All the children in Primary 4 and some Primary 3 children had the enjoyable experience of completing a workshop with the author, Declan Carville.
The children had completed a lot of preparation, looking forward to Declan's visit.
Declan took time to describe his work in detail and the children were all so engaged and offered many valuable contributions. They also had many questions for Declan, from what inspired Declan to become an author, to his favourite creation, to how many other stories had he wrote, to where did he get his ideas, amongst many others.
Some of Declan's titles include, 'The Magic Harp', 'The Lost Seagull', 'Nelly Fandango', 'Sister Bridget' and many more, but they are all magical. Declan then told the children the importance of writing and to enjoy writing they should always include themselves or little things from their background. He described how to plan a story using start, middle and end to form a key idea. This can then be developed with a storyboard to help build ideas, by drawing/sketching pictures with a sentence attached. Keeping things simple before adding in more detail is very important.
The children were amazed when Declan told them the story of the Fairy Glen and showed them some amazing pictures he had captured, proving that Fairies undoubtedly exist.
The also heard the story of Valentine O'Brien who overcame the sadness of being excluded, to demonstrate the amazing talents she believed she had. This was a wonderful little story.
All the children then received a copy of 'The Magic Harp' signed with a personal message from Declan.
Everyone in the two classes want to say a huge thankyou to Declan and the AmmA Centre for making this brilliant workshop possible.
