Children's Book Festival 2012 at Clare County
Library
Children's Book Festival 2012
Children's Book Festival Programme 2012 (pdf file)
Children’s Book Festival 2012 was an outstanding success with an unprecedented four thousand children attending events all over County Clare through the library branch network.
A diverse and interesting array of events were individually booked up within days of advertising with many branches under pressure to ensure that all schools in their area would have the opportunity to participate in their scheduled programme. Events including author visits, living history shows, several hands-on art and craft workshops and storytelling were planned to spark the imagination of young readers from toddlers to teens, with countless opportunities to explore a wide array of books.
Clare County Library staff were thrilled to welcome best-selling authors Marita Conlon McKenna and literary superstar Derek Landy, both of whom were celebrating the publication of new titles. Both authors took centre stage at Glór Theatre, Ennis to meet with maximum audiences of 500 children on both days who had traveled from schools all over the county.
Other visiting authors included Alan Early whose first book Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent has been hailed as the Irish Percy Jackson. Alan Nolan wowed his audiences with his amazing sketches and his natural affability with all the kids he met
Nicola Pierce gave a series of four readings based on her novel Spirit of the Titanic, now in its fifth reprint since publication last year. And staying with Titanic, Michel Moylan’s Irish History Live Show enthralled audiences with a living history presentation featuring several of the children present at all of his six shows.
Other authors who celebrated this year’s festival with us were Gerry Boland, Laoise Ní Chomhraí and Tomi Reichental.
Tomi Reichental met with 100 Leaving Cert students in deValera Library, Ennis who were both touched and privileged to hear the story of his life from the age of nine years old when he was rounded up along with members of his family in a shop in Bratislava and taken to a concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen.
Storytellers Niall de Burca and Pat Ryan, regular and hugely popular performers at Clare’s children’s book festival, were back with their extensive repertoires of folktales, myths and legends, riddles, rhymes and proverbs from all around the world to the delight of junior and senior classes in Clare’s schools.
Hands-on workshops facilitated by experienced artists are always popular and this year percussion workshops, journal writing by Isabelle Gaborit and story creation workshops with Donough O’Malley were all on offer. Visual artist and co-founder of Dog and String Theatre, Sarah Fuller instructed children in making their very own animated film show based on characters they created on paper at six different library venues.
Feedback from individual artists was hugely encouraging. Library staff were complimented on their organization of the festival, the warm welcome received in all branches and the enthusiasm and excellent attention afforded performers by audiences young and old. Teachers have re-visited libraries looking for contact details of various shows with a view to arranging similar sessions in their schools. Parents who attended events enjoyed them just as much as the children and complimented staff in branches on the calibre and organization of events.
Some testimonials
“Pat Ryan's Storytelling session was a huge success.
We had 90 children in total and they really enjoyed the stories and got
involved in the many actions he used to entertain them. He regaled them
with stories about Halloween, animals and fairy tales. They were completely
engrossed in the stories and some chatted to Pat afterwards. The teachers
also commented on how good the session went and they were delighted to
have an event that they could take the juniors along to.”
deValera Library staff
“Thanks so much for having me last week in the
libraries. I really enjoyed the workshops and I hope the kids did too.
Could you say a big thanks too to all the staff at the branches I visited
(and my 'drivers'!)?
Thanks again and hopefully I will be visiting Ennis again in the future.”
Donough O’Malley, author and illustrator
“The Percussion Workshop was a popular choice and
in big demand. With the emphasis on participation and performance, the
infectious enthusiasm and her rapport with the children the presenter
certainly succeeded in getting maximim participation resulting in a great
performance. Very much enjoyed by the participants and much appreciated
and praised by teachers present.
“A very interesting and entertaining programme
of events. Participants’ reaction
and teachers’ comments were very favourable and appreciative.”
Ennistymon Library Staff
“The workshops went very well, the children seemed
to have enjoyed themselves and the library staff have been extremely helpful
and welcoming. Once again, many thanks for the opportunity”
Isabelle Gaborit, Artist
“The children loved Irish History Live’s
Titanic Show. We had children from Kilkee, Carrigaholt, Moyasta, Bansha
and Doonaha National Schools.
One child said it was the best history lesson he ever had. Mike had both
children and adults in stitches.”
“We really enjoyed Alan Early's visit to Kilkee Library last Monday.
The schools that attended were St. Cuan's National School Kilbaha, Carrigaholt
National School & Scoil Realt na Mara National School Kilkee, 43 children
attended in total. Alan kept the childrens' interest and attention throughout
the entire session, and they had great fun creating their own Goddess
character. The feedback from the schools has been very positive and several
pupils called back into the library Monday evening to take out Alan’s
books and said how much they enjoyed the visit.”
Kilkee Library Staff
“Gerry Boland arrived in very good time to organise
his posters etc. and get ready. He was friendly and greeted and spoke
to the teachers as they arrived. He read from his books and provided plenty
of opportunity for questions and chat. He signed posters and gave bookmarks
to the children. A good event and both teachers and children were happy
to have attended.”
