I am not a fan of books…

Karen MacPherson presents three essential ingredients to switch children onto literature – a great recipe for success.

“I am not a fan of books…I am a proud non-reader of books.” This quote has been attributed to musician Kanye West (Mr Kim Kardashian). When I first saw it online I thought it must not be genuine, but as best I can ascertain, he did indeed make this sad announcement. My mind simply cannot come to terms with the idea that a person could think this way. To me, and I suspect any of you reading this blog, a life without reading and books would be unimaginable. Yet we cannot deny that Mr West is not alone in his thinking and that unfortunately, we often see that kind of attitude to reading start to develop among school students.

I suspect that if I wrote about the importance of reading to anyone likely to be browsing this blog, I would be ’preaching to the converted.’ We all appreciate that reading is not just a core skill for succeeding in life, but is in fact an enjoyable pass time that can open whole new worlds to those of us who partake. So how do we make sure that our children value books and reading and grow into adults who retain that pleasure and sense of curiosity? Here are my top three suggestions – I’d love to hear your ideas.

1. Books and reading are things seen to be valued by significant role models in a child’s world. I believe it is vitally important that children see people around them reading for both purpose and pleasure. It sends a powerful message when a person of influence in a child’s life can talk about their love of reading and the wonderful things it brings to them. Reading aloud to children, even as they get older, exposes them to books they may not gravitate to normally and creates a bond with the person doing the reading. Laughing over silly words in Roald Dahl’s The BFG together, or exploring Tolkien’s Middle Earth with a parent or teacher will create memories that last a lifetime and encourage children to explore reading on their own.
   
2. Children are offered choice of reading material and allowed an opinion on it. When I first started teaching, I was surprised that many students saw reading as something that the teacher made them do. They were used to being told what to read and felt obliged to report back that they enjoyed it - even if they did not. No wonder some of them were already switching off from reading! Encouraging students to self-select reading material and giving them the skills to do so effectively goes a long way toward engaging them in the process. As adults we have developed favourite authors and genres and will put a book back on the shelf if it doesn’t appeal to us. While children are still exploring and discovering their favourites, I believe it is vitally important we allow the freedom to do so too. Such freedom emboldens them to experiment and explore and is highly motivating.
   
3. Access to quality literature that engages the reader. Perhaps this ought to go without saying, but sadly so many children are not exposed to books at home. (I wonder how many books the West children have at home?) This means it becomes even more important for educators and communities to advocate for and provide quality literature for children. The CBCA plays a crucial role in reaching out to the community, providing information and events to promote reading to young people and their carers/ educators as well as advocating for quality Australian literature and the groups who support it.  As individuals, it is worth reflecting on what we do for the children around us to support these ideals. 

I wonder what you would add to this list?

Karen McPherson

CBCA Picture Book of the Year Judge

Author Visit – Sarah Brennan

Visiting authors are always a treat in schools as they provide students and teachers with a personal connection between the author, their works and the reader. Chris shares some of the magic of such and event.

Term 1 heralded a special two-day event at Dominic College in Hobart when the school community was privileged to be entertained by, and learn from, children’s author Sarah Brennan, a Tasmanian who lives, writes and publishes in Hong Kong. She currently has 12 children’s picture books available, written in verse and illustrated by Harry Harrison, who is principal cartoonist with the South China Morning Post.

The main subject matter of her books is perfect for the Asian focus of the school’s K-6 campus, telling important stories in an amusing and interesting format that encourages understanding of another culture and its history in a way that is woven within the tales, each of which conveys different perspectives and time periods.

Sarah’s most popular titles are in a series called The Chinese Calendar Tales, each one about a character from the Chinese Zodiac. The latest in this series, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, celebrates the Chinese Year of the Monkey celebrated this year. She has three more Zodiac characters to write about to complete the series. One book, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, tells the story of how the 12 Zodiac animals gained their places, in a race organised by Lord Buddha. It also explains why there is no Panda represented in the Chinese calendar.

