WORLD BOOK DAY GREETINGS!

I am currently rethinking this old blog of mine but will not bore you here. However, before the big and as yet unknown shift, I want to say hello to some of the lovely people and places visited over the last month and a bit.













So here – ta –da! - are the hugest of greetings to everyone at:

Armley Library!

Farley Junior School, Leeds!

Christ Church Primary School, Upper Armley, Leeds!

Waterloo Primary School, Pudsey!

Holy Trinity Primary School, Cookridge!

Barmby Moor Primary, Pocklington!

Bolton-on-Swale St Mary’s Primary School, Scorton, Richmond!

St Roberts Catholic Primary School, Harrogate!

St James Primary School, Allerton, Bradford!

I've had lots of nice World Book Day times and hope you all did too. Thank you for welcoming me, looking after me – and I hope you enjoy my books too.

Happy Reading!

www.pennydolan.com

Musing and Ranting: The Bright Light of Technology?

“Use Powerpoint!” That was what I’d heard from so many people: writers, teachers, artists and various publicity people.

So I set to work. I collected an interesting set of images to act as background to some of the moments in my book, A BOY CALLED M.O.U.S.E.

The set included photographs old and new, landscapes and people, coloured pictures and black & white drawings. A whole variety of visual images, in fact. I wanted to illustrate, through the range of source material, how many different moments can be gathered together to inspire a book and to show that these were mine.

When I talk about my book, I don’t – honestly! - just show the slides and drone on. And on. I stop to ask questions and involve the children. I narrate some parts of the novel and read short extracts most dramatically. If there’s time, I play a game or two. When the whole thing works clearly - and it has, it has - the sessions are very good.

However, when - once or twice - this hasn’t worked, the feeling of disappointment is for more than myself. I get cross too, especially as the “not-working” has never been because of a faulty memory stick or problems with the computer itself. It’s been a problem that I hadn’t expected, not in schools now, and it has inspired this rant: the quality of the available light

Travelling around, even with advance notice to the organisers, I have at times ended up with projector lamps and lenses so grimy with age that any subtle or complex images seem faint. How do the schools and the pupils manage, now that so much is done via the interactive white-board? Is this wealth creation for the opticians?

I an sure this is definitely not the bright white light of technology. It is the ageing, uncared-for end when the projector beam seems to be drenched with nicotine.

Not only but also there is the matter of the screens. How they vary! I have met vast wonderful double-screen systems as well as some opposites: a narrow section of grubby off-pink wall or a screen made up of paper taped together. And this is without any conflict caused by daylight streaming directly in to the space.

Get a mix of these factors – say, a dim light plus a tiny blemished screen and a large dining hall and the Powerpoint just doesn’t work. It is not wonderful. My carefully illustrative images end up too faded for the audience to see. This is not quite the cutting edge of modern technological provision I’d expected.

Add in another few crinkles in the circumstances. Now I once believed that the organisers know and understand the space they have given me, as the venue may not be free for me to enter until the last moment. This can be when the technology person rushes in to set things up and I glimpse something of what my audience will be facing on the “big” - not the laptop - screen. It can also be the moment when the eager audience is arriving and the point when the Show Must Go On.

When there’s clear, bright light projected and a good wide screen ahead, my collection of images works very well. When there isn’t, both heart and eyes fail.

I have had the wit, at such times, to revert to Plan B and step out of the Powerpoint. Yet it’s not always easy to slip in a flash of light from a talk with a fixed running order into the freer form of author talk.

But, unless those bright lights start shining, it’s back to my old, bold style of session I’m heading.

Greeting & Musing : A School A Shop and Alice.

Odd drive on Tuesday morning as something was wrong with the car - now happily sorted - but by heavens, not what you want in busy traffic on the way to a school ooking.

So thanks to everyone at Norton Primary School, Malton, North Yorkshire, for welcoming me and for making the day enjoyable after all, and to Mary Marlowe who arranged the day and let me tell stories o=in the lovely library too.

Lovely drive in the sunshine today to the Little Ripon Bookshop, collecting a box of books for an author event I'm organising and very much looking forward to: Emma Barnes talking about her book "How (Not) To Make Bad Children Good".

Also ended up collecting several lovely and longed for books for myself, including an "Alice" with Mervyn Peake's illustrations. Excuses? One: I don't like the nasty, dingy look of my own childhood copy. Two: I can't find the alternative: our copy of "The Annotated Alice". Three: It's the next but one title for my grown-up Book Group. But I just wanted the pictures really.

In fact, Lewis Carroll did lodge in Ripon for some of his life and enthusiasts have claimed that the twisting tunnel below Ripon Cathedral was the inspiration for that famous rabbit hole.

I now have a deep and mysterious hole in my bank account.

