P1 love Chae Strathie!

Who loves Jumblebum?  We love Jumblebum!  Chae Strathie, award-winning author, visited P1 on Monday to tell them all about how he writes his lovely books.  Before the visit, Chae sent the children a letter telling them he would be arriving in his jellycopter and wearing his fantastic invisible boots!  He also asked if they could practise some songs so they could sing with him on the day.

Well, Chae turned up with his suitcase, guitar and magic story hat and entertained P1 for over an hour.  He was funny, informative and all the children were totally engaged and just loved singing the songs!  Chae had a great visual presentation that helped P1 understand things like illustrators, publishers and distribution.   Everyone had the best of times and we would LOVE Chae to come back again.

As you would expect from Book Club, we managed to sneak an interview with him – thanks, Chae, we hope the record of your interview does justice to the amazing work you do in schools.

Q)  The reason you came here today was because Emmeline in P1B won the Bookbug prize in the Scottish Book Awards review competition.  What impact do you think this type of competition has on young readers and writers?

A)  I think that it is fantastic because it is voted on by children instead of older people.  It’s good because we can see what our target audience, children, think of my books.  It’s good for the children because they have more of a connection with the books and it brings the books to life.  Writing the reviews is very good because children get to think more about the books.

Q)  Your background is in journalism.  Do you think this has been a support in your book writing or do you have to work harder at writing because journalism demands a different style?

A)  Both sides of that is true.  In journalism you are taught to only write the words that count and get straight to the point.  You have to be economical with the words.  There’s a tendency in children’s books to have to keep it short and journalism helped me.  I wrote children’s pages in the newspapers so that helped me a lot. The bad side of it though is that I spend all day on the computer at work working with words then I go home and spend my time on the computer working with words.  It would be a bit easier if I had a job where I didn’t work with words.  Writing books is good though because you can write anywhere and all you need is a laptop or notebook and pen.

Q)  You won the Bookbug prize this year in the Scottish Book Awards with Jumblebum.  What impact did winning this award have on your writing career?

A)  It was a big boost to me because it meant that my book was in more shops and more people were reading it.  It also meant that it was in more schools and the schools wanted me to come and do author visits.  It definitely had a big impact on my writing.

Q)  This is your third visit to Flora Stevenson Primary School.  What is it you enjoy about this school and visits in general?

A)  I love how enthusiastic all of the teachers are and especially Miss Broadley.  The children really pick up on how enthusiastic the teachers are.  The whole school seems very switched onto books and I feel welcome in Flora’s.  I have visited different classes in the school and all age groups are great.

Q)  You write mainly picture books for younger children.   Do you think you might write novels for our age group and young adults?

A)  I’m currently working on some new projects.  I’ve written some new books that are one step up from picture books, around P2-P3.  I’m also working on some books for around 8-12 year olds.  I’m also working on some plots for young adults.  There is a book called “Scaredy Cat” that is about a girl who is scared of everything.  Then there is a big disaster and a terrifying thing happens and she has to be a hero and confront her fears.  I’m also writing a new book called “The only girl in Curio City”. There is a girl called Lily Venus and she is the only human in Curio city and everyone else are monsters and ghosts.

Q)  We’ve had a lot of fun this year reading to our P1 buddies and scribing for them in writing their reviews.  What advice could you give us in making the sharing of books exciting and challenging for our buddies and for ourselves?

A)  I’d say that you need to read the book to yourself before reading to someone else so that you know what is coming up next and can think about the book.  Think of voices to make the characters funny and seem more alive. I know it can be embarrassing to start with and I felt like that at first but it can be quite good fun.  Also think about the pace of the book and at dramatic parts speed up and get louder then slow down and get quieter for the calmer parts.  You just need to vary things to keep them interested.  Don’t be afraid to move around and use your hands to bring the story to life. 

We had great fun interviewing Chae and we hope that he had as much fun as we did. Now here is Emmeline’s award winning book review that brought us this amazing experience.  And a huge congratulations to Emmeline.

The Paper Dolls is my favourite book because I liked the part when the little girl grows up to be a mummy.  The book made me feel happy.  I liked the part when they went to a magical land.  I liked the house in it.  It made me feel excited.  When the boy came and cut up the paper dolls it made me feel sad but I was happy again when they came back together.  I thought the names of the dolls were quite funny.  I also liked the bit when the girl helps her own child to make paper dolls.  I give the book five stars.   

We hope you have enjoyed that fantastic review. Please continue to read our blog and look out for more outstanding reviews and interviews.

 

 

 

 

Lari Don visits P4

On Wednesday, 21^st May the author and storyteller, Lari Don, came to visit our P4 classes.  She had a wonderful time telling stories and answering some very challenging questions.  Lari has visited our school on many occasions and we are always delighted when she has time in her busy schedule to come to Flora’s.

Lari had a little time to spare at the end of her storytelling sessions so Book Group managed to grab an interview.  Thank you, Lari.  You’ve really given us a lot to think about.  Here are the questions we discussed:-

1)      We first came across your writing with First Aid for Fairies, which won the Royal Mail Award (now Scottish Book Awards).  What impact did this award have on your writing career?

A)     It was very important because it meant that my publisher wanted more books in the series and it also made other publishers interested because they heard about the award. I have now written over 20 books and getting that award really helped me. Getting the award never changed what I wrote and I will never write a book to get an award or write a book similar to that to win again.

2)       You have usually written for younger readers but we notice you are now moving into the market for young adults.  What prompted this change and will be seeing more of this type of novel?

A)     It was not a decision but it was a change that I made because I had an idea in my head. The idea that I had was too dark and dangerous for younger children so it had to be for teenagers.  I really enjoyed writing this type of story and I got a good reaction from it. I will write more young adult books but I won’t stop writing for younger children.

