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Catching Words is AMAZING

24/6/2019

Beyond thrilled to open my postbox today and see that the marvellous books that I helped create during the Catching Words Project had arrived. Five different classes, five very different stories, all weirdly wonderful and all a total joy to help bring to life.

The first school that I worked with was Woodgrange Infants. Willow Class created The Unstoppable Robot - "the story of Messy Silver Rocky, a good but messy little robot who lived in a secret lair under an old junk yard".

In contrast the other class, Hawthorn, wrote: The Legend of the Two Battling Phoenixes, their own explanation on how the sun and the moon came to be.

Moving up to Year 3 with a class at Sandringham Primary School, the terrifying Evil Queen was created, literally bursting out the story of Alina and the Book of Monsters.

Some of the children in Year 2 at Altmore Infant School wrote Brilliant Imagining Raven, the funny, sweet story of Brilliant, one of the Tower of London Ravens, who gets lost in her own powerful imagination.

Last, but not least came The Repeated War, a sinister ghost story created by a class at St James' CE Primary. To lighten the dark story was Christina, a charming, brightly-coloured fish, as big as a shark, who could communicate by making word bubbles.

As a creator of children's books it is thrilling to work so closely with a class, capturing characters, settings, story and plot ideas and turning them into a real book that the children treasure.

The Catching Words Project is available to any KS1 and KS2 class based in or around London and, because it is subsidised by the Man Charitable Trust and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, it's inexpensive for schools to take part.

In summary, the class work with a poet, a story teller and a writer to play with words and ideas. The process is overseen by a Discover Story Builder and celebrated with the presentation of their own class book at the Discover Children's Story Centre in Stratford, East London.

You'd not be surprised to know how rewarding and worthwhile the Catching Words Project is for everyone who takes part (just look how excited I am) not least the children themselves.

To find out more about the project and how you might get your school involved please visit the Catching Words Project page on the Discover Children's Story Centre Website: Find Out More

I'm delighted and honoured to be asked back next year and can't wait to create more magic stories. Love, love, love Catching Words.

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What Am I Reading?

22/6/2019

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It seems obvious that I would be straight into reading the new book by Katherine Rundell, seeing as I met her for the first time on Monday.

If I'm being completely honest, I've not started it yet, but it has been getting some amazing reviews, so just sitting down to read my signed hardback copy right now!

The other books that I have read recently include; A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard; Red Leaves by Sita Brahmachari; Last Days of the Morning Calm by Tina Jimin Walton; Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Rauf; Dreamology by Lucy Keating;

And The Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness; The Boy The Bird and the Coffin Maker by Matilda Woods; A Dog So Small by Philippa Pearce (coming back to as an adult - magic); The Imaginary by AF Harold; Love and Lies - Marisol's Story by Ellen Wittlinger; Every Day by David Levithan; Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen by Dyan Sheldon; You Don't Know Me by Sophia Bennett; Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys; Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen; Night of the Party by Tracey Mathias; Trouble by Non Pratt. Think that's all of them. I've also read some adult ones too.

As usual - no reviews here. If you'd like to know my thoughts I usually review on Goodreads.

Happy reading in the glorious sunshine everyone!

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Interview

20/6/2019

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Just a very quick blog post to say that there's an interview with me that has just been published on NFReads. Here is the link if you would like to take a look: Interview with Camilla Chester

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Katherine Rundell

19/6/2019

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I did it! I met her, gave her a copy of each of my books and my all time favourite Winnie The Pooh card with a nice message inside because...well because not only is she Katherine Rundell, the writer of fantastic books like Rooftoppers and The Explorers and Wolf Wilder, she was also the judge that TWICE picked out my writing as worth recognition.

Writing can be such a solitary thing and you often have no idea if what you are doing is any good. Obviously the best thing is having readers tell you they love it, but if that reader is another author that you hugely admire, well it is like all your birthdays put into one delicious chunk of chocolate. Delicious.

I hope that Kate (first name terms now) will read my books, then keep them safe, putting them up on her shelves alongside her other children's books.

I went to the Katherine Rundell talk with my very good friend Sarah, but was delighted to see some of my SCBWI friends there too. We had to get a group photo. Can you spot Andy Shepherd author of the Boy Who Grew Dragons series?

Fantastic evening and one I will always remember.

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I'm a Finalist!

13/6/2019

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It's true - my new book, Darna's Sky, about a girl born in secret in the underbelly of a Singapore hotel, reached the final five in the highly competitive Mslexia Children's Novel Competition 2019. The news is a really big deal and will hopefully open lots of doors for me. This is how I'm celebrating being a finalist.

NB: Kids - if you want to celebrate with me, substitute the champers (a drink you will hate until you're older) with a sparkling one of your own choice. You might like to select pink lemonade that was served at the launch of Thirteenth Wish, for example. Keep the face mask though - there's no age restrictions on that - and silly hair dos are obligatory (as in you MUST have one).

OK, so I know that I didn't actually win, but the final five is REALLY good.

However, if I'm being completely honest, there is a slight feeling of deja vu. Let's not forget that my debut, Jarred Dreams was also shortlisted in 2015 by the National Literacy Trust when I entered into their New Author competition. Even one of the judges is the same this time round - the amazing Katherine Rundell, author of Rooftoppers and The Explorers.

BTW I am going to meet Katherine Rundell next week as she is doing a talk at David's Bookshop in Letchworth. I think there's still some tickets if you want to go? Click on this link to find out more: Davids Bookshop Events. I'm really looking forward to meeting her - I just hope I don't get star struck. She writes so well, and her books are very popular - she's like a rockstar!

The above photo is genuine proof that I'm a finalist. I think I probably needed to point to the bit about my book just to convince myself that it's true and here I am sharing it with you. It is a wonderful thing and I can't wait to see where it might lead me next. Now off you go and get your face masks on.

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Catching Words is AMAZING

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