Spending a Sunday afternoon with enthusiastic children at the British Library is such a joy! The idea of this workshop was to get over Geronimo Stilton and Wimpy Kid, and begin to read something new. I know too many children who finish their Geronimo Stiltons and then say they have nothing more to read. With twenty children in the library with me, we began with a game of names. Children chose names for themselves - names of characters, books or authors. I had in my room,  a range of children, from Hermione Granger to Amelia Jane. All twenty ran from person to person, trying to figure out who was who, whispering, discussing ideas, trying to remember all the names ... And then there was Dahl. With The Crocodile, The Porcupine and The Tummy Beast, we had an hour of poetry. They pieced bits of the poems together and then recited them. We left the workshop there, with the promise of more … [Read more...]