Blog

It was the final day of the Storylines Tour yesterday and now I’m at home, tucked up in my duvet in a proper Dunedin winter, reflecting on what was an EPIC week.

Heather, Raymond, Ben, Andrew and I saw over 7000 Auckland children in total over the week of which I got to share stories and books with around 2000 of them. And I’ve left a trail of half-drunk cups of tea in school kitchens all over Auckland to prove I was there.

My Storylines week was rounded off with a visit to Botany Downs Primary School where I met with 30 children from the Reading Enhancement program.

We talked about Bad Panda and I gave them my top tips on creating characters. They told me about teenage cucumbers on missions to escape salad bowls and slices of toast looking for love to make toasted sandwiches. I was so impressed with their creativity. You should all know there are 30 young authors in the making at Botany Downs so watch this space and make space on your shelves for their incredible stories.

Heather and I then headed to Ormiston Primary School where I met with Years 3 and 4 for a pre-lunch Grizzly Bear storytime and creativity exercise. We talked about ideas and where they come from and all my favourite books.

My final visit was to Alfriston School with Raymond and whilst he met with the juniors, I had the pleasure of chatting with Years 0 to 2 in the gorgeous school library. We talked about Grizzly Bears and sinkholes and actual holes in actual sinks and, rather randomly, going to the opticians, leaving me with favourite question of the week: why do you wear glasses?

This has been a rollercoaster of a week. There were the highs of meeting so many wonderful children, the apprehension of being stuck in a van with five strangers and the lows of homesickness but overall, despite being completely exhausted, I have come away chuffed to bits to have met so many creative little minds and thrilled to have five new Storyline friends.

Now I reckon it’s time for a well-deserved cup of tea and nap by the fireplace.

It’s the middle of the week and I hit my first tour hiccup today: I woke up this morning and my voice was gone! Several honey and ginger teas later, I managed to get enough of my voice back to talk to Years 3 and 4 and the Year 5 Kid Lit Quiz Team from St Ignatius School.

But with two more visits to go, I didn’t know how my voice would hold up. It was Peter to the rescue and he offered up noxious lozenges that did the job (though anaesthetised my tongue for most of an hour). Cornwall Park District School got the full voice experience when I visited Years 3 and 4 and served up delicious molten chocolate muffins just as my tastebuds recovered.

With Ben heading home, we were back to four on the road and I have to admit, with Ben’s departure and thoughts of Dunedin, I was starting to feel a bit homesick. A quick video call home with my dog, Archie put me right and I headed to New Windsor School to meet Years 0 to 4 for an afternoon of Grizzly Bear fun.

My favourite question of the day: how old were you when you got your glasses?

It was day two of the tour today and we had an epic trip planned travelling all the way from West Auckland to East Auckland with stops at seven schools along the way and a new member of the band joining us: Ben Brown, Te Awhi Rito New Zealand Reading Ambassador.

I started my morning at Woodlands Park School, making a mad dash to the hall in the sudden thunderous downpour and I met over 400 children from Years 0 to 6. Now you may be wondering how does one engage an entire group of children aged all the way from 5 years old up to the grand old age of 11 years old? Well, simple – it’s My Dad is a Grizzly Bear to the rescue!

I read the book and everyone joined in with their bearilliant acting skills and then we drew some Dapo-inspired grizzly bears.

Heather, Andrew, Raymond and I were reunited after our first school visits of the day and Peter drove us to the centre of Auckland to visit Freeman’s Bay School.

Whilst Raymond spoke to Years 3 and 4 and Andrew spoke to Years 5 and 6, Heather and I got to share our picture books with the children in Years 0, 1 and 2. I can confirm now that almost all the children I met were convinced they lived with a grizzly bear who ate far too much honey.

After a delicious lunch of hot sandwiches and tea, we then headed East to Orere School where I rounded off my Grizzly Bear marathon and, by my estimation, we added 24 more grizzly bear illustrations to the 518 pawsome drawings created by all the super-talented Auckland pupils I met today.

My favourite question of the day was addressed to Heather (who announced to the Orere Infants class that she did not like the colour purple): why are your trousers purple, then?

Heather Haylock, Raymond McGrath, Andrew Crowe and I took to the road today, ably commandeered by Libby Limbrick and Peter Mercer to visit seven schools and a library in South Auckland. This is my very first time on a Storylines Tour and my first time meeting the other authors and I was nervous. But I needn’t have been. Libby, Peter, Heather, Raymond and Andrew made me feel part of the Storylines family straight away.

On my leg of the tour I started with a visit to Bombay School where I met with 120 children from Years 2 to 4. We talked about creativity, books and my author origin story which everyone agreed was bananas.

Next up, Heather and I stopped off at Mauku School where we both spoke to over 100 kids from Years 2 to 6. I loved hearing Heather read from her picture book ‘Granny McFlitter: A Country Yarn’ so much so that as soon as we were dropped off to our hotel in Auckland, I popped to Little Unity Bookshop to get myself a copy.

My absolute highlight of this event was hearing one of the pupils say they were inspired to write their very own book.

My final visit of the day was to Waiuku Library where, after a delicious humungous egg mayonnaise, chicken, tomato, coleslaw and lettuce sandwich lunch, I spoke to 30 children from Sandspit School. This was a group of budding young authors, aged 9-11 years old, who came armed with questions about agents and advances, ready for book deals of their own!

My favourite question of the day: what is your fattest book?