Merry Christmas to all snail and snail book lovers out there!  True to form, three days before the arrival of the snow, down went the snails deep into their dark, dark peat.  They made their front doors of snaily slime.  The slime dried and turned a pearly white.  The doors finally closed.  The snails have gone to sleep.  Not for them the joys of Christmas shopping!  Not for them the stomachs full of Christmas pudding!  Not for them the aching bellies!  No!  They have retreated into a land of dreams and of warmth; a land where there is nothing but cucumber and cuttlefish and where a woman sits close by, pen in hand, watching and waiting, waiting for a new story  – a story for the New Year.

Thank you all for your support this year.

With love to you all.

Sarah

BINSTED

Looking forward to seeing Years 3,4,5, and 6 on January 19th. If the weather continues to be mild I may bring some visitors in with me when I come in ….. visitors of a rather slippery nature! You have been warned.

HERNE JUNIOR SCHOOL

I’m also looking forward to a visit to Years 5/6 in January at Herne Juniors in Petersfield. We’re going to talk about how we as a family began to write and the problems many children have with planning stories. I may have a visitor or two with me. With a bit of luck we’ll talk about the lifecycle of snails and one or two might still be awake. If the snow comes in the meantime you can be sure they’ll be snoring their heads off by January.

ROPLEY VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS FAYRE SNAIL WINNER

9-year old competition winner Phoebe will take delivery of her snail this week – just in time before it goes into hibernation. Or will it?

SLITHERING NEWS

I have friends who have friends who have African land snails and their snails are asleep! Are mine so active that they do not wish to sleep? It can only mean that we are in for a mild winter – they do make the most excellent weather vanes.

SELBORNE ARTS AND CRAFTS FESTIVAL

We have just finished a good weekend in Selborne. People were very interested in our books and we sold many copies of The Secret Scroll. There seemed to be good awareness of the school book. Many people said they had read about it in the press, whether in the Alton Herald, the Petersfield Post or the Alton Post Gazette; others had seen our bit on ITV News on Friday evening’s Meridian broadcast. ITV gave the piece a beautiful treatment – all Once upon a Time and soft focus kind of treatment – and we shall be for ever grateful to Kim Hewitt and Rachel Hepworth for working with us on getting this out before Christmas.

WATERSTONE’S

We took a group of children into the Alton branch of Waterstone’s on Saturday. It was fun, if a bit daunting, for them. Selling to a ‘cold’ audience can be quite frightening, but their charm won many people over and, operating within the children’s book section of the store, we were allowed much freedom to ‘sell’.

What do I mean by a ‘cold audience’? I don’t mean they were horrid or literally quite cold; I mean the children had to speak to other children and adults whom they did not know or who had never heard about the school’s writing project. It was a good lesson in selling and I think it showed the children how hard it is to try to interest someone in a book they have never heard of. The children all did very well. We sold eight books and the store kept seven to sell on. Those books we sold were all signed by the children and I know that gave them a bit of a buzz.

‘I feel like I’m famous!’ said Karyee.

‘Can we do the film of the book now?’ asked Jonathan.

Jonathan from Newspaper Group was the last child to leave. He was lucky enough to find out where our books were going to be placed on the bookshelves and to see the ‘Signed by the Author’ stickers go on. Jonathan and I share a secret here, but I am sure he won’t mind me telling you: it wasn’t just me who got to sign those extra copies, was it Jonathan –  Jonathan did too!

Our school project is coming full circle: fourteen months ago at Newspaper Club some children asked if I could help them to write and to publish their own fiction book. That book has now been published.  It’s sitting on its shelf in Waterstone’s. People are ordering if from the internet; people are buying it at craft events; people are walking into bookshops and ordering it direct. It’s almost come full circle. The question is, what do we do next?  More of that later.

FOLLOW OUR TRAIL ……

Where am I this week? Where can you buy madaboutsnailbooks? We’re going to be popping up somewhere, so watch this space.

HOT NEWS!

We’ve just heard that Newsround has been in touch with the school about The Secret Scroll project. Now the children might get a mention on national TV!  What a wonderful Christmas present that would make indeed. 

INTERESTED IN WRITING PROJECTS?

