School Program Story by Tyrion Perkins Sandy brought props to show – a gong, which a couple of children got to hit, a Shakuhachi flute, and a Bokken which everyone thought was an actual sword until she said the penalty of touching the blade was death. It was a Bokken which was wooden for practice like the ones used by her characters in her Samurai Kids series, and also used by the Greatest swordsman in the world, Mitsuka Minamoto. She told us about her research into Japanese history and surprised the class with the fact that young Samurai students were expected to learn poetry and flower arranging along with fighting. Her love of Pokemon lead to the spirit animals of her series. She had known many disabled people and decided to make her character more interesting by him having only one leg. But what happens when you try to do a one-legged kick? The audience guessed right, except she fell forward and did a face plant. She went on to do sword fighting classes where her son stayed on the other side of the room so not to be embarrassed, and also did hands on research when she came to write “Polar Boy.” No, she didn’t go to the pole. She filled the bath with ice and sat in it! She gave tips on writing which included: close your eyes and notice other senses; be mean to your characters and make something awful happen, then something worse; use the best words ever; and practice lots. For more information http://www.sandyfussell.com/
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Family Program Story by Tyrion Perkins The Book Gig is where drama students bring a book to life. Final year students from the University of Southern Queensland were given the book “White Crane,” the first in Sandy Fussell’s Samurai Kids series. Rather than act out the book, they decided to use it to inspire new scenes that explored similar themes. They performed four pieces. In the first, two tigers trained for a Samurai competition. One boasted she’d be first, and looked like she would, leaping up the mountain, until she froze, frightened of heights. The other tiger who was not likely to win, saw her fear and carried her on her back so she could win. Moderator Alan Cockerill then lead a discussion with the audience and author Sandy Fussell. The young audience was able to find links of themes with Sandy’s books including working together; everyone has some sort of strength even if you don’t see it; and forgiveness, through a scene with rat being charged in court for chopping off gecko’s arm. Sandy was surprised that forgiveness came out as one of the themes, as it was not clear in the first book, but became a major theme of the series. School Program Story by Tyrion Perkins The first thing you notice about Tanya is her amazing dresses. She also loves stories and came all the way from Waiheke Island, Aotearoa, New Zealand to share them with prep and year 1 students in Ipswich. She began with a song, getting the kids to copy her. She told her own story of how she first grew up in a caravan on the side of a mountain. At school she loved to dress up and do plays. Now she goes all over the world telling stories. She now lives with fruit trees which she fertilises with what she collects from her “princess poo tower” (see photo). She told a story from Mongolia and Siberia and had the children laughing at her funny voices and sound effects. The scary character made them jump in fright then scream in laughter. She then read from her book, “My Dad is a dragon Catcher.” Find out more about Tanya Batt - http://imagined-worlds.net/ School Program Story by Tyrion Perkins The final of the 2017 Reader’s Cup for year 5/6 was held on Wednesday evening as part of the Story Arts Festival in Ipswich.
Eighteen school teams battled it out. The teams of four, plus reserves, represented their regions from all over Queensland, and parents and teachers came to watch. The questions were taken from five books: “A most magical girl” by Karen Foxlee, Wombat Warriors” by Samantha Wheeler, “White Crane” by Sandy Fussell, “Quest of the Sunfish” by Mardi McConnochie, and “The Outcasts” by John Flanagan. They must have read them very thoroughly, because those questions, read by the authors of the first three, were extremely hard. After each round, the winners got to chose a book, and we saw video responses from the different teams to the books. They ranged from a dramatisation of “A most magical girl” to Lego “White Crane” characters, to the team members discussing what their favourite book was. After six rounds of five questions, that involved much deliberation, discussion, and straining to remember answers, St Andrew’s Catholic College from far north Queensland were declared the winners. For more information on The Reader's Cup - http://readerscup.org.au/ School Program Story by Tyrion Perkins Trace Balla, winner of the 2017 CBCA Book of the Year in the younger readers category for her latest book “Rockhopping,” took the class out into the park for her sessions. She showed them photos and drawings from her travels. She always took paper and notebook, as well as binoculars, books like bird identification books, and a magnifying glass for finding detail no one else sees. An advantage of drawing people instead of taking a photo, besides that some didn’t like to be photographed, was that they would often tell her about what they were doing, like how they make baskets. She could write the names of birds, languages, or the sounds things made down beside the image. When she had an experience like diving under a waterfall, she would draw it afterwards, and many of these images made their way into her books. She likes to remember it is Aboriginal country and always puts something into her book about the local people. The children sat spellbound as she went through the year long process of making a rough version of a book. She makes practice pictures before doing the final versions. The children spread out through the park with clipboards and magnifying glasses where they drew plants and birds, and