Edinburgh Book Festival

I did an event at Edinburgh Book Festival today. It was a lot of fun. I’d say there were 80 in the audience. Not bad for me: not bad at all. In fact, I’d say it’s the largest audience I’ve ever had when the audience actually had a choice whether to be there or not…

I was there to talk about my Barrington Stoke books, Ghost Stadium and Secret FC, which I did a bit. But I feel a but uncomfortable just talking about my books at events, so, instead, we played the Football Reading Game. A quiz about football reading material, followed by a penalty shoot out.
I know I am supposed to be at a book festival to talk about my books. I know that I am the author and that people are supposed to want to meet an author and buy their books. But – like I say – that makes me feel uncomfortable. That’s why my event is about what the children like to read and about giving them a bit of fun.

I was lucky that Calum was there. Calum works at Blackwell’s in Edinburgh. Calum went in goal. He did a fine job. Sixty-plus kids took penalties at him. He faced about 110 in all. He only let in 15 or so.
After that I went for a walk down to the Princes Street Gardens with the BBC. Radio 4. They wanted to do a piece on my books. In particular about Barrington Stoke and what makes their books so attractive to dyslexic children. We chatted. We had a kick about. It is supposed to be aired on Thursday. I’ll update this blog when I know more.

More from the festival tomorrow as I do a schools event.

Book festivals

I’m in Edinburgh. Due to do a talk at the Edinburgh Book Festival this afternoon. This is a big deal for me.

Before I became a children’s author I used to run book festivals. One in Bradford. And, briefly, the more famous Ilkley Literature Festival. That was my career before writing. Putting on author events in bookshops, libraries, theatres and football stadiums too. I hosted over 500 events in my time.

Before I tried to get published I thought you had to be something special to be a published author. I was thinking along the lines that you had to be very intelligent, rich, maybe from London and – perhaps – posh.

And some authors are intelligent. Some are even from London. But…

…what I’m saying is that when I ran book festivals I met authors and realised they are mostly just normal people. And that the one thing they have in common is a strong drive to write, to be writers.

Meeting authors at book festivals made me believe I could have a go at being a writer. That I could dare to dream. I even dreamed about talking at book festivals.

Anyone can write. You don’t have to be special or rich or clever or posh. You just have to want to do it.

Do the Summer Reading Challenge!

The Summer Reading Challenge is a fantastic way of keeping children interested in reading during the six-week school holidays.

This year the theme is Creepy House.

One of the first things my daughter wants to do when school breaks up is go to the library and join up for the challenge. She likes the free goodies she is given. She likes the stickers. She likes the books (usually). And she likes the challenge. Can she read six books over the summer break?

I have made a short video about Creepy House that schools and parents may want to use. In the video I talk about the Summer Reading Challenge and about how libraries are worth a visit in the summer. I also recommend a few creepy books that I have enjoyed.

Tom Palmer on the Summer Reading Challenge

The characters in my new book - Ghost Stadium - do not head for the library on the day they break up, like I hope my daughter will. Instead, they sneak into an abandoned football stadium on a daring camping trip. Unfortunately for them the stadium is haunted and they do not have a very nice time. On a more positive note, they help solve a mysterious unsolved murder. Ghost Stadium is published by Barrington Stoke.

Please encourage any children you know or work with to go to their local library and join the Summer Reading Challenge. It'll be good for the libraries, good for authors like me and - most importantly - it will be good for them.

Have a great summer.

Visit the Summer Reading Challenge website.

A classroom cricket conundrum

The Ashes begin on 10th July. England playing Australia at cricket in another tussle for the famous trophy. It is going to dominate the sporting news for several weeks.

I've written a one-page mystery story for children or classrooms to try to solve. A puzzle for them before or during the summer holiday.

Can your child or class solve the Ashes Mystery?

Here is the solution. It might help the children if they do a little research about the Ashes games and - in particular - the trophy.

Good luck.

How to use Airfix models to get kids writing

I am working with the RAF museum in Cosford tomorrow. We are piloting a writing workshop where we will compare making an Airfix model to writing a story.

Most stories start with a character.
Airfix kits usually begin with the pilot.

Next comes motivation. What does the character want or not want?
That's the propeller: the part of the machine that drives the plane, or story, forwards.

The fuselage is the setting.
The wings create the plot.
The wheels - up or down - are the choice of genre.
The canopy determines the point-of-view.
The paint and decals are the descriptions.
And it goes on.

The idea is that 20 children will work on an Airfix Spitfire at the same time as deciding the main components of a story they want to write. This is the overall plan:

The reason behind this workshop is that some children find it hard starting a story, coming up with the main components. Just as it would be difficult to make a Spitfire model without all the parts. The workshop should give the children a structure to work from when writing stories in the future.

Also, it will introduce them to the fun that can be had making Airfix models. And to our history.

I'll blog more about it after the event. Until then, chocks away...

Five tips to get young Lions reading

The British and Irish Lions kick off their three-test series tomorrow, Saturday 22nd June. This is a great opportunity to encourage young rugby fans to read.

Here are five tips to do just that:

1. Deliver a newspaper to the door of your Lions fan, with breakfast in bed, encouraging them to sit and study the form at ease.

2. Invest in the Official Lions magazine or this month's Rugby World (both pictured), even giving them that tonight as bedtime reading.

