Find out what Anthony Browne has been doing in his role as Children's Laureate
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Adventures in Scotland!
Posted Thursday May 20th 2010
by Chris NewtonWe’re delighted to welcome Chris Newton, Acting Children’s Events Manager at Scottish Book Trust as a special guest blogger.
Between the 9th and 14th May 2010, Scottish Book Trust had the privilege of taking Children’s Laureate Anthony Browne out on a Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour.
The week began with a relaxing cup of coffee in the Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh. It was the first of many coffees that we would drink over the week to keep our energy levels up!To kick the tour off we ran an event in conjunction with the National Galleries of Scotland - a drop-in event for the public in the National Gallery, surrounded by huge paintings. Around 120 children and adults came along to meet Anthony, play the Shape Game, and make up stories with Bear.
Afterwards, we set our course for North and hit the road stopping only to show Anthony the Forth Rail Bridge. The Kingdom of Fife was the first area we visited, taking in schools in Benarty and Leslie before driving up to Dundee where Anthony was doing a radio interview for RTE Ireland with their newly-crowned Laureate na nÓg medal, Siobhan Parkinson.…
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And the winners are...
Posted Friday May 7th 2010
by Katherine WoodfineHolly Edwards has been chosen as one of the winners of Anthony’s competition with The Sun newspaper, in which children were invited to complete Anthony’s story of a bear who has a magic pencil.
Holly, who is seven years old and lives in Kent, came up with the winning story of a panda who tells Bear about animals that are becoming extinct, such as Bengal tigers and mountain gorillas. Bear is able to draw some of them back to life, but eventually realises that even if he “drew all night” he wouldn’t be able to replace all the endangered animals.
Holly’s mum Rachel told The Sun: “Holly is really interested in conservation and she knew straight away that was what she wanted to write about. She got the idea of the bear being friends with a panda because she has sponsored a panda through WWF for the last two years, using her pocket money. She is thrilled to have won; I am really proud of her.”Helping Anthony to sift through over 1000 competition entries to select Holly’s story, as well as those of nine other winners, were guest judges Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo, England footballer…
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South American Diary
Posted Thursday April 29th 2010
by Anthony BrowneI was thrilled to have the opportunity to travel to Chile and Argentina at the end of March to talk about being Children's Laureate, and about the importance of creativity, visual literacy and picture books. Despite getting off to a slow start when my flights were delayed by the BA strikes, my visit to the cities of Santiago and Buenos Aires were packed with events, and a hugely enjoyable highlight of my time as Laureate so far.
After travelling for 25 hours, I arrived in Santiago, Chile, where I was taken straight to the Centre of Resources for Learning in Spanish, an organisation that provides books for school libraries and organises programmes for promoting literacy. I was immediately struck – as I always am in Latin America – by the openness and warmth of the people, and their passionate enthusiasm for books and children.
Next up was a huge book signing at the Universidad Catolica de Chile, the most prestigious university in the country, where I gave a talk on the relationship between words and images in picture books to an audience of academics and students of design, education and literature. I was very pleased to be… -
Sharing and enjoying picture books: tips for teachers of foundation stage and key stage one
Posted Wednesday April 28th 2010
by Katherine Woodfine“Sharing picture books with children leads to amazing conversations,” says Anthony. In the best picture books there is a gap between the pictures and the words, a gap that is filled by the child’s imagination.”
Booktrust’s new Sharing and enjoying picture books leaflet, supported by Anthony and fellow illustrators including Michael Foreman and Emily Gravett, provides useful tips and information for foundation stage and key stage one teachers for making the most of the picture books they share with children. Illustrated by David Lucas, the leaflet is also accompanied by a series of online resources including short films and downloadable activity sheets.
Find out more and download a copy of the leaflet on the Booktrust Children’s Book website; or take a look at other leaflets in this series, including Love a Picture Book and Making the most of your primary school library.
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Anthony at Ivy Road Primary School
Posted Sunday March 28th 2010
by Linda MullenWe’re delighted to welcome Linda Mullen, Literacy Coordinator at Ivy Road Primary School in Forest Hall, North Tyneside, as a special guest blogger.
I was thrilled to be the winner of ‘A Day with the Children’s Laureate’ as a prize in a national competition in the GTC (General Teaching Council) magazine. In preparation for Anthony Browne’s visit to our school, opportunities were developed for all our pupils, from Nursery through to Year 6, to engage in a range of creative activities linked to Anthony’s books.We had a great day with Anthony on Monday 15 March:
Pupils Bethany (Y5), Dylan (Y3) and Megan (Y1) with Anthony and Linda. Dylan thought that Anthony’s illustrations were "extremely bonkers!"Class 3 had a wonderful afternoon playing the Shape Game and showing Anthony a picture book they had made, Silly Milly, inspired by Anthony’s book Silly Billy. Anthony asked to be introduced to each artist and illustrator in turn, which made us all feel very proud.
Together with headteacher Mrs Watts, Anthony presented prizes to all the children who had won a special poster competition.
Jack in Year 4…