If you are interested in hearing more about our school writing projects then please email Sarah Lucas on sarah@madboutsnailbooks.com

ALTON CONVENT SCHOOL

There were so many entries for the colouring competition, and they were all so incredibly good in many different ways it was a tough one to judge so my daughter Amy came to my rescue. Special mentions go to the following: Aerin for beautiful neat colouring; Daisy for her use of glitter; Imogen for her beautiful border; Joanna for her fluffy bobble on the snail’s eye; Charlotte and Harry for their beautiful use of colours; Sophie for her very original and unique design; Olivia for her great colouring of the snail’s shell and for her beautiful presentation; Nina for her gorgeously bright picture and Isabella for her abstract design (Amy’s words not mine) of the title.

And so, with many, many congratulations, 2nd prize is awarded to India for her beautiful colouring, with 1st prize going to Eshana. We thought Eshana’s colouring was fabulous, highly creative and absolutely stunning, with a clever twist. Well done Eshana, India and everyone who took part! 

The winning entry by Eshana

WOOTEYS

Hello to Wooteys. A copy of Snails Don’t Burp! and Snail Park are being delivered to Mrs. Page in the Library this afternoon. Please let me know what you think of the story lines, the Supersonic Rock Scruncher in Snails Don’t Burp! and if anyone likes the character of Laura Crust in Snail Park. Do you like her name? And what about Bill Bracket? Will he ever fall out of love with Amy?

I’m looking forward to picking up your colouring competition entries next week and to announcing the winners in time for Christmas.

ROPLEY VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS FAYRE

Congratulations to 9-year old Phoebe! You came 1st in the colouring competition and have won a real live snail. I know you are out and about finding a suitable tank and will take delivery of your snail this week. Well done for your pretty colouring!  Let me know what name you give your snail because we are trying to keep a family tree.

Sorry to the girls from Perins. I know you desperately wanted a snail – maybe next year? Amy says Hi to Emily. ‘Keep on diving! I might be back at swimming one day!’

SLITHERING NEWS

It is with some amusement I have to report that our snails have not yet gone into hibernation. The cold snap has not sent them burying down into the dark, dark peat just yet, but I suspect it is only a matter of hours! Snails are very sensitive to temperature change and I can only think that they are very hungry after their recent school trips. They are tucking into cabbage leaves as I write this blog, so I guess they could be getting ready for their big sleep or just waiting until the snow arrives …

FOLLOW OUR TRAIL ……

If anyone wants to come and say hello to us we’d love to see you this weekend. We can be found in the Village Hall of Selborne at its Arts & Crafts Festival on Saturday and Sunday from 11.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. We take a quick ‘dip out’ of it to go to Waterstone’s in Alton from 12.00 midday on the Saturday, just for an hour or two. We’ll be in store with some of our little authors from Selborne Primary School, promoting the very special book, The Secret Scroll! If the snails are still awake they’ll be with us in Selborne. Come and wish them a good and long hibernation if you’re passing.

Christmas orders for Snail Trail, Snails Don’t Burp!, Snail Park and The Secret Scroll are available up until 24th December and can be delivered to anyone free of charge within five miles of Newton Valence. Just go to the website and look under Book Shop to place your order. Alternatively visit Waterstone’s in Alton or pick up the ‘phone and call me direct on (01420) 587351.

A pink snail, Gary from Spongebob Squarepants, is also available, price £4.99 and is a common purchase with our first book Snail Trail.

The madaboutsnailbook series is aimed at 5-11 year olds with shortish chapters for bed-time reading and language suitable for primary school children. The series has been recommended for the shared reading scheme in primary schools and is a popular choice in libraries and bookshops. 

Sarah is a member of The Society of Authors, NAWE (the National Association of Writers in Education) and has a profile on ContactAnAuthor.co.uk.  She is currently working on a programme of workshops for primary school children for 2010 to address the problems children experience with writing.

THE SECRET SCROLL

The dust is settling after the book launch of The Secret Scroll but there are still more wonderful things to look forward to. The write-up in the Alton Herald has been delayed this week so our fingers are crossed for early December. Then there’s the ITV report. That too has been delayed and we eagerly await its transmission this week. It will be wonderful for the children to see the results of all their hard work televised for everyone to see.

