Princess Zaara and the Enchanted Forest: Book Week at primary school

Inspiration for my Book

I was motivated to write Princess Zaara and the Enchanted Forest by my daughter, and by my work with primary children. My aim is to promote enthusiasm for reading by writing in an entertaining way. I want children to have a positive attitue about reading as it boosts vocabulary, general knowledge, and a life-long interest in literature. Reading aloud brings a book to life. Young readers understand the written word as they develop listening skills. I was inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream setting of the fairy woods for the setting of the forest. The atmosphere of mischief, magic and mayhem is resolved by the end of the book.

This beginning book is for 4-8 year-old children; the target audience is seven-year-old children. Princess Zaara is seven years old and very curious about the forest just beyond the castle's grounds. Although forbidden to go into the forest, she goes anyway. She makes some unusual friends in the forest and a spell cast by the outsider, Mischievo, leads her to take the initiative as a princess and as a friend. This new children's book describes a young princess' journey through a mysterious forest, where she learns aabout the importance of friendship and acceptance of others who may be different, which are important messages to give to children.

Tuesday, 21 June 2011

Book Week at primary school

I have been invited to a school in London to promote my book and to participate in Book Week for that week

I enjoyed reading Princess Zaara and the Enchanted Forest at the London School to a class of 7-8 year-old children. Reading it aloud brought the story to life. After a talk where I introduced myself and my children's book and how I came to write my book, I did a question and answer session. The school children had so many questions about writing, how I got the idea for the book, how long it took to write and how long it took to publish the book. They also wanted to know who did the illustrations, and how I published my book. I explained the various stages I went through from writing the manuscript, the illustrations, editing, graphic design to the final files of the book

The video book trailer was screened on the whiteboard; it was fun to watch it on a large screen. Scenes from the book were chosen by me and the teacher to link in with the planning of a story, to represent the opening, build up, climax, resolution and ending, These scenes were acted out by the pupils which was a highlight for me. They were actively engaged in the story and I loved watching the characters from the story coming to life. Acting out the story showed their understanding of the story and what the characters are going through.

The class was set an sssignment to write an adventure story in Book Week, and at the end of the week I visited the school again to read their stories and to listen to a read aloud of the best 6 stories. It was enjoyable watching the budding young writers read their stories aloud. I chose the winner to whom I awarded a copy of my book.

What really struck me was the enthusiasm and keenness of the school children for literature, which I'm sure their teacher helped in promoting. The children produced some very good efforts in their story writing and were good in sharing their stories.