Buckinghamshire May 2019

Inspire them to read and write with...
Cressida
Cowell
Cressida Cowell is one of the
UK’s most beloved children’s
authors. She has brought us
the fantastic novel series How to Train
Your Dragon, which has subsequently
become an award-winning
DreamWorks film franchise, and now
joins Primary Times to discuss her
latest magical series The Wizards
of Once, her literary inspirations
growing up and her Free-Writing
Fridays Campaign.
After the success of How to Train Your
Dragon, Cressida Cowell launched
her newest book series Wizards of
Once in 2017, with its sequel ‘Twice
Magic’ arriving in paperback June ’19.
Cressida explains that the books are
set at the end of the Bronze Ages, and
at the beginning of a new age. “It’s
a world in which magic really exists.
There are two tribes and they are
fighting each other. The two children,
the girl hero and the boy hero, have
been brought up to hate each other,
and it’s about what happens when
these children meet.”
Growing up, Cressida was inspired
particularly by the book The Ogre
Downstairs, by Diana Wynne Jones.
“It’s about children who find a magical
chemistry set. I read it, loved it, read
it aloud to all my little siblings and
cousins, and then I read it aloud to
my own children. Iwrite my books to
be read aloud way beyond the age. I
always say to parents don’t just leave it
all up to the school, read aloud to kids
just 10 minutes per day.”
With a passion for literature, Cressida
Cowell is a huge advocate of children
reading and writing for pleasure from a
young age. “I can’t imagine life without
books. I get all my knowledge about
history, about human nature, about the
world around me from literature.”
Cressida explains that “educational
attainment, reading for pleasure and
economic success are all particularly
linked. But education isn’t just about
attainment, so the impact on their
happiness is true as well. In difficult
times, a book can help you through.
I’ve had children write to me, for
example, and say that whilst being
bullied, ‘Hiccup was my friend’. There
is so much that can be gained from
loving books.”
To help parents encourage their
children to read at home, Cressida has
shared some of her own top tips. “Go
for what they’re interested in, if they
love animals go for books on animals.
Boys often like fact books, for example
I put lots of made up fact pages in my
Dragons and Wizards books.”
“Read aloud to your kids for 10
minutes every day. Even if you are
doing the reading, you’re sending this
message that books are something
fun – and that’s so important.”
“Try as hard as you can not to make
learning to read a struggle. This is
such a key thing for parents. In the
end, I didn’t listen to my children
reading at the end of the school day
when they were 4years old. They
were exhausted, so Iwould try and do
it over breakfast when they’re a
bit perkier. Really try and stay calm
and patient –make it joyful. It’s all
about the joy of reading and writing,
that’s all I’m trying to do. It’s the
children who enjoy reading and writing
in the end – it’s the best education.”
Cressida’s newest innovation to inspire
children’s imagination and creativity
is her Free-Writing Friday campaign,
which is 15 minutes every Friday for
a child to have a book in which they
can write whatever they want, and the
teacher doesn’t mark it. “In this book
just for 15 minutes, nothing matters
apart from the kid having fun. They
can write a story, they can design a
game, and it’s about focusing on the
joy of writing.”
“I did that because when Iwas in year
2, I had a teacher who did that for
me. My handwriting was terrible, my
spelling wasn’t great, and she gave
me a book which was just about me
enjoying it. I learnt to enjoy writing.”
“My campaign was designed as a
really practical way to try and help the
kids have somewhere where they’re
enjoying it. That’s what happened to
me – It’s about the ideas. We need
to get the children reading for fun.
We need their creativity in science,
we need their creativity in everything
– so we’ve got to get these
children being creative.”
To find out more about
Free Writing Fridays, visit
www.freewritingfriday.com
For your chance to win a full set of Cressida’s
How to Train Your Dragon books, plus the first two
Wizards of Once books, answer the following question.
What was Cressida’s favourite book growing up?
To enter, and to read Cressida Cowell’s full-length
interview, visit www.primarytimes.co.uk.
The competition closes on 20th June 2019.