It is a wonderful experience having authors perform and interpret their own books as they give an insight that is not possible just from reading about and/or reading the books. Sarah communicates amazing love for her characters, and for the culture, history and beauty of China. She has a great sense of humour and builds rapport and an atmosphere of respectful and excited attention from her audiences. These ranged from Prep to Year 6, and also included a workshop on writing and publishing for the Year 9/10 Creative Writing class. She encouraged them all to read and to listen, to shut their eyes and imagine, to get outside and make their own adventures, and spend as much time as possible away from ‘screens’, above all to do and experience for themselves.

A highlight of her presentation was her vivid description of falling in love at the age of 7 with a bearded white-haired gentleman whose writing showed that reading and language can be fun – that gentleman was Dr Theodore Seuss Geisel, the famous Dr Seuss!

Year 2 students were entertained by The Tale of Run Run Rat, which was written for the Year of the Rat, also that of the Beijing Olympics, which is again topical for us as we are currently in an Olympic year. Some Year 2 students made a beautiful rat for the display, which Sarah really loved, as much as she was impressed by the children themselves. 

Sarah Brennan is planning another visit to Tasmania in early 2017. Visit Sarah’s funny and fabulous website at http://www.sarah-brennan.com and blog at http://www.sarahbrennanblog.com! Watch Sarah in action on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhqxWLZkVd8. Follow Sarah’s tweets @Sarah_Rhymes.

Chris Donnelly
Teacher Librarian, Dominic College, Hobart.
 
 Editor's note: Find out more about the The Chinese Calendar Tales series. 

Finding Nan Chauncy’s Lorenny

Join Richard as he explores the geographical location of Nan Chauncy’s Lorenny series in the deep south west of Tasmania.

One of the unexpected outcomes of the 2015 Nan Chauncy celebrations was my discovery of the Tiger in the Bush / Devils’ Hill / Roaring 40 trilogy (thanks to Patsy for lending me the series). The mingling of fact and fiction certainly had me scouring the maps, Google Earth, and old photos of the area.

The series is about the adventures of Badge Lorenny, (short for badger, a misnomer for wombat) and his family who live in an isolated valley in South West Tasmania. My interest was piqued when I became aware that access to this isolated valley was a wire rope, “The Wire”, over the Gordon River. I immediately (and quite erroneously) thought this was a direct reference to a flying fox over the Gordon River that I had used in 1983 to walk into the Vale of Rasselas.

 

My obsession with the geography of the series began. My first impression that Lorenny farm was approached northwards over a flying fox at Gordon Bend was incorrect; it was approached from Badge’s uncle Link’s farm near Ouse. Is it too long a bow to think Lorenny derived from Lawrenny, a hamlet just south of Ouse? On a map, Badge described it as “the dingy space between the upper bend of the Gordon River and Denison Ranges”.  

Badge’s Dad describes a track from Uncle Link’s place down the Vale of Rasselas to Gordon Bend past Gordon Vale “where Ernie Bond used to live” to Adamsfield. Ernie Bond was a real character who lived in the Vale of Rasselas until 1950. The track is the Frodsham Track, cut in 1896.

Arches Hill where Badge and his sister Iggy walked in Tiger in the Bush are probably inspired by the arch on Mt Wright. The approach to this arch is clearly not bush as in the Tiger in the Bush nor could two children get there in a day from the farm.

In the Author’s Note in Tiger in the Bush, Nan thanks amongst others “the first woman to scale Mt Anne, Eve Masterman”. She omitted to say that Eve was Nan’s sister. I had the honour of meeting Eve at a CBCA picnic at Chauncy Vale in February 2012. Though deaf she was still quite spry and very interested in bushwalking. I expect much of the inspiration for the “geography” of this series was derived from Eve and her bushwalking friends. Much more inspiring than the geography of New York or dystopian Chicago which appears in many YA books (even by Australian authors).

Richard on top of the Arch

Richard Pickup
Bushwalker

Have You Got Your Hat Ready? - National Simultaneous Storytime 2016

Are you getting ready to enjoy NSS at your local public or school library? Find out what's happening in your area, make a hat, take a child or two along if you like, and enjoy the fun. Jessica has lots of ideas to get you inspired.

I have, and I am counting down the days until May 25^th because it’s National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) and that means lots of reading fun! 