3. If you can't follow the game on Sky TV or on TalkSport (I can't: I'll be at my daughter's dance class), you can follow it on the BBC website, Twitter feed or their sports App.

4. Borrow or buy one of the lavish photographic histories of the Lions from your local bookshop or library.

5. Give them a copy of my, Tom Palmer's, book, Scrum! (pictured) to read before the next test on 29th. Or Gerard Siggins' Rugby Spirit or Dan Anthony's Rugby Zombies.

Australia v Lions kicks off at 11am on Saturday 22nd June. Enjoy the game! And the rugby reading!

Sleeping on the Pitch

I researched my new book - Ghost Stadium - by sleeping on the pitch of the oldest international football stadium in the world. The Racecourse Ground in Wrexham.

I wanted to know how it would feel for three boys to camp inside an old football stadium. That's because Ghost Stadium is about three boys who camp in an abandoned stadium, overgrown and shut off to the public. And I like to experience what my characters experience. As far as I can.

Sleeping on a football pitch was amazing. As the sun went down and shadow then darkness flooded the stadium, I started to feel a bit creeped-out. But I needed more.

I decided - to make things more scary - to walk around the stands. Inside and out. Through dark corridors. In overgrown stands. I got some ideas about what my characters would feel like.


In the book the dead come to life and things start falling out of the sky. I had to imagine those bits. But I got some good material.

You can read the first chapters of Ghost Stadium here.

Climate Change Week

Climate Change Week takes place from 4th to 10th March 2013. It is a great chance to get children (and adults) thinking about what we can do to reduce the impact of climate change to communities around the world. 

 

In 2011 I became quite obsessed about the metling ice in the Arctic. I read up about it in books that spelled out not only the grim impact climate change is having and coming threat on communities aroud the world, but, in particular, about what will happen in the Arctic when the ice has gone.

 

I visited Tromso and the Arctic areas north of that city in Norway to find out more. Then, using my findings, I wrote a children's novel - White Fear - about five child spies who are trying to prevent a war that is about break out about who owns the oil and gas that lies beneath the Arctic seabed. All too likely, I am sorry to say.

 

My website page on how I went about writing White Fear has more information about that research and on the melting ice.

 

There is a free schools' pack of activities around the book and the theme of climate change too.

But, more importantly, please visit http://www.climateweek.com for more information about Climate Change Week and what you, your family and your school can do to help.

Fair Trade Fortnight

Next half-term it is Fairtrade Fortnight: a great opportunity to get children thinking about where they spend their money and the difference that choice can make other people's lives.

In 2009 I wrote a book about a boy called Kofi, who - as well as being a gifted footballer - was the son of cocoa bean farmers in Ghana.

The book is called Off Side.

At the beginning of the Off Side, Kofi's family were being cheated and not paid a fair amount for their beans. By the end they had become part of the Kuapa Kokoo co-operative which supplies chocolate manufacturers Divine.

I was very lucky, when in Ghana researching my novel, that Divine took me to meet some farmers and to a school paid for by our buying Fairtrade Chocolate. I have seen the results of the decision we can make to buy Fair Trade chocolate: children being well-schooled, learning to run their own businesses and families living in decent accommodation.

 

My blog about visiting a Fair Trade community in Ghana.

 

When I came home I worked with Divine Chocolate to produce a schools' pack that should encourage children to think about the impact of buying Fair Trade products. It is free to download.

 

Free Fair Trade schools' pack

 

There is more information about my book, Off Side, which also looks at people trafficking, particularly the exploitation of young footballers from Africa.

 

About Off Side

 

And, if you would like to download the first chapter of the book for free, it is available here.

 

Off Side: chapter one

 

Fair Trade fortnight runs from 25th February to 10th March 2013.

 

10 Tips for Parents: Using the Six Nations to get your kids reading

The 2013 RBS Six Nations tournament runs from 2nd February to 16th March, with England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy competing to be the northern hemisphere's top rugby nation.

For parents with children interested in rugby - or sport in general - this is a great chance to get them reading. For pleasure.

Here are 10 quick tips on rugby reading that your children could try as the tournament progresses in the next six weeks.

ONE: download the RBS Six Nations app and keep up to date with official news updates, match analyses and player profiles

TWO: read a copy of the latest Rugby World magazine, packed with interviews and expert anaylsis of the tournament - also try The Rugby Paper

THREE: go to the library and borrow rugby books about players, teams, coaching and the history of the game

FOUR: follow previews to the Six Nations in newspapers - on paper online

FIVE: read one of several children's stories about rugby, including The Rugby Zombies by Dan Anthony, Rugby Spirit by Gerard Siggins and Scrum by Tom Palmer

SIX: check out some of the best sports websites for very up-to-date information and videos of key highlights - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/ is a great one

SEVEN: read one of the new books published in time for the Six Nations, checking out your local library or bookshop, with When Rugby was Rugby or the World Rugby Records 2012 book looking good

EIGHT: buy official RBS Six Nations 2013 magazine, to have on the arm of your sofa as you watch the games

NINE: leave any of the above lying around the house, on the kitchen table or as a screen saver on the home computer, if you have one.

TEN: read some of the above together with your children - reading with kids and talking to them about what you are reading is a great way of finding things out - and a great way of embedding reading in them as a thing to do for pleasure

There are other resources that can help parents, teachers and librarians encourage children to read. Check out my last blog for free schools' packs, book lists and other ideas.

www.tompalmer.co.uk