World Book Day

Yesterday was World Book Day. As part of the celebrations I was invited to Donoughmore National School to do readings and Q&A to 5th and 6th classes. As both classes had read The Third Pig, they promised to be intetersting sessions as they'd be the first groups I'd spoken to where everyone had read the book. After reading the poo chapter to 6th class (always a favourite and it seemed to go down well) there was an energetic Q&A. After a much needed cuppa I then spoke to 5th class, read the closing chapter (due to popular demand) and followed it up with another Q&A which included:-

- do you like chocolate chip muffins (yes, actually)
- me mistaking a pupil dressed as Harry Potter for Spiderman (well he was a good bit away and wearing red and black).
- lots of questions about Chelsea, John Terry and the previous weekends match with Man City

I rounded off the visit by giving a sneak preview of Chapter 1 of The Ho Ho Ho mystery to both classes and they seemed to enjoy it.

I had a great time at the school, throughly enjoyed my visit and the pupils seemed to enjoy it too. Kudos to the teaching staff, who not only gave me a great welcome and made me feel right at home but - as the school was celebrating 100 years - had dressed up in clothes from 1910 for the day.

Later that evening I gave a reading to the On The Nail writers group and spoke a little bit about how I developed the book and how I used the web to find constructive critque groups. As well as me there was a brilliant poet called Brendan Murphy who treated us to some of his excellent (and very accessible) work. This was followed by an Open Mic session where local writers could read their work to an appreciative audience. There was a good mixture of prose and poetry and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Throw in a few songs and it made for a great evening's entertainment.

I eventually arrived home at midnight knackered and almost voiceless after a fantastic day out.