On Thursday 19th November, children in year 4, 5 and 6 were lucky enough to experience and enjoy a webinar with Joseph Coelho – a famous author who has recently written Zombierella.

 

In our meeting, he told us what his life was like growing up, what his inspirations are (such as nature), read the prologue, Chapter 3 and 4 from his latest book and told us that he had visited – and joined – around 140 libraries.

 

One of the most interesting parts was when he told us different ways that we could use to create our own 'Fairy Tales Gone Bad'.  He explained that one way of doing this was to find a rhyming word linked to the main character; for example, instead of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ you could have ‘Little Dead Riding Dude’.  Another idea involved tweaking parts of the character’s name, such as changing ‘Rapunzel’ to ‘Poo-punzel’.  A final way was to choose a different setting for your character (‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ could become ‘Jack and the flesh-eating seaweed’).  It really was interesting learning this information!

 

At the end of the session, Joseph answered some questions.  In this, we learnt that it took him 12 years to get his first book published and that, when he is stuck for ideas, he goes outside and surrounds himself in nature.  As he lives by the sea, the beach is somewhere he frequently visits!

 

Joseph also mentioned his top 3 writing tips which were to carry a notebook with you at all times, be aware of all that is going on around you – the sights, smells and sounds – and, finally, he told us to make sure that we READ!

 

It was a really fun way to spend an hour or so.  We have loved reading Zombierella – and think you will, too – and cannot wait to discover what happens in the next Fairy Tales Gone Bad story (which we were told is going to be released in 2021 and called Frankenstiltskin).

 

Written by children in Hogarth class