The Alton branch manger of Waterstone’s has invited the children in to promote their book which is really kind of Sheena Allardyce. Perhaps we can persuade the children to put on their Roman costumes for one last time. We look forward to our visit there and to spending time with children’s specialist (and snail-lover) Kirsty.

The Secret Scroll made the front page of the Alton Post Gazette to everyone’s delight. I picked up a whole bundle of the newspapers and have passed them out to the children and their parents. It was an extra surprise for them.

ALTON CONVENT SCHOOL

I spent a lovely day with the nursery up to Year 6 children and their teachers at the Alton Convent during their Book Week. It’s always fun for me to be the visiting author for the day in any school, but there was an added surprise for me.  I met the lovely Val Wilding and her daughter (whose son is at Eggars with my daughter, Amy: another coincidence).

With the younger children I talked more about the snails and a little bit about story-writing. With the older children I talked about how we began to write as a family growing up with the gift of an African land snail, what it takes to publish a book and the problems children can experience with writing their own stories. So many seem to get so far and then get stuck, even if they have done a little bit of planning.

Planning
Speaking of planning I showed the older children my original planning sheet for Snail Trail. It’s a scruffy piece of A4 paper. It’s got the days of the week written on the top left-hand side, followed by hand-written notes of what action should take place in the story and on which day. It’s got three columns on the bottom half of the page. Each column has a heading: beginning, middle and end. Under each heading there are seven chapters. This sheet was my working sheet. It was stuck to my computer with a long piece of tape for weeks. It helped me to write and to finish my story. There are lots of crossings out on it. It was my working draft. Without it I’d have got stuck before I’d reached the middle part like so many children seem to. I hope the children remember my scruffy piece of paper and that it helps them to plan their stories before they sit down to write.

I returned to the Convent to sign Snail Trail books later this week.

Thank you to Charlotte, Sienna and Rebecca for looking after me so well on the day and to Anne Wilson, Director of Studies, for organising my visit. Thanks to Sienna for the photographs – the sheet is on my noticeboard: your smiling faces look down at me and watch me as I write. I have been invited to your Carol Service and have accepted the invitation so perhaps I’ll bump into you then.

Amy and I are judging the colouring competition today so …. watch this space for competition winners. I know it’s going to be tough because I can see there are many excellent ones. I will e-mail Anne with the results then post them on my blog.

WOOTEYS

I returned to an old haunt, Wootey’s, just up from the Convent, last week and gave talks to mixed groups of Years 3 to 6 about book writing, publishing and the lifecycles of snails. Everyone was so welcoming it was a real pleasure returning to Wootey’s. I met the new Headteacher, Heather Clarke: and saw so many familiar faces, teachers and pupils alike, it’s always a lovely experience for me.

It was interesting for me to hear that Years Five and Six children continue to struggle with descriptions of setting and characters.

Problems with Characters and Settings

I hear this a lot at many different schools. I try to explain in my visits that it is much easier to describe things that are known. We began to write as a family because my children grew up around African land snails. It was easy to describe what a giant snail might be like because we had real ones at home to watch. It was easy to describe our characters because most of those in our book are based on real people with a bit of added extras to make them our own. Our books are based on real places – Selborne and Newton Valence. We know these places well. We go up to Selborne Common. We sit there and write. We write about what we can see, hear and smell. It makes our descriptions alive and therefore more credible.

Write About What you Know

I wish I could write about wizards and goblins and make those descriptions believable; but I just know I can’t. I would get stuck! Write about what you can see, about people you know and about things you can explain and 1. you will find it easier to write and 2. your writing will become more believable. The end result is you will finish up with a piece of writing people can identify with. It will give your story credibility.

In the meantime, I wait to receive your competition entries, Wooteys, and we’ll see if anyone wants a snail before Christmas.

CHAWTON SCHOOL SUPPORT GROUP FUND-RAISER

On Thursday evening I took some books along to the Chawton School Support Group at Chawton Village Hall. Again I saw many familiar faces. Our large snail, Bob, with the beautifully patterned shell, was very popular and the third book in the snail series, Snail Park, proved very popular.

