asked us to move the table away from the entrance. We lifted it together, careful not to disturb the plates. My sister walked backwards, calling out warnings while I watched the cake wobble. It stayed upright. We put the table in its new place and took a breath.

When the first child chose a cake, my sister grinned at me. The table had survived the move, the cards were still in place, and the queue was already growing. I looked at the untidy icing and decided it made the cake look homemade.

Compare what the writers say about preparing for the fair and how they convey their feelings about the work.

In your answer, you may find it helpful to consider:

• what goes wrong during the preparations and how the writers respond
• how each writer presents the moment when the work is ready for visitors

Use evidence from both texts and make clear which text you are referring to.