Children's Authors In School Visits

-
This article from The Guardian on 18th October presents a view of the current trend for children's authors in school visits. While some of the article seems a little cynical (re: the view that children's authors are a marketing tool - This may be true, for who could represent a book better than it's author?), this would not be the main emphasis here. When a children's author goes into a school, they introduce and reinforce something that any teacher, who is by necessity adhering to a curriculum and a time schedule, finds it difficult at times to get across. Reading is fun.
"We're in the enviable position of being able to prove that reading and writing is fun: a teacher could battle for weeks to get a child to read something, only for an author to come in one morning and talk about giant robots, (and if they were Neill Cameron, draw them), and suddenly books are fabulous."
These wonderful people go into schools and libraries and bookshops and bring their books to life for us all. As they engage with their audience, they bring an enthusiasm to reading that teaching can't possibly get across. And the children then bring that back into the classroom with them.... and they take it forward into their lives.
Like Alex Milway (the author of this article and author of 'The Mousehunter' and 'The Mythical 9th Division'), we rarely had interesting visitors in the classroom. Authors seemed to be residents of a land far, far away... or they were dead. But now, authors spend a lot of their time in the schools, engaging with young people and inspiring a new generation of readers and writers. As I prepare to go past the Christmas crazy season in the bookshop into the schedule of World Book Day events (the first week of March), I'm extremely grateful and endlessly excited about these wonderful people (I wonder who will be there this year?) who come and share their gift with the (massive numbers of) school children who attend every year. What a great gift!!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/oct/18/children-authors-schools

Comments

  1. Marie-LouiseOctober 25, 2010 at 8:24 AM

    I'm not going to pretend there's nothing in a school visit for me (it is a way of earning money for authors) but the idea that it works a a marketing tool to up sales is rather deluded! As an author of books mainly aimed at the very young I am aware that most children will not even remember my name, let alone go home and insist their parents buy my books. I can only hope that they enjoy hearing me speak about my work and learn something (without actually being aware of doing so), and that at least some of them may pick up a book afterwards (or a pen or a paintbrush). I certainly don't imagine my sales are going to spike - even if every single child in a classroon went out and bought a book it would amount to about 10 euros in royalties! Teachers (by necessity) are there to teach kids to read and write; a visiting author is coming at things from a different direction, and, hopefully, will open a window from the hard work of learning to read to the joyful world of the book as story.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marie-LouiseOctober 25, 2010 at 8:27 AM

    And I shall now climb down offa me high horse and drink me Irish coffee...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mary Esther JudyOctober 26, 2010 at 8:22 AM

    Well said, Marie-Louise! That part of the article bothered me, but, as I said, who better to represent the books than their authors. But I do think you guys are brilliant and do so much to help kids learn that reading is actually a brilliant thing to do.
    Hope the Irish Coffee was wonderful. Could use one myself. xx

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rights of the Reader

-
Image
The Rights of the Reader; Daniel Pennac, illustrated by Quentin Blake Summer is here and we do encourage summer reading with numerous incentives and programmes. It is important for children (of all ages) to 'keep their reading up' outside of school time. This is the time when kids develop their own taste in books and can be free to read books of their own choosing. And this is the single most important factor in young people developing a lifelong reading habit. But how do we, as the 'gatekeepers' of kids reading, encourage them properly without running the risk of thrusting pressure and our own ideas on them? Do that and you'll run the risk of pushing them away from reading, and there are already so many distractions for the young reader to contend with that can tempt them elsewhere. Published by Walker Books; 9781406300918 In 1992, French writer Daniel Pennac originally published this little gem of a book; The Rights of the Reader. I highly recommend
Read more

The Summer of Lily and Esme by John Quinn....25 years

-
Image
This year marks the anniversary of the publication of an extraordinary book. In 1991, Poolbeg published The Summer of Lily & Esme by John Quinn and in the 25 years since, it has never been out of print. The Summer of Lily & Esme tells a quiet story, filled with compassion, friendship, memory and heart. It is the story of Alan, an 11-year-old boy who has moved from the city into a house in the countryside; in the middle of nowhere.The house is old and extremely large and immaculate; and there is a locked, boarded over attic room that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young boy who died tragically. Alan is not too pleased with this move and becomes even less thrilled when he discovers his closest neighbours, in fact his only neighbours, are a pair of elderly sisters, Esme and Lily, who seem to be suffering from dementia.  When Alan falls down a hill of brambles and weeds, the sisters, who believe they themselves to be children, mistake Alan for their
Read more

Joyous Jolabokaflod!!!!

-
Image
For a book lover, Iceland has a very special tradition. Each year, in the few months before Christmas, Icelandic publishers release the majority of their books. This is "Jolabokaflod", or the Christmas Book Flood. Hundreds of books are published each year at this time, revealing just how strong a literary tradition exists in this small Northern island, dating back to medieval times. During World War II, there were strict currency restrictions, which limited the amount of imported giftware Iceland could take in. But paper itself was less restricted than other items, so this really led to books being seen as an ideal gift. Add that to the traditionally strong literary sector in Iceland, and the annual Book Flood really began in earnest. As Christmas nears, sometime around the end of October-beginning of November, a catalog is delivered to every house in Iceland, detailing the books available for that year. Iceland now represents one of the strongest book publishing countri
Read more