Hello Franken-kitty, zombies, and Champions Read! Thanks for Children’s Book Week!

Children’s Book Week is drawing to a close for me…just one more day of visits. BOO HOO

I had SO MUCH FUN hanging out with you guys…I really hope you put all of your crazy spooky ideas into new stories and new illustrations. Here are a few photos from my week: I wish I’d remembered to take more shots!
Enjoy…and see you next time!
xx

Welcome Cristy Burne to Bentley Library!

Awesome Children’s Book Week display!

Hello Kitty poses with nukekubi Frankenstein…and yes, those eyes are really watching you…

Spotto! Check out the Hairy Tales of Hero Boy at South Perth library

Nukekubi hanging at the library in some sunnies from Lost Property (are they yours?)

More zombie action!

Disembodied head meets the Book Week Monsters

Everyone say “zombies!”

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The truth about slenderman, puppies and noppera-bo…

A cross between a nukekubi, a nopperabo and slenderman?

And now you’re scaring me!

As part of Children’s Book Week I spent today in the City of Stirling, where I was amused to hear the scary story of Slenderman is alive and well.

All week, whenever I mention a noppera-bo, kids have been sticking up their hands to ask: ” Have you heard of Slender?”

“Who?!”

Well. I hadn’t.

But then, it turns out, he’s virtually a home-grown spooky story.

In fact, he appears to have been photographed at City of Stirling Libraries (see the photo of kids on the slide),  which is hilarious, but also spooky!

The truth about Slender?

The story goes (according to Roger, City of Stirling librarian) (Hi Roger!), that the photograph is a kooky fake that just happens to have ripped off the City of Stirling logo.  Apparently people from all over the world have been writing in to ask permission to reproduce the image. (Pity no one asked permission to use their logo in the first place!)

Still. It is funny. And it goes to show: you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet. (Especially since anyone who saw me this week will know: it’s not slender. It’s a yokai cross-hybrid-thingy, part nukekubi, part noppera-bo. And it probably likes to eat puppies.)

Puppies!

xx

Cristy

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Children’s Book Week! Competitions! Singapore! Science! Literacy!

YAY! It’s my favourite time of year: Children’s Book Week!

That means stacks of exciting stuff is happening at your local library. Pop in and ask about storytelling sessions, meeting your favourite authors, literacy workshops, and more.

Children’s Book Week..Am I heading your way?

For me that means August is chocka-block with school and library visits. I get to scare heaps of kids, and make them laugh, and inspire them to get writing and drawing (and if you like to draw, like the kids at Melville’s Civic Square Library, check out our MONSTER drawing and art competition for young writers and artists).

I’ll be at libraries across Melville, Kwinana, Girrawheen, Osborne Park, Scarborough, Bentley, South Perth and Bayswater. I hope to see you there!

State Library of Queensland and the Brisbane Writers Festival: Online Literature Festival

If you live in Queensland, you’re in luck!

Schools across Queensland can do workshops with children’s writers and illustrators as part of the Online Literature Festival for FREE!

Heaps of awesome writers and illustrators will be there, and you get to ask them questions and hear them talk, all from the comfort of your classroom. Easy!

Check out the timetable to book: Jackie French and Andy Griffiths are booked out, but you can see heaps of other great talent (including me ).

Teacher’s PD workshops: Science and literacy

Since I’m a bizarre hybrid of science-writer and demon-writer, I’m also keen to share ideas on using science, history and culture to inspire fictional writing. This means I talk a lot about using non-fiction to inspire fiction, and what better way to do it than with a hands-on teacher’s workshop.

I’m offering this workshop (free!) as part of the Online Literature Festival: the focus is on concrete ways to combine science and literacy in the classroom:

Cristy Burne will talk about ways to combine science and literacy in the classroom. With degrees in science and science communication and experience in science writing and fiction writing, Cristy has a wealth of ideas to share with teachers. Cristy will demonstrate a few cheap and easy classroom experiements then talk about ways to involve literacy skills in the activity.

Words Go Round 2013: Singapore Writers Festival

And I am thrilled to announce that I’ll also be part of the incredible Words Go Round festival as part of the Singapore Writers Festival in 2013.

The festival features international and Singaporean writers, writing in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, and it’s all organised for young writers and readers.

I can’t wait!!

Happy Children’s Book Week everyone!

xx

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More from Childrens Book Week

Can you pick the severed head?

Another great day for Childrens Book Week…thanks everybody!

I was really happy to get this picture of some of the Burrendah Primary kids at Willetton Library today with their 2-fruit and 5-vege *and* a severed head. Awesome!