But we had another coincidence: the stallholder next to me, Julian Starmer-Smith, was telling me he’d been rescued from a very muddy Selborne School field the previous week. He was trying to find out who the man was. It told him it was my husband, Pip. Pip had returned home drenched to the bone that day and very unhappy he’d been unable to help a couple and their vehicle stuck in the mud. It’s a small world indeed and gives me yet another real-life happening I could use in a book.

ROPLEY VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS FAYRE

The next day it was the turn of Ropley Victorian Christmas Fayre at Ropley Village Hall where we took a table in the small hall. Bob the snail performed well again and we had much interest in The Secret Scroll book.

To the girls from Perins, I’m about to judge the snail competition, so any day now there’ll be a posting here on the winning entry! Not sure your mums would be too happy about any of you winning a snail! Good luck to the others who entered – Amy will have the final say because she can be totally independent because she was not there on the night!

Louise Walden, a friend of Amy Cox from Four Marks, was there with her lovely daughter. She very kindly invited me to give a talk to the Brownies next year so I’m looking forward to that with much anticipation. I have seen Louise and her daughter round and about and they are keen snail book supporters.

One very kind gentleman gave £1.01p towards the next gifted and talented project at Selborne School and there has been much interest in it. I know £1.01 is a small amount. It’s someone’s change. But it’s the thought that counts. If people were to carry on making donations I could look at helping not just the gifted and talented. In fact that’s where my thinking is going following the publication of The Secret Scroll and there have been discussions about this at Selborne already. I am thinking of putting a snail in a tank up for auction to raise money for another book project with children but I’ve got to think that one through yet. Your own thoughts would help here.

ALL SAINTS, TILFORD

I wonder how the children got on with the colouring competition after my visit and wait to hear from Julie Campbell. Thank you, Callum for your Rocket Scruncher competition entry. We love the ‘face’ you have given it. You have made your own character out of it. How lovely. We hope to announce the competition winner before Christmas.

BOB, BOB AND BOB

And the snails? Well, as many of you know we tend to call them all Bob, apart from the odd Gary! Well, they are not asleep yet. They say it’s going to be a mild winter. This will only confuse the snails, so it means they might not go into hibernation just yet. African land snails can hibernate for more than three months. The minute it turns cold you can be sure they’ll dig deep down in the soil, go into their shells and close their silvery, slimy door.

BENTLEY PRIMARY SCHOOL

Talking of slimy doors, does anyone remember that amazing moment at Bentley Primary School? I was holding up a snail that had gone into hibernation. It was spring. Its silvery front door was firmly shut. Then, because the classroom was lovely and warm and it was coming to the end of winter, the snail decided to wake up. I held up the snail, on its back, and we all watched as the foot of the snail began to emerge, its silver crust lying straight across its body like the top on a mushroom! That has only ever happened once.

This blog entry is a long one. It covers a very busy week and is written before another busy one begins. Amy and I are now going to judge the competition entries from Alton Convent and the Ropley Fayre. It’s Sunday morning. The boys are at rugby. The house is quiet. Let the judging commence.

We had the book launch at Selborne School this weekend and it was just wonderful.  A photographer from the Alton Herald came along to take pictures of the children and their book. Ian Troup from Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service came along to join us as did our editor, Rosemary Lanning, who helped with our blurb and gave it the ‘puff’ it needed.

Rosemary used to work for Blackie and Son (later bought by Penguin) and also freelanced for Dinosaur Publications in Cambridge (Althea Books) and North-South Books, an international publisher of picture books.   As an aside I have just found out that my accountant who lives in New Zealand used to work with Rosemary’s husband.  My accountant said ‘I know a Lanning who now lives in Selborne.  His name’s Mike.  Any connection to Rosemary?’  Well there is a connection.   It’s a small world isn’t it?

The wonderful Guy Nicholson came and joined us for the photoshoot and stayed to sign copies of the book.  He had worked with the children on their design for the front cover (Louis’ design) so it was a real pleasure to have him come and sign books.  He’s a very talented illustrator indeed and designs all the madaboutsnailbook covers.

The children looked lovely in their Roman costumes during the photoshoot and didn’t seem to mind the camera waving around in front of them.  Many thanks to all those children for behaving so beautifully and for looking just the part on the day.  The book has a Roman theme which is why we had asked them to dress up.

