glasgow summer 2019

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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 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.”
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.”
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. In the end, I didn’t listen
to my children reading at the end of the
school day when they were 4 years old. They
were exhausted, so I would 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.
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.”
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.
Closing date: 20th June 2019.
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Primary Times summer 2019 Issue
www.primarytimes.co.uk/glasgow