The NSS is run by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and this year their chosen title is I Got This Hat by Kate and Jol Temple, illustrated by Jon Foye, and it is just delightful.

Yes, it is a picture book aimed a younger audience, but that certainly doesn’t mean they are the only ones who can enjoy this book. I will be sharing this story will all of my students aged from 4 to 12 and based on my past NSS experiences including The Brothers Quibble, Too Many Elephants in This House, The Wrong Book and The Very Cranky Bear, it will be a big hit regardless of age.

If you are not convinced that this book hits the mark for an older audience, why not approach it as a “Buddy” activity, with older children sharing the book with younger children, or completing an activity as a follow up together. Readers’ Theatre type activities are a great way to encourage read aloud skills in our older children. Setting up an environment where they feel permitted to have fun is important too, and a hat theme is perfect to help achieve this due to the broad nature of this topic. (Note - please be mindful of head lice issues if you are planning to use actual hats as props).

There are loads of great ideas to support this year’s NSS at the ALIA website and I highly recommend the blog post devoted to I Got This Hat by The Book Chook, Susan Stephenson, for an amazing range of activity suggestions – well worth a look.

Another of my favourite resources, online story-telling platform Story Box Library, will also be adding I Got This Hat to their fabulous library in time for NSS.

For those with an ipod or ipad, my children, aged 8 and 10, have enjoyed using the free I Got This Hat App to create a range of hat themed images which mix the quirky illustration style of Jon Foye with a photo of the user’s face. Images can be saved to the device. (Unfortunately not available for android devices).

We all know that reading aloud is vitally important and having fun with books is a great way to hook children into reading. ALIA have succeeded with the difficult task of selecting an NSS title that is age appropriate for the youngest library patrons across Australia, but is still relatable for an older audience – so I say, hats off to them!

Jessica Marston

Parent & Teacher Librarian at Hagley Farm School

Footnote – I have just started reading the latest collaboration between the I Got This hat team, an adventurous tale full of humour, Captain Jimmy Cook Discovers Third Grade.  Keep an eye out for this and future Jimmy Cook titles.

Editor's note:

If you celebrate NSS this year, why not share one happy hat snap - (no faces without approval) and email to info@cbcatas.org and I will put together a celebratory page on the blog. 

An Interesting and Fun Book for Teachers and Students

Helen Rothwell provides a glimpse into a classroom that is enriched through opportunities to engage with texts – in this case a wonderful visual spread of world history.

As an upper primary teacher, I’m always on the lookout for books that captivate students and grab my attention as well. Last year’s release by Dorling Kindersley, What Happened When in the World: History as You’ve Never Seen it Before! is one such book.

This book is an historical atlas detailing historical events that impacted upon the world and shaped it as we know it today. An intriguing blend of geography and history. There are 60 A3 coloured maps grouped into the Ancient World, Medieval World, Modern World and the 20^th & 21^st Centuries.

-  Ancient World maps: e.g., The Ice Age, Cave Art, The First Cities, The Origins of Writing, Pacific Settlers, Ancient Inventions and Wonders.

-  Medieval World maps: e.g., The Silk Road, Vikings, The Black Death, China’s Golden Age, Medieval Inventions.

-  Modern World maps: e.g., The Age of Exploration, Slavery, Revolutions, Gold Rushes, The Age of Steam, Europe’s Empires, Modern Inventions.

-  20^th & 21^st Century maps: The Race to the South Pole, The Story of Flight, The Space Age, The Internet, The Rise of China.

I have a reading zone in my classroom and have this book displayed on a table next to where I read my daily read aloud book to students. I’m currently reading the fabulous I Wonder by R. J. Palacio but we always end our sessions with a quick dive into our history atlas and invariably have a ten minute discussion on a varied range of topics.

I’ve seen students go to our café laptops (they stand at the laptop bench to quickly look up something on the internet rather than sitting down for a lengthy session) to quickly check their thinking or I’ve heard students talking amongst themselves, sometimes completely random comments that have been ignited by seeing a map. For example, we were looking at the map The Age of Exploration and later that day I heard a student commenting to another that they thought it was interesting that so many explorers seemed to be Spanish and hadn’t it been the Dutch and the East India Company that had been the big explorers! Critical thinking at its best.

