It started with Sherryl Clark’s book, Sixth Grade Style Queen NOT! (Penguin) – and blossomed with a class of Year 7 students. (They loved it and I loved the discussion that it generated, especially amongst the boys. Rich analysis and interpretation – expressive reading.)
It grew reading the wonderful works of Lorraine Marwood, Steven Herrick, and Karen Hesse. By Sally Murphy’s exquisite Pearl Verses the World (Walker) I was in love. Read the rest of this entry
I recently posted a 3-part blog with tips and tricks for performing for children. (Click here.) Mid-way through the process, @PattyJMurphy suggested that I extend the post and include other ‘performing’ author’s/illustrator’s tips. Thanks for the great idea, Patty! Here goes…
First published in Australian Author vol 42/ number 1/April 2010
To read more about these wonderful author/illustrators, click on their name, which will take you direct to their web site.
Illustrator Jo Thompson, kicks us off with her illustration of a performing seal. This particular seal is suffering from performance anxiety when presenting to adults, but I totally ‘get it’. Thanks Jo.
What to say. (What not to say!) And where to begin…
Yes – the long-awaited CYA (Cya Later Alligator… Writing for Children and Young Adults) weekend has been and gone in a flurry of food, friends and fantastic-fun in the form of:
A word of art.
Letters to Leonardo
by Dee White
Walker Books Australia
Reviewed by Kathryn Apel
Matt Hudson has a task – to write letters to a historical character. Letters that fulfil a class assignment. Letters that help the character see how life has changed from then to now.
But some things don’t change – and Matt discovers that he and Leonardo have a lot in common.
Dear Leonardo,
How did you feel when you met your mother again?
Through letters to Leonardo da Vinci, Matt explores the changing face of his own life. A life shaken to the core with a card from his dead mother on his 15th birthday.
Dear Leonardo,
Truth is important in art, don’t you think?
Truth is important full stop.
Letters to Leonardo is Dee White’s first YA novel. A crafted work of art.
Link to the Book Trailer.
Kat @ CYA
One of the holiday highlights for me was without a doubt the CYA Conference, held in Brisbane in conjunction with the Brisbane Writers Festival.
Problem being… while normally I’m 6 hrs up the road – this year I was halfway across the country!
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But some opportunities can’t be missed. So, after driving 4000km (and almost as many days) to reach Darwin, within 12 hours of our arrival I was in a plane (at 1am – yee-uch!) and winging my way back to Qld. (How c-razy is that?!)
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The CYA Competition gave ‘This is the Mud!’ a jumpstart to publication when it won the inaugural Preschool Picture Book Manuscript category in 2006. In 2009 – the year of it’s release – I was invited back for a muddy celebration at the CYA.
A hundred children’s writers, illustrators and publishers in one place at one time. What fun! Putting faces to names – and wicked personalities! Meeting authors who’ve impacted on my journey… Talk, talk, talk, talk, talking… And attending workshops too, of course.
How could I resist?
With Kim Miller, Dee White and Sheryl Gwyther... Let the celebrations begin!
For me, the unforgettable highlight was the session I shared with Dee White (‘Letters to Leonardo’) and Kim Miller (‘They told me I had to write this’), when we got to celebrate the launch of our CYA success stories.
For a while I felt like the rose between the thorns (I like that!) sharing the celebration with two YA novels – with two ‘letters’ books at that. (And muddy me, squished in the middle.) But don’t let that analogy scare you off Kim and Dee’s writing. Yes they address some prickly issues – but in their own unique styles, they both do it so well. (More on that in another blog.)
A slideshow of rolling images tell their own story... as Kat reads to the kids-at-heart.
The CYA would have been brilliant for the workshop alone. But it offers so much more to Australian children’s writers and illustrators! There’s that fantastic competition that offers feedback to every writer. And networking with a range of prominent industry professionals. Friendships… Inspiration… Great food!
Tina and Ally - time for a chat at last.
And this year, there was that not-to-be-missed opportunity to extend the celebrations and fling some more mud around. But more importantly, to acknowledge the mammoth amount of work that Tina Clark and Ally Howard – with their team of volunteers – pour into the CYA each year. I for one am extremely grateful!
You thought I was tall before? I tell you, I was HIGH that day!
