Catriona: On Outreach with John Fardell

The Edinburgh International Book Festival is over for another year and so too is this year's Outreach Programme. We met hundreds of children and young people throughout the 12 events with 6 authors, all of which were fantastic so a big thank you to everyone who took part! This week Catriona, Early Years Programme Assistant, joins us to talk about being on Outreach with the author/illustrator John Fardell.

I was thrilled to be asked by the Children’s Team to join them for one of the Outreach days of the Edinburgh International Book Festival.  My excitement quickly quadrupled when I realised that we would be taking the incredibly talented author/illustrator John Fardell out to visit two schools in South Lanarkshire. John is the creator of three rip-roaring adventure novels: The 7 Professors of the Far North, The Flight of the Silver Turtle and his most recent one The Secret of the Black Moon Moth. He also had a go making picture books for younger readers and turned out to be pretty good at it... his first one, Manfred the Baddie, won the Royal Mail Children’s Book Award last year!

Earlier than I care to remember one morning at the end of August, I hailed the SBT chariot on Lothian Road and joined a merry band bound for South Lanarkshire: Kate, Chris and John.  We were lucky enough to have a sparkling morning for the drive through from Edinburgh and at 9.30am we arrived at our first destination: Cathkin Primary School!

John kicked off his session by telling us a bit about what it’s like to be an author and illustrator.  It was fantastic to hear how his work drawing pictures for adult’s magazines and newspapers developed into a desire to write stories for children.  We were lucky enough to see some of the very first sketches for his book Manfred the Baddie, and a model plane that he built to help with drawing in perspective.  John gave all the budding writers and artists a top tip, that it doesn’t really matter what the pictures or story is like at the start.  You can always go back and do another draft, but the important thing is that you give it a go!

Next it was the turn of the Cathkin pupils to come up with their own adventure story.  They conjured up some great characters and storylines, but it’s fair to say that they truly excelled when it came to the ‘baddies’! Unfortunately the school bell (which sounded suspiciously like a siren on one of Manfred’s diabolical machines) sounded all too quickly and we set off on the road again.

After a spot of lunch in East Kilbride, we made for Castlefield Primary School and the second session of the day.  John had everyone enthralled from the start when he read from his new book The Secret of the Black Moon Moth.  It was just the inspiration needed to get our brains thinking beyond the classroom and out in search of an adventurous tale to tell.  Once again we were impressed by the imagination demonstrated by the pupils and their willingness to contribute to the creation of a new story in under an hour.  My favourite addition to the plot was definitely the handbag-wielding granny who saved the day with an incredible display of innovation, using little more than a roll of dental-floss.

It’s great to see that the Edinburgh International Book Festival stretches far beyond the bounds of the city walls.  I thoroughly enjoyed my day as an honourary member of the Children’s Team and I’m delighted that the Early Years Team will be working with John again very soon.  We’re thrilled that his award-winning book Manfred the Baddie, will be gifted to all P1 children in Scotland this November with a special message from Bookbug.

For more information about the P1 Book and Manfred the Baddie Tour click here.

You may also be interested to hear that John Fardell's The Secret of the Black Moon Moth is also on this year's Royal Mail Awards shortlist in the Younger Readers 8-11 years category. Check out the full shortlist and register to vote now! 

Other News:

Scottish Book Trust has been shortlisted for five Scottish and UK Arts & Business Awards this year! The public is invited to vote for the first time so please do have a look and Vote for Meet Our Authors to win now!

Thank you very much for all your support.

Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. The 2010 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 25 through to October 2.

Visit Banned Books Week's website for more information on what you can do and for the list of banned books in America.

The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize shortlist was announced on friday! The titles on this year's shortlist include; Unhooking the Moon by Gregory Hughes,Michelle Paver's Ghost Hunter, Eva Ibbotson's  The Ogre of Oglefort and Morris Gleitzman's Now. The winner will be announced on October 8.

For more information on this year's titles, please visit the Guardian's website.

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