Another benefit is you can’t over expose students to the layout of the continents, migration and the never-ending curiosity and bravery of individuals and peoples. A pictorial stimulus has begun many a discussion on how many of the explorations started because of societal needs, politics, a monarch’s greed or one person asking ‘why not’ and then how the effects of those historical events have shaped our lives. You can 'look inside' the book to view some of these fascinating spreads of history.

Helen Rothwell
CBCA Eve Pownall Book of the Year Judge

The Challenges of Counting Sheep!

Christina Booth shares the long and convoluted processes of bringing the germ of an idea into fruition as she reflects on her latest project: Too Many Sheep.

The creation of the story for a picture book can start in many ways. The ideas often flash in front of you – sparked by a simple word or action, watching the play of children, hearing a news item, a dream, the list is endless. When the story comes, it comes in the form of an un-germinated seed, full of potential. You imagine how the story 'plant' will look. Is it the right seed to match the image in your head or will it be something different? Will it grow and bloom into something greater than you?

Often I have what I consider a great idea and I try to put it onto paper and it lets me down. Quite often, it is never revisited – I can't find the right voice or breathe life into the idea. It is put away, left alone, maybe to be revisited at a later stage. Often I find that if the idea starts with what I consider a strong title for a book, it is usually doomed to die or be filed away in the revisit drawer. I think it has something to do with creating a barrier, restricting yourself to a very specific vision of the story you are trying to grow and not allowing it to grow in the direction or the way it naturally wants to go. When a story doesn't have a title first, I find it much easier to let it go and develop into its own entity.

This is how my picture book, Too Many Sheep began, with a great title that popped into my head while I illustrated another book. With it came an image:  lots and lots of sheep filling up a house, sheep bums and heads, legs and arms bulging out of windows, doors and chimneys until everything explodes and sheep are floating through the air. As with all of my stories, the idea is accompanied with a question or problem to solve: what happens if you can't sleep and you count sheep but they don't disappear and fill up the house? The title of the story, yet unwritten was 'How to Count Sheep'.  This title was written down and pinned to my notice board for nearly two years. When it came time to write it, it didn't gain momentum and so the idea remained a good title without a story hanging in my studio.

In 2014, Tania McCartney, co-creator of This is Captain Cook (and author of many other wonderful books) started the on-line 52 Week Illustration Challenge . Initially envisioned as a challenge to help her develop her skills as an illustrator, Tania invited a few friends to join her. Today, in 2016, the challenge has over 4000 participants and has members contributing, including children, from across the globe.  I was tempted but first thought it might not be fair if a professional illustrator joined in, would it seem like showing off? But my teacher instincts kicked in and I decided to have a go, to encourage others but also to set myself the challenge of creating all of my art (one a week to a set theme) digitally. I had the gear, the software, but had had no time to learn how to use it beyond the basics.

One of the weeks was Book Cover. I have designed a few over the years so I looked for a new challenge: a book without a story. I chose 'How to Count Sheep'.  I still loved the title, too much it seemed, and didn't want to 'give it away', so I changed the title and created a cover for a book called 'Too Many Sheep'. It was a hit, floating animated sheep looking out at the audience. The response was quite interesting. Along with the positive comments about the art were requests to read the story. They had been  'invited' into the book, but I didn't have a story to share. Time to write it, again.

The story was written and edited, just as all stories are. When it was what I considered ready, I read it out loud to my husband who found it hilarious which worried me because he wasn't laughing where I thought it was meant to be funny. He told me I couldn't write a book like that for children, he said it would never be published. He was right and I was shocked. It is a book for young children, about counting sheep to go to sleep, so, I had entered my naive and innocent five year old self to write the story. You can't reference sleeping with sheep in a children's book (or probably any book for that matter). It was a disaster (but very funny for all the wrong reasons). After another edit, it was ready. I wanted to put a note on the top: All references to sleeping with sheep now removed!