Greetings - And a Transformation Spell

Last week I had a most interesting Writing Day at East Ardsley Primary School, working on writing on the theme of Ancient Egypt. Many thanks to everyone involved, especially the children.

Here's something that Year 6 and I made, based on an Egyptian myth.

THE SPELL OF AMUN-RE
Spoken to transform the gentle Cow Goddess Hathor
into the Goddess Sekhmet the Lioness.

O GENTLE HATHOR!
May your soft breath steam with vengeance!
May your teeth turn sharp as spears!
May your tongue long for the taste of blood!

May your eyes blaze like rubies with rage!
May your paws lash like a crash of
thunder!
May your claws slash like swords in battle!
May your skin shine as bright as the burning sun!

May those who spy you approaching -
O GREAT SEKHMET!
Scream with FEAR! FEAR! FEAR!

www.pennydolan.com

Greetings - Travels South & North

Very happy to be at home at my desk this Sunday morning, catching up on some oddments of admin before going out to bring in the poor houseplants in case the frost arrives. (There's a nasty dark sky gathering out there, despite the sunshine.)
But before ticking off the last items on the list, I have some thanks to shout out about.

As I've been travelling between Wiltshire and Yorkshire, I've added two white horses, one for each county.

Distant "thank you!" waves to some lovely schools in Wiltshire: to PINEWOOD SCHOOL, Boughton; to ST. MICHAEL'S CofE PRIMARY SCHOOL, Aldbourne and to ST GABRIELS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, Newbury. Thank you all for being such great audiences and listening to me chatting about my books. Extra special cheers for all the school ibrarians and to the wonderful people of ALDBOURNE CHILDREN'S BOOK GROUP who helped with the whole week, as well as to KAREN HELLEWELL for supplying my books for the book stalls. (I was able to sneak a happy day out to meet up with some writing friends too!)

This week was busy too, so author greetings to the Year 3 pupils and staff at EAST ARDSLEY PRIMARY SCHOOL, Leeds where we all had a brilliant STORYTELLING DAY with some African and Australian tales, and also to BRAEBURN JUNIOR SCHOOL, Eastfield, Scarborough - a bit of a dash through all the classes but I hope you all enjoyed the moment!

Musing: The Archers - an Everyday Story of Literacy Attack.

Dum de dum de dum de dum . . . Every Sunday morning, my dear mum listened to “The Archers” as she busied herself in the kitchen. Even though my housekeeping is not in any way as timetabled, I often find myself listening to the Archers Omnibus, possibly as a gentle way of hanging on to long gone moments.

I’m not an addict of the Archers and the programme and the characters annoy and amuse me in less than equal measures. Yet as a writer, I love playing the “predict-the-plot” game and musing on what is being set up for future episodes.

However I’m always angered by the script-writer’s apparent anti-book scenes and sniping about readers and reading.. There’s a kind of recurring sub-text that suggests “how stupid is it for anyone to spend time reading” and often adds a bitter note to the programmes

I’d endured boring David & Ruth’s choice of boring books for their children which never seemed to move beyond moaning about having to read a boring Postman Pat book over again. “Get to the mobile library van, fools!” I’d shout, although now we’re all in Austerity Ambridge, that’s no longer a likely scene.

Besides, why do only the most self-obsessed snobs like Jenny & Linda & Jim Lloyd seem to have the reading habit? The rest fret about any hint of reading, and truly worthy characters prefer cooking and baking and growing flowers. Although Usha the good lawyer reads, she is such a token character that it hardly counts.

Reading is hard and mysterious. Someone makes up appalling rhymes that are regarded with awe. The script for any village panto is mocked until the good folk “make it their own” by changing the words to make it easier to read. Computers are machines of wonder, literacy for all. All comedic but – harrumph!

Just at the moment there are three especially annoying Book Threads.

The Village Book Club is one. I’m sure this Club has never chosen a book that people have simply enjoyed. Books mean angst over catering or unsuitable or tactless content. The most recent book of choice was Mistress of the Paddock – a title that tells all. Yes, Book Groups are a pretentious & misguided waste of time for all involved. And a good chance for some anti-book moaning.

Then there are authors and their awful presumption. At the moment, this is exemplified by two dreadful yuppies – Leonie and James – who rish into scenes now and again, loudly setting up photo-images for a book they are writing about the village. So not only are books irrelevant and silly, so is anyone who is involved with books & writing. They are likely to cause an unwelcome stir. More moaning.

Then there was today’s kick-a book example. The broadcast included middle aged but youthful Kenton moving into his boxes into beloved barmaid Jolene’s pub.

So we had the “aghast at too many books” moment followed by the “grumbling about space on the bookshelf” moment. Cheery Kenton’s okay, though. Some of the boxes weren’t books after all! They were comics and magazines after all. Ho ho! Kenton’s a regular guy after all! Grrr!