3)      You have been working with our P4 classes today.  Is this something new you have been trialling and can you tell us a little bit about it?

A)      Yes, I have been trialling a new collection of books about shape changers and I wanted to practise those stories to see the reaction.  The P4s were brilliant and had great ideas.

4)      You are passionate about public libraries.  What advice would you give us to help maintain our school library and encourage pupils to use their local library?

A)     Your library is very bright and colourful and I love how you have lots of posters up because it makes books look exciting.   I would suggest to keep getting new and interesting books and to display them excitingly.   Also to categorise books and have themed displays but change them on a regular basis.   Keep the covers of books facing forwards because covers look a lot more exciting than spines.   I love public libraries and you can order books in from around the world.   I recently had a book ordered from London come to my library because none of the libraries in Edinburgh had it!  I would say just go into a library to see exactly what it’s like.  Nobody ever says shh in a library and they want you to have fun. 

5)      You are Patron of Reading at your local primary school.  What benefits does this role bring to both yourself and the school?

A)     The primary school is in an area where not very many people read or have lots of books in their house so we are trying to create a community where people can read for fun at school but at home as well.   If children read for fun then it raises educational standards and makes your brain better.   We want to get the whole family to read and parents to read to their children because if the family reads then the child will read as well.   It benefits me too because I can form relationships with the school and it’s better than just going once and getting everyone reading then it all stops.   I like to look at books with the children and can follow it through with projects.   I love talking to children about books and I can test out new ideas on them. I get to go back a lot so I can get to know a child from nursery all the way to P7.

6)      You are a regular visitor to Flora Stevenson Primary School.  What do you enjoy most about your visits?

A)     I love your hall, it is beautiful and Miss Broadley is a great teacher who loves talking about books but what I enjoy most is the children.   I enjoy their questions and love talking with them.

7)      You have recently written a new book called Mind Blind but what gave you the idea for a book about a mind reader?

A)     Writers are a bit like mind readers because we have to imagine what our characters are thinking but I was also interested in the idea that someone had a super power that we would think was really cool but was a hindrance for them, like in my book the character can read thoughts and emotions but it overwhelms him and he can’t function properly. 

 

Well, what next?  Award winning author, Chae Strathie, is visiting P1 on Monday.  This visit is a prize for Emmeline winning the Bookbug section of the Scottish Children’s Book Awards review competition.  More from Chae in our next post.  On Wednesday, the poet and author, Diana Hendry, will be giving poetry workshops to P2.  Diana is a regular visitor to our school and she reads us great poems!  We’re looking forward to interviewing Diana in couple of weeks when she is also giving a workshop to P4/5.

Mrs Burdon has been very busy and has catalogued most of our new library books.  We still have some money to spend so we will be perusing the catalogues for more exciting books to add to our library. 

Don’t forget our Scholastic Book Club.  You can order online and your books will be delivered free to the school.  For every £1 you spend, we earn 20p commission to spend on more books.

We hope you are enjoying reading our blog.  We would love to hear from you so send us a comment.

 

 

Alex Nye Interview

Last week, Alex Nye visited the P7 classes to talk about her novels ‘Chill’ and ‘Shiver’.  Before her presentation, we were lucky enough to interview her.  The complete interview is quite long, so here is a sample of the questions we put to her:-

‘Good afternoon and welcome to Flora Stevenson Book Group.  My name is Christopher and this is Iman.  We very much appreciate you taking the time to give us this interview.  We’ll take it in turns to ask you questions.

 

Q.       In your blog, you list some of your favourite children’s novels.  These seem a little dated and perhaps would be described as ‘classics’.  Are there any children’s novels you have enjoyed that have been published more recently – say within the past 5 years?

A.      Definitely, I love Marcus Sedgwick’s books.  

 

Q.      You won the Royal Mail Award (Scottish Children’s Book Award) with your first novel ‘Chill’ in 2007.  What impact did this award have on your writing?

A.     Quite a big impact, it was very encouraging, it meant that children picked my book.

 

Q.      Are you aware of this school’s success in the SCBA review writing competition?

 

·        2013 – 1^st prize Bookbug and 3^rd prize young readers

·        2012 – 1^st prize young readers

·        2011 – 3^rd prize young readers

·        2009 – 2^nd prize young readers

What advice would you give to our next cohort of readers for the 2015 Awards?

A.     Be creative and brave, don’t hold back.

 

Q.      As an adult reader, what is your preferred genre?

A.     I prefer reading literature - fiction novels.

 

Q.       What is it about coming to visit schools that you most enjoy?

A.     The pupils and their questions.

Q.      Is there going to be a third novel to follow Chill and Shiver and can you give us a sneaky preview of your current work?

A.     I have two more books planned but not in the Chill and Shiver series

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today.  We hope you will read our blog and feel free to pass on any advice.’

Alex gave us great advice on how to use language to create atmosphere and tension in a story.  We are all now making good use of the Thesaurus!

Mrs Burdon is in the process of cataloguing many new books for our school library and these should be available to borrow in the very near future.

On Tuesday the 6^th, P7A visited The Hub for their Soul Boxes workshop.  Lorna and Natalie from EIF came to our class the week before to explain what happens at the workshop and help us prepare so that we got the best from it.  Look out for our next blog when we tell you what happened and hopefully show you some pics!

What about some recommendations for a good read?  Well, Christopher is currently reading Roof toppers by Katherine Rundell, Sophie’s reading a book about Battersea Cat and Dog Home called Lost and Found and Iman’s reading Make Friends with Hannah and Poppy by Ann Bryant.   Miss Broadley has bought a set of novels just for Book Group to read and review.  Some great reading ahead and reviews to come.  Hope you are enjoying reading our blog.  Let us know if you have any questions about the library or just want a good book to read.