This time, without the restrictions of images and a definitive title, I wrote the story. It came naturally and it was exciting. It looked nothing like the idea I had in my head. The seed shot up and out, it grew strong and it became a plant I had never imagined, it was, as it always is, very exciting to experience.

I was attending the Society of Children's Book writers and Illustrators conference in Sydney and so created a dummy of the book, all digitally drawn, to display in my portfolio. Upon showing it to the publisher from Scholastic, she insisted it was hers and Too Many Sheep was underway as a book.

Too Many Sheep, published by Scholastic and available for viewing by the public on May the 1st, 2016, is my first completely digitally illustrated book. It was a long and curvy learning experience but I have learnt so much creating this book. I hope you get a chance to read it and laugh in all the right places, perhaps you will smile when you try to work out where the sleeping references used to be. You can view the trailer on my website, http://www.christinabooth.com/, and you are most welcome to join us at celebrations of its release in Launceston on the 1st of May at Petrarch's Bookstore, or in Hobart at Fullers Bookstore on the 15th of May, and (TBC) in Ulverstone on May 28th.

There will also be some Melbourne events so watch out on my web page and Face Book page for those as well.

And if you can't sleep, don't count sheep!!

Christina Booth
Children's author and illustrator.

W: www.christinabooth.com
F: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Christina-Booth-author-illustrator/113682115389375
T: @ChristinaBooth

Editor’s note: Make sure you visit Christina’s website and watch the booktrailer for Too Many Sheep – it is a work of art and creativity in its own right!

Writing Ice Age

Ever wonder where the inspiration behind the Ice Age movies came from? Penny shares some behind the scenes insights that celebrates the ingenuity of children!

Last year I was asked to submit ideas for an article on the theme Prehistoric Times. I had just seen a fabulous documentary on Ice Age Mammals so I chose that subject and after some initial research decided to write about the Woolly Mammoth, the Sabre-toothed Tiger and the Sloth. My editor was thrilled as the 5th Ice Age movie was due out mid 2016. And I was embarrassed to admit I had never seen the movies. So I borrowed them all and watched them in quick succession. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the three mammals I had chosen to write about were, in fact, the stars of the movies!

As in books, movies start with an idea and usually a writer, or group of writers, pitches that initial idea. Ice Age was no different. For the first movie, 20th Century Fox asked writers to pitch on just the two words: Ice Age and American writer Michael J Wilson came up with the winning idea. But he had help and it wasn't from a group of other writers either.

Wilson's three year old daughter Flora came up with a character that was a combination of a squirrel and a rat - called Scrat.

Wilson: 'What does Scrat want?'

Flora: 'Dad. Hello? Scrat wants the acorn.'

Wilson: 'Wow! So simple. I have been forever in Flora's debt and creative shadow...'

But the help didn't stop there. At the time Wilson was telling stories in Flora's class each week, so as he was writing the Ice Age script he pitched his ideas and characters and the class helped him write them.

Wilson: 'One day I was stumped. 'What does Diego want?' I asked the class. (Diego is the saber-tooth tiger).

One kid named Willie raised his hand. 'Diego wants to EAT the baby!' he proclaimed loudly.

Thus began the thread behind the story of Diego, and how he had a secret agenda, and was leading Manfred (the mammoth) and Sid (the sloth) and Roshan (the baby) into a trap!'

Wilson even admits he used to follow Willie to his mother's car after school asking him question after question about his script. 'I thought he was a genius,' says Wilson.

At one point Wilson had a fight with the studio over the demise of Roshan's mother. He wanted her to die in Act 1 and the studio didn't. However, he eventually won.

Wilson: I am so glad I won this fight! Studios are so afraid of scaring little kids. When I was four, I saw The Wizard of Oz. It was terrifying! I loved it! Can you imagine The Wizard of Oz without those flying monkeys? Or without the Wicked Witch trying to kill Dorothy?'

And just like L Frank Baum's masterpiece, Ice Age will be forever loved... and not just by kids.

 

Penny Garnsworthy

Freelance Writer

B: http://creativepenny.blogspot.com/

Editor's note: Check out the website to support the Ice Age movies with a short for the new release and some fun games for the young at heart.