Baby Booooooook Club

Today was our Halloween Special here in Baby Book Club. Witches! Black cats! Owls! and even monsters! To help us with ambiance we enlisted world-famous witch Meg and her companion Mog, created by Helen Niccol and Jan Pienkowski. The babies helped Meg getting dressed for the spell party, provided appropriate miaowing sounds and really listened.

We then got to our artistic work and were busy making monsters out of playdough, pipe cleaners and Halloween-themed pasta!

As promised here are the links to the songs and videos that will get you and your little ones into the spirit of the season!
(nothing too spooky!)

Halloween Rules by Bounce Patrol (a family favourite)

Ghostbusters dancing version by Just Dance

The Monster Mash by Bobby Picket

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas, the Disney version

Spooky reads for Halloween

Fancy something a little (or very!) scary this Halloween?
Why not sink your fangs into one of these?
Feel free to read up or down the age groups, but beware!
Some are proper spooky, some are funny, and there are a few terrifying ones in there too. 6th class, I know from our chats last year that you can take it (remember the light-bulb-eating woman?), but maybe don't read those too late at night...

Children's Books Festival in Cavan

And here we are, myself and my kids' books colleagues, back on the roads of Ireland hopping from county to county, jumping on buses, catching trains, hiking rides from passing hot air balloons... This month is Children's Books Festival month in many corners of the island and nothing will stop us in our quest for delivering the best talk/workshop/bit of entertainment to the story-hungry masses.
Thus it was that I found myself in Cavan yesterday (in spite of Bus Eireann's best efforts to mislead me into Meath and keep me there*).
We had a great time chatting about Disaster David and Mad Cap, doing some crazy writing, drawing and extremely-loud-reading.
Special mention to the girls who fancied themselves as superheroes (you rock), the guys who created the very striking kingdom of sky mice, the writers who came up with the idea of playing football with a giant ball made of all the rubbish from the dump, the 6-year-olds whose writing hands couldn't keep up with all their ideas, the lady who had plans to publish her own story (keep at it!), the group who wrote the first ever riddle to come up in my writing workshops.
Also, apologies to anyone who may have been offended by:
a) my use of the word 'kick-ass';
b) the mention of 'knickers';
c) the suggestion that homework be cancelled for the day that was in it.

And finally, what better place to talk about giants than Cavan's super duper red-brick Johnston Library in the company of PJ Lynch's own (and Swift's!) Gulliver?!

*(Fear not, Meath, you'll get your turn soon)

Baby Book Club: the New Season!

Welcome back to our veterans and welcome to our new members! It was lovely to meet you all on Friday!
This week, we read all about Rosie, a very lucky little hen who goes for a walk. But who is that on her tail? A silly old fox!
We had a great time looking at all the farm animals (let's not forget we also spotted A TRACTOR) and trying to guess whether the fox was going to get Rosie this time. There was already a lot of learning going on here, about making predictions, connections and sequencing. Not bad for a crew of 4-month-olds to 2-and-a-half-year-olds, don't you think?
We then enjoyed painting our very own chickens (and the grown-ups' clothes, sorry) using square and triangular bits of sponge, to create colour and patterns, like on Pat Hutchins' bright illustrations.

As promised, the links to the songs and videos:

Rosie’s Walk, the animated version

Sandra Boynton’s Philadelphia Chickensby the Bacon Brothers

Chicken song - [Geco Remix] – for some mad dancing

And for something out of this world… Takeo Ischi - New Bibi Hendl (Chicken Yodeling) You have been warned!

Thanks all and see you next time!

We Are Back!

Welcome back to a new school year and welcome to the blog of the Patron of Reading for Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál Inchicore!

What is a Patron of Reading? It's a children's writer (me!) with a special link to the school and whose job is to create a buzz around books and reading for pleasure. Head over here to find out more.
I'm Juliette Saumande and I am very proud to be Patron of Reading again this year. I am a writer, a reviewer and a reader of children's books. You can see the books I have published in English here and my books in French there. I am also a Book Doctor, which means I get to wear a white coat and recommend great new reads to young patients of all ages during the free Book Clinics run by Children's Books Ireland.

This year, you can expect more fun activities around books in the school and on this blog, with themed book lists for all ages, ideas for getting kids into reading, creative writing tips from our Writing Club afterschools, competitions, class visits, pics and news from our glorious Baby Book Club and more!
If you have any questions or suggestions about what your Patron of Reading could do in the school (creative writing for parents, anyone?) or about books and reading in general, use the comments below!
Have a great new school year, one and all!