I had a fabulous visit at Freemans Bay School last week, and
I have my nephew to thank for the invite. He’s in the new entrants’ class, and
when he saw my book in the school library, he pointed it out to Dale, the
librarian, who kindly invited me up for the day.
I had a great time (I hope the kids did too). It is visits
like these that make writing for kids truly fun. We had readings, discussions, tonnes
of questions, and a lunchtime session in the library where everyone hung out,
coloured in, built models and talked books.
What a great school to have fostered so many keen readers.
I also ran a couple of competitions where the kids could take
the beginnings of my books and complete them in their own ways, through pictures
or writing or both. The ideas that came out of those sessions, produced from
cold and under time pressure, blew me away. Ideas that as a writer I would hunt
and scratch and sweat to produce, just flowed.
It reminded me how naturally imaginative we all are, and how
important it is to tap back into that childhood wealth of images and ideas, if you
are going to produce fresh original stories. One of the purposes of an author
visit is to inspire kids about books and reading, but it works the other way
too. I came away feeling as if I’d have a creativity and inspiration booster
shot.
So thank you Freemans Bay School. I will look forward to (hopefully)
visiting again with my next book.
