Get a Grip, Cooper Jones is Launched

I donned my party frock and party shoes. We sipped champagne and told jokes. We had a couple of speeches, a competition and lots of laughs, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate the launch of Get a Grip, Cooper Jones.

Thanks so much to author, friend and SCBWI leader, Susanne Gervay for giving such a warm, generous and funny launch speech. You can read about it here.

Thanks also to Chris Cheng, SCBWI, the Hughenden Hotel, Claire Saxby, all who attended and shared the journey and joined in with the festivities. I had a blast. (And sold lots of books too! Yay!)

It was such a buzz  – I was grinning for days afterwards.

A review and a launch for Cooper

Here's a lovely review for Get a Grip, Cooper Jones at Chris Cheng's review blog. Thanks, Chris!

Now, drum roll please ...

Get a Grip, Cooper Jones is going to be officially launched by Susanne Gervay next Sunday (September 19) at the SCBWI conference, The Hughenden Hotel, 14 Queen St Woollahra NSW, 12.30 - 1.00 pm. Let me know if you would like to drop by and join the celebration.

Book Week Fun

Here are some pics from BOOK WEEK. Courtesy of the wonderful Jean Saxby, T/L at Galston Public. Thanks, Jean!

Firefighting fun!

My volunteer firefighters are pretty tired after putting out the fire at Lulu's Ice-creamery.

Teacher / Librarian, Jean Saxby and moi.
Look at the great FREAKY poster on the window.

Teacher's notes for Get a Grip Cooper Jones

Walker Books has created  a great set of comprehensive teachers' notes for Get a Grip, Cooper Jones. They can be downloaded from the Walker Books website. Thanks, Walker!

Lucky Last

Thanks to a wonderfully relaxing weekend, I headed off to Blaxland School this morning full of beans for my last Book Week school visit.

There is nothing like an eager audience, eyes wide, totally engaged with your stories to fire you up. Thanks Blaxland! Your bubbling enthusiasm, astute questions and lively participation has motivated and inspired me. I can't wait to get my fingers typing on some new stories.

And so it's back to the office tomorrow for the "day job". But that's not so bad, as I'm lucky enough to have a job where I get to work with other authors and illustrators helping them to create fantastic new books.

Glorious Saturday

Glorious Saturday. After a week of zipping from one side of the countryside to the other, from Galston to Dapto, from Camden to Pymble to Bankstown, speaking to well over a 1,000 children, today I spoiled myself with walks on the beach, cafe breakfast with my hubbie, coffee with friends and lying around reading (Saving Francesca - Melina Machetta) and dozing. Ahh - it's been wonderful.

What a week! Friday saw me heading off to Bankstown City Library. The wonderful children's librarian there, Tara, conducts an amazing Book Week program (which runs for about three weeks!) ferrying authors and illustrators to schools and libraries all over the Bankstown area. This year she has had Sarah Davis, Di Wu, John Heffernan, John Larkin and moi.

First up we shot across to Al Sadiq College, Yagoona to speak to Years 2 & 3. We needed to lug my rather heavy "bag of tricks" and other paraphernalia up two steep flights of stairs - but it was worth it! The kids were fantastic. Attentive and bubbling with enthusiasm - they were intrigued with the whole process of how an idea became a book and asked some rather intelligent questions about the publishing process. The only minor hiccup occurred when I nearly scared one poor young lady half to death with Charlie - my enormous puppet spider. (Sorry!)

Next we headed to Greenacre Library to share stories with Year 2 from Greenacre Primary. Their love of books was catchy and the session was a lot of fun - made even more so by Fire Chief Holden's wonderful help with the dramatisation of The Firefighters. I felt it wise to leave Charlie in the bag for this session as I didn't want to be responsible for any more frights or potential nightmares!

Last session for the week was at Sefton Infants School and I must admit that the enormity of the week sort of hit me halfway through the session and I found myself suddenly very weary and extremely tired of my own voice. Fortunately, adrenaline kicked in and aided by a sea of smiling, excited faces we bravely saved Lulu's Ice-Creamery and toiled over bubbling pots of sugary syrup, until the session was over and so was Book Week. Phew!

Well ... almost. I still have one more school on Monday. Blaxland Public, here I come!

All worth it

To avoid having to drive two hours each way two days in a row, I shouted myself to a night in a hotel in Pennant Hills last night. It was a good move. I had noble intentions of using the solitude of my lonely room to write long into the night. Instead, I flaked. The bed was the hardest bed I have ever slept in, but it didn't seem to matter - I slept like a baby.

So this morning, I was ready and rearing to go, especially as Galston School was now only about twenty minutes away. Yay!

The kids at Galston love their stories and I had a ball sharing mine with them. Freaky again starred and so did my "Adventure Story". Question time was a blast with hands shooting in the air and kids almost begging to be picked - many having to save their questions until lunchtime.

I always hope that just a tiny bit of my enthusiasm for writing will rub off when I am doing these visits, so I was thrilled when one kindi teacher told me how inspired and excited the kids were to write after my session. One student in particular responded really well and wrote not only with increased confidence and enthusiasm - she also wrote far, far more than she usually does. Ahhh ... stories like this make it all worthwhile.

Bankstown Library tomorrow.