Reading is Fun!

Day One

Day Two

And now, I’m excited about the next one, coming soon …

Yesterday was the second exciting session with eager young children, waiting to be entertained.

I began with a presentation on the process of the making of the book – from the mind of the writer to the hands of the reader. It was a long (yet brief) detailed explanation of different aspects of the process. Reading, getting an idea, writing, sending the manuscript, rejections, sending it again, an acceptance, contract, editing …

It was an engaging discussion, with the children enthusiastic about participating.

“Any questions?” I asked, before moving on to the next activity I had planned for them.

Several hands went up. I asked one of them.

His question was, “If the process is so long, why does anyone want to become a writer?”

All the other hands went down. I think everyone had the same question.

And fun it certainly was! I had 21 children there in all. Apparently, after 20 registrations had been made, someone wanted to join. The child was told that there were no seats left, but she could try her luck, show up at the workshop and see if anyone backed out.
The child diligently showed up early. No one backed out, but how could I tell her to go home? I told her to join in!

We read, we acted, we played. I recited Television by Roald Dahl.
I made them recite several poems. One of them was exceptionally good.
I made them go get to know one another, asking one another questions about books, what the others like, what they dislike, evertything. How enthusiastic all of them were!

At the end, they filled a feedback slip for me.
18 children chose ‘good’ from the three options given to them (Good, Average, Bad).
One child asked what ‘average’ meant and then happily ticked average.
One child was not sure, so cheerfully ticked both ‘good’ and ‘average’.

At the end, as usual, there was a little space for suggestions. My favourite suggestion was: I loved it and will attend all five setions.

Thirteen children will be part of my reading workshop that starts on Sunday! Seven seats left . . .

I spoke to Ms Sugandhi from the British Library last Sunday, and she said that 11 children had already registered!

There are just 20 seats in all; now is the time!