Claire: Kjartan Poskitt Tour

During June we took the incredible Kjartan Poskitt out on The Scottish Friendly Children's Book Tour around Stirling and Perth & Kinross. Claire Stewart joined Chris from the children's team on tour with Kjartan. This week, Claire drops by the blog  to fill us in on her experiences and to tells us that maths isn't as dull as she had always thought!

So last month was my first ever time on the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour! I was excited and bracing myself for the unknown. Especially since the author we were going to be birling around Perth and Kinross was none other than Kjartan Poskitt, author of the Murderous Maths books. Let me tell you, for me, the subject of mathematics is a HUGE unknown! Just the mention of the word algebra gives me the shakes.

How was I going to fare on the road for 3 days with a man who has dedicated his life to the excitefyingment of maths? Wasn’t this an impossible task? And was he going to fire difficult sums at me, I wondered?  I started practising my old times tables the night before, just in case...

We set off on Monday afternoon, with Chris expertly driving the SBT-mobile and picked up Kjartan at Glasgow Central. ‘Aye right!’, I thought as he chatted away jokingly on our drive up to Lennoxtown, ‘This chap is far too funny to be a Maths person’. The jokes coming thick and fast, coupled with the fact that he was dressed just a little like Dennis the Menace, made me think we might have picked up an imposter. But Chris was confident we definitely had the right Kjartan Poskitt. I fought the urge to spring a difficult sum on him over dinner, convinced he would crumble. What happened instead was Kjartan took out some playing cards and wowed us with a few slick, magic tricks.

Fair enough, I thought, he can do magic, but how would this help people learn about maths...?

The next day we were off to Strathblane Primary where a horde of excited children were seated in rows on the gym hall floor. Like me, they were clearly not sure quite what to expect.

Within minutes, Kjartan had them – and me, toppling over with laughter as he explained the origins of his Murderous Maths books. This was, without doubt, the most entertaining maths lesson any of us had ever had!  Kjartan’s approach involves showing how maths is linked to so many things, such as the breeding patterns of bunnies and the size of planets, mixed with a heavy dose of really cheeky jokes. A mixture of freaky number tricks and some tips on how to get really rich followed, the audience listened attentively and participated enthusiastically at the appropriate moments, shouting out the answers.

Afterwards as the kids lined up to get their books signed by Kjartan (The Secret Life of Codes was a particularly popular choice) one young chap, Strathblane’s answer to David Blaine, turned the tables on Kjartan by demonstrating some jaw-dropping magic skills of his own with a set of cards. Kjartan, Chris and I were blown away! I’ll be watching out for him in years to come.

We hopped back in the van and scooted over to Beaconhurst School, which had one of the most beautifully picturesque school canteens I have ever been in, and set up for another event with the kids there.  As Chris introduced Kjartan, some of the kids were looking a bit restless. I knew just what they were thinking – an afternoon of maths was going to be yaaaaaaawwwwn –tastic. Were they surprised when Kjartan started telling their fortunes with numbers, and even more amusingly, their teachers’ fortunes! When the time came for the audience participation in magic maths tricks, every hand was in the air shouting ‘ME ME ME ME!’ Gosh, thought all the teachers, wishing they could get that kind of enthusiasm in their maths classes.

One of my favourite tricks of the day – and indeed the whole week was the Flexagon – and I was utterly delighted to find that Kjartan has instructions on how to make one yourself on his Murderous Maths website – try making one yourself, and yes I mean you, the grown-ups!

So Day 1 was packed, exhausting and hugely informative. 200 children, Chris and I had learned our 1089 times table! I’m not kidding!

Watch this space for the next exciting episode...

You can find out more about Kjartan and the world of maths from his website.

You can also view some footage from the tour by going to our Meet Our Authors Facebook site. Enjoy!

Other News:

The Edinburgh Kids' Lit Quiz World Final 2010 will take place on Saturday, 14 August 2010. The Kids' Lit Quiz is annual literature competition for children aged 10 to 13. It puts readers onto the stage and lets them compete for fantastic prizes.Several Scottish authors will be attending the World Final and there will be plenty of opportunities for book buying and signing. Lookout for a surprise guest appearance during the afternoon!

Independent publisher Canongate has teamed up with children’s specialist Walker Books to create a young adult imprint, packaging the Scottish firm's books for a younger audience. The imprint, Walker Canongate, launches this month, with four titles - Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Niccolo Ammaniti's I’m Not Scared, Kelly Link's Pretty Monsters and Matt Haig's The Radleys, all of which are books that have been, or will be, published on the Canongate adult list.

You can get more information on the imprint by visiting their website.

Recently we delivered a CPD on Storyboarding and Filmmaking for primary teachers. You can download both CPD notes and classroom resources for conducting your own in-class storyboarding and film session from our Online Teachers in Residence section.

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