Talking of cameras, we should be on ITV Meridan News this week. The lovely Rachel Hepworth came in and interviewed staff and children all about the book.  She made everyone feel so comfortable and we look forward with immense excitement to the screening of our two minutes this week!

Mrs. Janet Knott, the Headteacher at Selborne School added a really interesting dimension to our session with the ITV News crew.  Before they left she asked them how they had got into the jobs they had chosen and what they had had to study to get into television.  It was fascinating hearing their replies nd I’m sure it was an added bonus for the children.

I was also on Delta Radio on Friday and yesterday, but I never got to hear it which I must chase up.  For those of you who’d like to go into radio, it’s a lot easier ‘appearing’ on the radio than on the television because you don’t have to worry how you look.  I was much more comfortable speaking to someone down the telephone and had had about a minute’s notice that I was going to be on air. 

210 copies of The Secret Scroll have been sold and we now have some forty orders waiting to go out:  that’s 250 books gone out of a print-run of 500.   How wonderful for the children to see their books ‘flying off the shelves’.

They are already talking about the sequel. We have four titles to choose from and there is interest in producing a board game called The Secret Scroll.  What do you think?  If you’ve read the book and you think it would lend itself to a board game then let us know.   We’d love to hear from you. 

And if you haven’t read the story?   I’d get a copy pretty quickly.  The first £1,000.00 from book sales will go towards the next project at school, by the way, whether it’s for the sequel or the board game.  We’d like to open up things a little bit to attract some new children to Newspaper Club from the school, so it’s an on-going initiative we’re trying to develop.  You don’t have to be great at drawing or writing. You might just have great ideas, be good at making connections on paper, or just want to have a go at designing a board game.  Come and join us.

Hurry if you haven’t bought your copy of the book …. they’re disappearing fast.  Order through Selborne School on 01420 511213, by email through sarah@madaboutsnailbooks.com or by ‘phone 01420 587351 (local delivery is free within five miles of Selborne).

Congratulations to Selborne Primary School, to the children who stayed with this project for so long, and thanks to everyone who has bought a copy of the book or who helped us along the way.

This book is so beautiful.

My hands tremble as I hold it.

It feels so good.

The children will be over the moon!   I cannot wait for them to see it!

The image stares back at me from the cover in all its glory of fire, brick and blue.  The characters spring out from the page.  I feel like they want to come alive and yet, in my head, they already are, creations of Newspaper Club, creations of twenty children and one author.

The scroll glistens and gleams in Tom’s hand.  It suggests mystery and magic ….

I want to sit down and read the book all over again.  Find a quiet corner. Immerse myself in the magic.  Live the book.  Go into my own world …..

I flick through the pages.  The book breathes.  I know what mystery lies written within it.  It’s a secret – the Secret Scroll.  A fizzy feeling wells up inside me and I want to scream with joy.  Instead, my brain tells me to calm down.  The fizz turns into a smile on my face and a wave of wonderment floods my brain.   I cannot wait for our little authors to see their book and it will all be captured for television.  Yes.  Our little authors will be on ITV News …. we have photographers coming ….  how cool is that?

I am going to wrap up the children’s books right now.

Three and a half hours to go until lift-off …. WOW!

I’ve got it!

It’s like millions of stars exploding inside my head. This little package in my hands holds fourteen months of hard, hard work.  It’s the children’s book. It’s here!  I’ve got a copy!  They’ve done it!  All I have to do now is open it .. check it … get ready for that happy smile.

I run my hands over the envelope.

I look at the pretty stamps, the careful handwriting that has been scrawled on the label.

I wonder if whoever wrote the label realises the effect the book will have.

I can’t wait ……

I grab a corner of the white envelope.

I begin to tear the paper.

I see a brown corner.

It’s the book!

I close my eyes.

I hold my breath.

Then I begin to rip!

Anticipation rises in my throat.

I open my eyes  … then ….

wonderment!

I close my eyes and rip some more.

Then I catch my breath …

We had a good meeting today at Newspaper Club, the place the whole idea for The Secret Scroll began some fourteen months ago. I told the children that ITV News were coming in to do some filming, two days before the book launch, and we talked about what that would mean.

