Primary Times Staffordshire Back to School 2017

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An Interview with Lauren Child Primary Times have been talking to Lauren Child, the new Waterstones’ Children’s Laureate. A writer and illustrator, she is best known for the Charlie and Lola, Clarice Bean and Ruby Redfort series. She has received numerous awards and was given an MBE in 2010 for her services to literature. Her latest book in the Charlie and Lola series, ‘A Dog With Nice Ears’, is due to be released on 28 September. nine years old, and as soon as I finished it, I read it all over again. Another is Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking. I loved her because she was a child like no other. She was a girl and she was funny and there weren’t enough books about funny girls in those days. She’s very courageous and doesn’t really care what people think about her in the best possible way. She doesn’t worry about what she’s wearing and doing and she is able to be herself. How does it feel to be the new Waterstones’ Children’s Laureate? It is a great honour but it’s also a great responsibility. It feels slightly unreal too, partly because my career began almost 20 years ago, exactly the time Quentin Blake was the first Children’s Laureate. Quentin was a huge influence on my becoming an illustrator. I loved his illustrations really before I knew who he was as a person. There was the Grimble and the illustrations from Betsy Byers 18th Emergency, my favourite book as a child. And I remember watching him on television back in the days when the BBC had a programme called Jackanory. It was so wonderful to see live drawing as the story was told, and in fact Quentin Blake was the first illustrator I realised was an actual real person. It was so different in those days. You didn’t have the same chance to meet authors and illustrators as you do now. What do you plan to do as Laureate? I’m interested in championing children’s creativity and I want to encourage children to spend a little of their time looking, listening and making things because they’re driven to create. I’ll be starting a blog soon called ‘Staring Into Space’ where I’m going to hopefully help inspire that. I also want to champion reading and drawing for pleasure and to elevate children’s book illustration to the level of other art forms. I think illustration is seen as something less than fine art, and writing for children as slightly less than writing for adults. I think we can be a little bit patronising about it. That’s a shame, because we know that literature is life-changing for children and the first art we really get up close to is in books. That’s where we begin with reading and storytelling. We do children a disservice if we can’t see and celebrate its power. I also want to talk about diversity, as inclusivity is really important to me. There aren’t enough books written by and about people of all kinds of backgrounds and culture. It’s important because if as a child you don’t see yourself on the front cover of a book then how do you feel part of society? Which books, authors and illustrators are your main inspirations? I have so many. When I was a child I loved The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I remember reading it when I was about When you were growing up did you feel you could be yourself like Pippi Longstocking? No. I was terrible at being myself. I was very self conscious and worried about what people were thinking - am I wearing the right thing, am I saying the right thing? All of my characters in my books now are at least moving in the direction of being themselves. How important do you think it is for children to daydream and stare out of the window? I think it’s vital. You can’t come up with anything without a certain amount of boredom, because boredom is the beginning of invention. Solving problems and letting your mind wander and find the edges of something. It’s how you get to an inspired place and become creative. When I get really stuck in my own work now, I go out and look around at things. I go to the cinema, an art gallery, I put on the radio, I tune into people’s conversations. You hear these amazing things. And when I hear or see something interesting I write it down. You end up with notebooks full of interesting things. What are you working on now? I’m writing a chapter book for younger readers, for around six to nine-year-olds. It’s very, very illustrated because I missed drawing so much when I was writing my Ruby Redfort series. So - lots of drawings. My new Charlie and Lola book A Dog With Nice Ears is coming out in the Autumn. It was inspired by looking at all the dogs in the park near our home with my daughter and imagining what kind of dog we would like to have. Do you have any advice for children that are starting to write? My advice would be to write what you enjoy. You need to write about something that interests you. It might be something funny that you see out of the window or something that you’ve imagined or about your family. You’ve got to enjoy what you’re writing or you won’t be able to carry on. You’ve got to let things develop, listen, and watch how people talk and interact. Dig deep into your own memory and try and tap into how things feel. Lauren Child’s latest book in the Charlie and Lola series, ‘A Dog With Nice Ears’, is published by Orchard Books on 28 September and will be available from high street bookstores and online at a recommended priced of £12.99.
Learning to write made easier and quicker with Write Size! Writing is one of the most fundamental learning blocks of education, and can often be a challenge for young children. Could it be possible, giving children a pencil that is too long and thin in their hand is one of the main reasons for this struggle? Write Size have created a unique and niche range of writing pencils made to scale for a child’s hand, promoting better control and improved writing ability. Recent classroom studies showed up to 97% of children had improved writing when using Write Size pencils. With the majority of children writing more words per minute. When used with Write Size books, parents have the ability to teach their children the alphabet and basic skills of writing before they even get to school, giving children the best start to their education. To order or for more information visit – www.writesize.co.uk Kids get creative! DESIGN THE PRIMARY TIMES CHRISTMAS CARD! Every year, we at Primary Times send out thousands of Christmas cards and we would like you to create the picture for this year’s card. It can be any picture you like that you think means “Christmas”, a snowman, Rudolf with his red nose, a robin on a snow-covered branch or maybe a nativity scene. Our picture shows our card from last year which was created The picture on the front cover of this card was created by Sam Fletcher aged 7 & May Fletcher aged 6 Hawthorne Primary & Nursery School, Nottinghamshire by May and Sam Fletcher from Nottinghamshire. Sam & May won the “Create the Primary Times Christmas Card” Competition for 2016 Closing date for entries is 29th October 2017. All you have to do is draw and colour or paint your picture on an A4 piece of card or paper and send your entry along with your name, age, address, telephone number and school name to: Christmas Card Competition Primary Times Schools Publishing Limited Unit 1A Thamesview Industrial Estate Newtown Road Henley on Thames RG9 1HG Unit 1A Thamesview Industrial Estate, Newtown Road, Henley on Thames RG9 1HG Our card from a previous year which was designed by Kavina Patel aged 8. Seasons Greetings Teachers and schools are very welcome to send in entries from an entire class in a single envelope ensuring that the school name, child’s name and age are clearly written on the back of each entry. The winner’s design will be used for the 2017 Primary Times Head Office Christmas card and the winner will also receive 50 copies of the card with envelopes. www.primarytimes.net/staffordshire | BACK TO SCHOOL 2017 Primary Times 15
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Primary Times Staffordshire Back to School 2017

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