And I’m also stoked with this great review of Filth Licker on the Spine Chills blog. YAY!!!

Below is a taste of the review: you can show it to your parents to prove that there isn’t any really horrible stuff  in Takeshita Demons, just spooky bathroom-cleaning stuff )

“one of the rare horror stories that you can safely hand to younger readers without fear of threats from angry parents, but at the same time is genuinely packed full of spooky stuff. This is a series that is both highly original and wonderfully entertaining”

Hooray!

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Hello all you Childrens Book Week kids!!!

All this week and part of last week I have had the ABSOLUTE pleasure of meeting hundreds of kids from local primary schools around Perth, all part of some terrific Childrens Book Week presentations organised by our fabulous libraries. (THANK YOU lovely librarians!! You make the day possible!)

By the end of the week, I’ll have chatted to 1000+ kids from  15 different schools, from Year 2 to Year 7. That’s a LOT of talking! And the best bit is that it’s not always me doing the talking.

I’ve had stacks of interesting questions, heard some spooky stories and met some great people. And I’m always impressed with the way the kids listen and participate (and laugh at my jokes ). You guys are great!!

I’m off now to prepare for tomorrow… Hope to see you then!

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Let the Book Week begin!

Takeshita Demons: The Filth Licker launches in Oz!

Woo hoo!

Childrens Book Week has begun! I spent this morning at Belmont’s Ruth Faulkner Public Library with students in Year 6 and 7 and it was terrific fun!

It’s SO GOOD to scare readers share with readers some of the legends behind the Japanese demons from my books.

The kids had heaps of great questions and did a great job answering librarian Edith’s questions in a pop quiz at the end.

And now I can rest at night knowing they are safe. Now EVERYBODY knows what to do when they meet a kappa, how to respond to the kuchi-sake-onna, and what food to serve when a fox comes to dinner

Phew! My work here is done

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Writing, Book-Weeking, Monstering on!

Writing, writing, writing

Well, it’s been a busy time and I’m flat out writing a 4th Takeshita Demons book….YAY! This does mean I’ve been massively distracted from blogging (sorry!), but I do tend to go into my cave when the writing’s really working.

And it’s working! (I always say that in the beginning of a book, then fall apart in the finale for a Long Troubling Period before finding my way again.)(Fingers crossed and here’s to avoiding the Long Troubling Period this time round, if possible!)

Childrens Book Week Month

And of course…it’s AUGUST! Which means Australian libraries and schools are gearing up for heaps of fabulous authorly writerly artistly events. This year I’m busy for every day of Book Week, and I can’t wait to get started! I love meeting readers and sharing spooky demon stories, so watch out!! If your school is coming to see me, I’m already thinking of ways to scare you

And Monstering on?

And just to prove that the third book is just as exciting as the first, here’s a little proud moment for me to share (YAY!) This week I received a catalogue in the mail from my publisher, Frances Lincoln Childrens Books, and voila! In it was a sneak peak of their new fiction titles for January-July 2012: Wee hee! Monster Matsuri was on the back page I’m so proud

Well…enough chest-beating. Time to get back to the real work of WRITING! Cheers for now and see some of you soon!

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8 bits of great news: HOORAY!

Long time – no post! But I have heaps of great news to make up for it:

GREAT NEWS #1: Takeshita Demons and The Filth Licker are being translated into Indonesian! YAY!

GREAT NEWS #2: I’m performing at the Perth Writer’s Festival on Family Day: YAY! More details soon…

GREAT NEWS #3: I’m also appearing at the 2011 All Saint’s College Literature Festival. YAY!

GREAT NEWS #4: I’m getting heaps of fan mail from readers who love Takeshita Demons AND those with advance copies of Filth Licker…YAY!!

GREAT NEWS #5: I’m totally booked out for Children’s Book Week 2011 (in August!)…and there are more bookings coming for school hols YAY!

GREAT NEWS #6: I’ve had some great ideas for finishing off Monster Matsuri (Takeshita Demons book 3) and that will be rip roaring to my editor by year end

GREAT NEWS #7: The first review of Filth Licker is up: “some shocking twists and a fantastically involving story…” YAY!

GREAT NEWS #8: I spoke to a group of Year 9s and 10s at the Hyogo Prefectural Government Cultural Centre last week about Japanese yokai, mythology, history and how it informed and inspired Takeshita Demons. They were a great group and we had lots of laughs. Plus I got to eat proper Japanese bakery goods AND a scrummy bento. YUM!

YAY!!

So all-in-all a terrific few weeks…Super busy! And this week is the SCBWI WA Christmas Party too, so everything is happening at once. I *LOVE* hanging out with other people who love childrens books!

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