Kildysart Library Staff
“19 children were here last Friday for Laoise
Ni Chomhrai. The children really enjoyed the presentation, and the teacher
was also very impressed.”
Lisdoonvarna Library Staff
“Overall I can honestly say that each and every
event was excellent and suited the age group of the children attending.
Events like Sarah Fuller's paper theatre workshop and Isabelle Goborit’s
art and craft events go down extremely well as its more hands on than
just sitting down listening to an author and its nice when the children
can take something away with them on the day. Having said that though
Gerry Boland came across very well and the children were just sitting
listening to him read. Alan Nolan drew a picture for his group which we
have hanging here on display in the library. All the people who came to
Miltown Malbay to give a talk or do crafts etc. were extremely pleasant
and patient
“Everyone found Laoise Ni Chomhrai’s presentation to be an
excellent, informative and educational event and the children were extremely
interested in her talk.”
Miltown Malbay Library Staff
“The teacher commented that the Alan Nolan session
was excellent.
“Sarah fuller was very good with the children, they felt very involved
in making their own sea creatures for the theatre and got to really use
their imagination. Their teacher commented a couple of days later that
the children were still talking about it, so they were very impressed.”
Newmarket on Fergus Library Staff
“Illustrator and author Donough O’Malley
held an hour long workshop for children at Scariff Library. Donough worked
very well with the children and they all freely interacted. We would highly
recommend that Donough return for future festivals.
“Relive the Titanic experience at your local library! This event
was perfectly pitched for 5th and 6th classes as evidenced by their participation
and reaction to the event.
“Michael developed an instant rapport with the audience and held
the children’s attention for the whole hour. They laughed at his
funny asides and the whole thing flowed really well. His Titanic facts
and figures were perfectly pitched for the age group and children eagerly
volunteered to take part in the dressing up.
“Two teachers came up to the desk to express their appreciation
for the event and to say how impressed they were and how much the children
enjoyed it. One teacher said four usually restless and easily distracted
boys were well-behaved as they were unusually engrossed for the duration
of the show.
“One school interviewed Michael for their website podcast after
the event and he did not hesitate and gave them a great interview.
“Michael was very professional and gave a great performance and
had the children enthralled as he has a natural talent for inspiring and
informing children in an entertaining manner. They were having such fun
that they probably didn’t notice how much they were learning about
the Titanic demonstrating his unique gift.
“Two of the teachers attending told staff how impressed they were
with the percussion workshop and how much the children had enjoyed it.
The children were introduced to various types of instruments including
goatskin drums, bongos and even cowbells! The event was very well organised
and presented and was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. We would
highly recommend this session for future groups
“Author Alan early was obviously well prepared and hooked his audience
from the off. He had a relaxed way of dealing with children which went
down very well and used plenty of humour to keep them engaged. Highly
recommended. Teachers commented on how well the session had gone and how
those children who were not enthusiastic readers engaged with Alan and
his books.”
Scariff Library Staff
“Ninety children from Kilkishen and Cratloe National
schools came to see
Laoise Ní Chomhraí bring her unique selection of junior
travel books written in the Irish language to them in Sixmilebridge Library
today. She produced a show full of information on what life is like for
children in other countries along with their different clothes and food.
An exciting slide show on the countries she had visited also proved very
popular with the children.
Sixmilebridge Library Staff
“I was delighted with the response from the students
and the respect we received. Of course, should you wish me to lecture
in the future, I shall be delighted to do so.”
Tomi Reichental, Author and Holocaust survivor
28 children from Third Class attended the Percussion
Workshop at Tulla Library today. They enjoyed the workshop and each pupil
got to use either Drums, Timbas, Cowbells, Tambourines, Agogo Bells or
other forms of musical instruments. Sarah also did some rap music with
them and showed them how to compose a rap themselves. All in all the children
were very pleased with the entertainment.
Tulla Library Staff
“I just wanted to say a huge thank you for looking
after me so well in Ennis.
It was wonderful to get the opportunity to meet so many of my young readers
at The Glor Theatre. It is an amazing venue and everything was organised
so well. I really enjoyed the event and my visit to Ennis.
Thanks again,”
Marita (Marita Conlon McKenna)
“Derek Landy in Glór was such a great event,
we were really happy with how it went, so thanks for all your hard work!”
Nicola Carthy (Derek Landy's assistant at HarperCollins Publishers)
“Many thanks for having me! Derek Landy in Glór
was a great event.”
Aoife (Aoife Murray, Children's Books Ireland)
“Children’s author Derek Landy single-handedly
kept a theatre full of children entertained for over an hour last Thursday.
This included one hundred pupils from Ennis N.S. They were delighted to
see the creator of the very popular Skulduggery Pleasant books, who was
in Ennis as part of the Children’s Book Festival.
Derek, whose seventh Skulduggery book has just been released, told the
children the story of his life, including many humorous anecdotes, peppered
with rude noises and shouts of “you’re a weirdo” at
various unsuspecting audience members. The students absolutely loved him
and a huge queue formed afterwards to have their books signed.
Derek was very friendly and spoke to each child individually. Thanks to
Clare County Library for another great occasion, in association with Glór.”
Ennis National School www.ennisns.ie