I’m now waiting for the imminent “Hey, I got me a Kindle!” scene. Can’t be long coming. Oh, Ambridge script-writers, what have you got against reading?

Greetings: Back from a Big & Busy Book Tour

It's definitely a Greeting Post today. In fact a whole heap of greetings and thanks to staff and children and librarians and booksellers. I spent last week touring A BOY CALLED MOUSE across Yorkshire and Lancashire.
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On MONDAY I had an extremely windy journey on very windy roads (any points for that clever word usage there?) across from Yorkshire to LYTHAM ST. ANNE’S, where the sand swept from the dunes across the coast road. All I saw of the sea were glimpses of choppy grey waves.

I was there because Katie & Carolyn Clapham of the lovely children’s bookshop STORYTELLERS INC. had set up a morning visit to Year 6 at HEYHOUSES C of E PRIMARY SCHOOL and an afternoon visit to Years 5&6 at ANSDELL PRIMARY SCHOOL. What a nice time I had - and such cheerful audiences! The A59 was scattered with broken branches, twigs and scurrying leaves but I got home safely. Thank you, Storytellers Inc and everyone at both these schools!

On TUESDAY I went down the A1 to ROTHERHAM, where I was welcomed with huge (and flattering) enthusiasm by the staff and Yr 6 children of WATH C of E PRIMARY SCHOOL. A really brilliant morning! Then down the MI a bit to meet the excellent Yr 5 classes at ANSTON HILLCREST PRIMARY SCHOOL for the afternoon. Greetings all, and thanks to Gemma Books for supplying the bookstock.

I wasn’t even trudging around by myself as usual. Emma Bradshaw, from BLOOMSBURY CHILDREN’S BOOKS came to make sure the week started well for me, although she’d already done masses of arranging by phone and email. It was great chatting to Emma, but on Tuesday night she set off south to catch up at the office work and get ready for the YLG Conference. Emma is a mightily busy person!

On WEDNESDAY, I was much nearer home in Leeds, visiting GREENHILL PRIMARY SCHOOL in the morning and IVESON PRIMARY SCHOOL in the afternoon – a huge wave of thanks to you all! Over lunchtime, I had a sneaky peek at the various books on the School Library Service shelves. Many thanks to the lovely librarians for arranging this day for me and to Rory of RADISH, the eco-bookshop in Chapel Allerton, Leeds, who brought along copies of my books for children to buy.

I had to wake up bright and early on THURSDAY as it was a three-venue day. At 9am, I arrived at ST PATRICK’S COLLEGE in Stockton to cut the yellow ribbon and open SPARC, the new library & resource centre that Mrs Bellwood the Librarian had worked so hard over the summer getting ready. Some of the Yr 7 pupils were there and I read a quick extract from Mouse and was presented with a huge bouquet of flowers. What a nice surprise and almsot as nice was hearing the news that A Boy Called MOUSE would be one of the Library Reading Group titles later this term. Wonder what they’ll think of my book?

It was definitely as day of two halves, IT wise, although both were enjoyable. My first session about MOUSE wasn't in the Library which is being renovated but in STOCKTON LIBRARY LECTURE HALL. A bright new room it was, with two screens to show my powerpoint presentation either side of the room, and a tiny pen thingy I could click for the next slide. Even the chairs impressed the children, with the mix of toning purple and deep purple upholstery. The Year 6’s of ST BEDE’S RC PRIMARY and OXBRIDGE PRIMARY made such a great audience!

Then on to THORNABY LIBRARY, a sixties building in the shopping centre which is quite iconic for authors. This - pre-austerity - was where the Public Lending Rights Offices were based. Despite best efforts by the library team, daylight blazed in though the library’s plate glass window, bleaching out all the slides. So I went back to my usual method of Voice Only, plus a few pics and props and a good time was had by all, I think! The Year 6's from THORNABY C of E PRIMARY and CHRIST THE KING RC PRIMARY were excellent fun!

FRIDAY was the last day of my BOY CALLED MOUSE tour. There I was on the A59 again, driving over towards Preston once more. In the morning I met a crowd of Year 7’s and visiting Year 6’s at CORPUS CHRIST COLLEGE, and in the afternoon I was over at OUR LADY’S HIGH SCHOOL, talking to the Year 6 pupils from nearby primary schools. Many thanks to Mrs Lavelle & to Mrs Pomford who arranged the school sessions.

Thanks also to the last bookshop on my tour, the wonderful SILVERDELL BOOKSHOP in Kirkham, who not only supplied copies of my MOUSE book but also an essential tub of their award-winning and delicious ice-cream for my lunch - admittedly at my beseeching. I had a sudden and tough case of Talkers Throat, don’t you know?

Then it was Friday night at last. I had survived, so out for a lovely end-of week celebration with Them Home Here, walking not driving. Yes, on Saturday I rested mightily. Huge thanks to everyone for a most memorable week!