had a go blending watercolour pencils. For more information about Trace: http://bookedout.com.au/find-a-speaker/author/trace-balla/ Adult Program Story by Yvonne Mes Lisa Berryman, editor with HarperCollins, shared her experience on how to create and evolve your brand as a children’s author or illustrator. Lisa explained that how you promote and position yourself on social media platforms is taken into serious consideration by publishers looking to work with a new author or illustrator. Explaining who you are and what you write succinctly and clearly is the key and starting point from where an author can establish themselves as a professional creator within the world of children’s literature. Being able to communicate what you write clearly and leaving an unambiguous impression on someone in person is another important part of promoting yourself. Lisa’s quick mind and understanding of branding was on show when clearly articulating the brand of several of the authors present on the spot. A informative and practical session that left everyone wanting more. Adult Program Story by Yvonne Mes Illustrators and author James Foley took us through the process of illustrating ‘My Dead Bunny’ written by Sigi Cohen. His initial research into style and character development was done by watching old horror films and pouring over old horror movie posters, researching the style, fonts and colours used. He showed his progression from rather cute dead bunnies to zombie bunnies that would give children nightmares and finally to the creation of a suitably dead bunny that was just right. James showed us the use of perspectives and point of view to create unsettling feeling in the viewer/ reader and gave examples of shape, line, colour and how these influence illustrations. James finished this session on the process of creating an unconventional picture book with an unconventional quick drawing of a dead dog. Personally, I would love to see James complete the ABC of dead animals a la Edward Gorey! School Program Story by Karen Tyrrell WOW! Rebecca Johnson, children’s science author extraordinaire, presented engaging author talks at Story Arts Festival school program. Rebecca spoke to bus-loads of school kids, inspiring young readers to care for animals… and write about them too. Who is Rebecca Johnson? Rebecca is a Gold Coast award winning science teacher and children’s author of Juliet - Nearly a Vet series, Vet Cadet series, Steve Parish Story Book series featuring Australian wildlife, and the Insects series. In total, she’s published 105 books in the last 17 years, selling 3 million books!! http://rebeccajohnson.com.au/ How did Rebecca present her talks? Rebecca’s author talks were FUN, interactive and energetic, involving many props including stuffed toy animals, wigs and vet costumes. I especially liked her play when she invited three children to wear funny costumes and act out a scene as she narrated it. The audience created special effects. Rebecca presented her personal talk with a portable microphone whilst other speakers used power point. Rebecca explained how she didn’t like to rely on technology in case something went wrong. If you’re wanting to write about animals, I highly recommend you listen to Rebecca’s presentations. Blogger: Karen Tyrrell writes empowering books to help kids live STRONG through humour and self-belief. She’s a passionate writing workshop presenter and interactive story teller wearing fun costumes. School Program Story by Karen Tyrrell Matt Stanton, the hilarious children’s author of ‘There’s a Monster under my Bed Who Farts’ sent kids into uncontrollable laughter at Story Arts Festival. School kids giggled and guffawed as Matt introduced his ridiculous characters, situations and stories. Who is Matt Stanton? Matt is a bestselling children's author, illustrator and book designer, with half a million books in print. He is the Sydney co-creator of nine bestselling picture books, including mega-hits, This Is a Ball. He launched his middle-grade series, Funny Kid, around the world in 2017. The first book in the series, Funny Kid for President, debuted as the #1 Australian kids' book. He lives in Sydney with his wife, bestselling picture book creator Beck Stanton, and their two young children. How did Matt present his talk? Matt Stanton performed, entertained and educated hundreds of school kids, inspiring them to read and write comedy. Matt taught kids how to combine two opposite ideas into a surprising, humorous story. He explained how ‘POOH’ isn’t funny by itself but needed a ridiculous situation to make it humorous. If you’re wanting to write comedy, I highly recommend you listen to Matt’s presentations. Blogger: Karen Tyrrell writes empowering books to help kids live STRONG through humour and self-belief. She’s a passionate writing workshop presenter and interactive story teller wearing fun costumes. Adult Program Story by Rebecca Sheraton Tanya Batt led an interactive workshop with authors and illustrators, demonstrating the power of oral storytelling. It’s like we were kids again! She loves to start each session with a story, which helps groups of people, strangers or companions to connect. One technique that engages children is telling foot stories and having children join in the actions through their feet. Another fantastic technique is ‘What’s in the sack?’ She loves pulling out objects, particularly the characters hare and tortoise, to introduce children to the famous Aesop’s fable. She also enjoys using story improvisation or story making connected to objects in the sack. This can include drawing out an object like a key, and asking the audience open questions such as ‘I wonder …’ to inspire children to create their own story. Tanya recommended that all workshop teachers set clear expectations for children participating in their workshops. All the adults enjoyed the fun-filled workshop and can’t wait to test out their stories on a young audience. |
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