Dinos everywhere!

Did you know the month of November was, in some places, dedicated to dinosaurs? They call it Dinovember and last week at Baby Book Club, we had our own dino day. We were reading the classic Dinosaur Roar by Henrietta Stickland and Paul Stickland with great gusto.

As we read, we looked at dino teddies and plastic dinos, comparing how they looked and felt to their painted pals on the pages of the book. We chatted about opposites and practised being fast dinosaurs, fierce dinosaurs and, of course, LOUD dinosaurs.
After some singing, we went on a dinosaur hunt. Those dinos are cheeky creatures, they will hide everywhere, even on blank sheets of paper! But they were no match for our babies and toddlers who found them all out thanks to the magic of wet crepe paper.

As promised to the grown-ups, here are the links to some very cool dinosaur songs. Enjoy!

 

 
The Dinosaurs Song by Big Word Club
The Dinosaur Song by Johnny Cash 
Running from a T-Rex and The Dinovember Song by Daddy Donut

Dinosaur in My Backyard by Hullabaloo

More songs over here!

Baby Book Club, take 1

 Last week saw the first meeting of our Baby Book Club.
Books for babies? Does that sound like a funny idea to you? Surely they're not that interested? Surely they'd rather eat the books than read them?
Well, let me tell you that these babies had a ball at their first book club meeting. We had half a dozen very young readers (and their grown-up) with ages ranges from 17 weeks (yes, 'weeks') to 2 and 1/2.
We spread out mats in our room, took out our book for the day and got ready to make some noise.

This week we were reading The Tiny King by Taro Miura, the story of a really small king who feels lonely and sad in his big castle until something exciting happens (I won't tell you what, go read it!).
We spent some time measuring ourselves against the king (we were all so much bigger!), looking for him in the big pages, marching around like his soldiers and fake-splashing each other as we were in the royal bath tub.

Then we sang for a while and finished the session with some art. We made brilliant crowns out of paper plates: the grown-ups did the cutting and the little ones decorated their crowns with colourful puffed maize. We all felt very regal (like kings and queens) by the end.
Thanks to all who came!

Patron of Reading!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I have had the great pleasure and honour to be designated Patron of Reading for Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál Inchicore.
'What's that?' you say. 'Inchi-which?' you say.
A Patron of Reading is a writer who develops a special relationship with a particular school and becomes a sort of embassador for reading for pleasure.
In other words, we're going to have book-related fun. Though job, I know.
SMGS is a National School in Dublin 8 with about 300 kids and, as of now, 1 Patron of Reading. It is the only primary school in the Republic to boast one so far, so we are all super-chuffed. (Sheena Wilkinson is Patron of Reading for Trinity Comprehensive School in Ballymun, and Pauline Burgess looks after Millenium Integrated Primary School in Ballynahinch).
We're going to have bookish competitions, writing club for kids, writing workshop for the parents, Baby Book Clubs for the younger siblings, and all manner of excitement. Keep up with it all at https://smgspatronofreading.blogspot.ie/
If you want to find out more about the Patron of Reading movement, it's over here: https://smgspatronofreading.blogspot.ie/.

Welcome to the SMGS Patron of Reading’s blog!

The what?

You probably have never heard of a Patron of Reading before and that’s not surprising. While there are lots in the UK, there are only 3 in Ireland and SMGS is the first primary school in the Republic to have one!

A Patron of Reading is a school’s designated children’s author with whom the school forms a special relationship. The whole idea of the role is to create a buzz around books and reading, and to encourage reading for pleasure.

You can find out more here: http://www.patronofreading.co.uk/

What does a Patron of Reading do?

A Patron of Reading doesn’t deal in homework or phonics or spelling. The Patron is all about discovering fun ways to interact with books and reading. Think reading challenges, reviewing competitions, creative writing workshops, bookish treasure hunts and so on.

The Patron is here for everyone in the school: the children, of course, but also the teachers and the parents.

Who is the SMGS Patron of Reading then?

Your first ever Patron of Reading is Juliette Saumande. Juliette is a French writer and translator of children’s books living in Dublin. She has over 30 titles to her name, ranging from picture books to non-fiction, game books to novels and book apps, in French and in English.

She is part of the Writers in School scheme. She is actively involved in Children’s Books Ireland both as Reviews Editor for its magazine – Inis– and as a regular Book Doctor in CBI’s very successful Book Clinics.

She has a blogand a website.

As Juliette has two children in the school, you’re likely to find her in the yard every morning. Come say hello! J

Disaster in sight

Did I not say to watch this space? Well, here he is, or will be very soon, the one and only Disaster David.
David is a young giant with a big heart and big clumsy hands. He is forever breaking things, but he never means to. He is just too strong. So when the good people of Sassoon send him to mind their sheep up on the mountain, they should know what to expect: disaster!

Disaster David is my take on an old Armenian saga. It features sheep and bearded warriors, chamber pots and giant snores, hares and bears and tigers, and is splendidly illustrated by French artist Julie Grugeaux who has done an exceptional job here of mingling traditional patterns and architecture with the energy and zanyness of the text (if I say so myself).
The book is published (imminently) by Zangak publishing in English, with an Armenian translation to follow. Head over to my French blog for more pics...

Tip top Tipp

The Inis reading guide in company at Thurles super cool library.

Another October, another bit of wandering, this time through Tipperary where the creative juices flow high.

They got it right in Tipp!

In Roscrea, Templemore, Killenaule, Carrick and Cashel, they know all about evil babies with laser eyes, granny wrestling champions, dentist superheroes who blast their way around with a toothpaste gun, cheese-flavoured chewing-gums, dinner ladies who must cook chicken for 80 days around the world, nasty Mr Pineapple and Acrobanea, the planet at the back of the closet where acrobats are born.
There was laughing, there was reading, there was shouting, there was writing and there was miaowing.
Also, there was some singing in French. For those who missed it, it was a 5-a-day version of Frère Jacques:
Frère Jacques, des tomates
Dormez-vous? dans les choux
Sonnez-les matines, dans les aubergines
Ding ding dong, des citrons.

Anyone?

Thanks so much to everybody who came along for the ride (and indeed provided the ride in the first place!), t'was tremendous!

Centenary

Today marks the centenary of the Armenian genocide and I still haven't written that book. The one with the horrible stories linked together by a forceful sense of survival, hope and legacy.
Every two years or so I go back to it, I rewrite it in my head, change the angle, add a new structure, plan on more research. But it's still nothing more than notes.
I have, however, written another book. One with a forceful hero full stop. He lives in the land of Sassoon and has survived to this day through many Armenian legends. His name is David, Disaster David and he is exactly what it says on the tin. I would love, today of all days, to share with you his charming but catastrophic antics, but I can't just yet. All going well, you will hear from David very soon.
What I can share, however, is a piece of story from a while ago. A story of joyful voyages, curiosity and, yes, hope too. The story of a little boy called Manoug in the French original, not Alexander or Gabriel as in the first US edition and the Brazilian one. Manoug is no conqueror, no angel. He is just a child, which is what his name means in Armenian.

Manoug had been traveling for almost a year now. He traveled to many new countries, and in each new place, he thought he discovered the Land of Happiness.
But each time the songbird would tell him, "It's true and it's not true."
More and more, the little traveler thought about Grandpa.
He began to wonder if the Land of Happiness really existed.
And how important it was to find it.

I leave you to decide that for yourselves...
(In Search of Happiness, translated by Rebecca Frazer, illustrated by Eric Puybaret, Auzou Publishing 2013)
(NB: in this second US edition, Manoug has been renamed Kalim; I'm giving him his birth-cert name just for this occasion)