Then we discussed what the children could wear at the book launch. The Secret Scroll has a roman theme. We talked about dressing up as romans and the children were quite keen to dress up, though one little girl said her mummy had no spare sheets she could wear as a toga but I said we’d come up with a spare one and she was not to worry.

Then we talked about Waterstone’s. The Alton branch manager has invited us in to do a promotion on the book so we talked about what time of the day might be good for the children, given that the visit would have to be on a Saturday and so many children are busy with their lives and families on Saturdays.

We talked about publicity at the book launch, how the local paper had booked a photographer. We discussed timing and the fact they’d all have to turn up for the photocall on time so that nobody got left out. That would be tragic we thought. Then they all got a little over-excited and I kept thinking we only had 35 minutes to get the trolley of laptops out, log onto the Newsround website and send messages from each member of Newspaper Club to try get some coverage on the national news.

Suddenly everyone was talking at once. I wondered how teachers ever managed to get through the day without losing their voices. I tried blocking my ears and a very kind teacher from mext door popped into the classroom and said if I needed any help she was next door (we were a teacher down!). I smiled and looked at the clock. Tick, tick, tick it went. 30 minutes to go. I gave it one last shot and asked for volunteers to fetch the laptops. Two boys went and I told everyone to sit down, open the laptops and log onto CBBC.

I suddenly realised, with the teacher on sick leave, I had no idea just how much navigation the children had done on the Internet. Amazingly they all logged on without too much fuss, got onto Newsround and we all clicked onto Contact Us. Well, with twenty minutes to go we began to write. Most of the children had already drafted a message for Newsround the previous week and, with their little fingers, they were never going to write loads.

I wrote down the key messages on the board. I reminded everyone about the 5Ws we had discussed at Newspaper Club – the Who, What, Why, When, Where that needed to be covered in the story – and most of the children managed to write three or four sentences.

It was great.

With seven minutes to go, the children were sending messages to Newsround; some of the laptops lost contact and two children did not get to send their contributions, but we will do these next week.

Sometimes one hour just isn’t long enough to do what has to be done. It’s a bit like whizzing around in a washing machine on spin cycle.

I was amazed that at 4.30 on the dot most of the children had sent a message, logged off, replaced the laptops back in the trolley, grabbed their bags and coats and made their way towards the hall where their parents were already waiting.

It’s amazing this creative stuff. It’s amazing what children can do given an opportunity. And that’s it, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter if my head is in a spin. At the end of it all, the book launch will come together. The children will have their pictures taken and appear on television, and hopefully – hopefully – some of the messages from this whole experience will come flooding back to them one day … and their minds will grow because of it. Lovely!

Fourth book’s just gone to print. Heart is in my mouth. Feel caught between fear and tremendous excitement. This one’s been a long one, a fascinating process of collaboration with primary school children, Ian Troup at Hampshire County Council, Pauline Patterson a G&T Consultant and Elaine Platzer at Selborne Primary School. We’ve been lucky enough to have worked with Rosemary Lanning, a former editor, who has helped the children to come up with a great piece of blurb for the back cover. She pointed to many inconsistencies in our draft. We will be eternally grateful to her. Friends have read the book. It’s called The Secret Scroll. It’s not the fourth book in the snail series, popular with 7-11 year olds. This one’s different. It’s the children’s story. It’s their plot. The characters are their own. It has a Roman theme. There are over 24,000 words, 40 illustrations and 110 pages. At £4.99 it’s great value! Guy Nicholson has worked with the children and come up with a fantastic jacket design. We’ve had kind words from Quentin Blake.

There’s so much riding on this book. There are many people who have made such a massive contribution to it, at the heart of which are the children. The Secret Scroll is their book. I want them to be proud of it. I really do think that they still don’t believe it’s an actual book that’s going to be on bookshelves, on Amazon, pickable up from the local shop, available from any book shop all they have to do is order it and it can be obtained from any book shop in the world! It’s wonderful. I just can’t wait for them to get the delivery … to open the box … to see their work in PRINT … to watch their faces as the reality sinks in!

So here I am in this no man’s land, this land of expectation, this land of fear. Will it all work out?

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