Not only do those look fabulous, but they'd make great models for drawing. Well done, Class 3!
Everyone knew I love wearing flamboyant hats, and one of the surprises they'd planned for me was that everyone designed and wore their own funfair-inspired hat! Some of them were amazingly intricate.
Some of the younger children made colourful paintings of fairground rides.
And lots of the older kids made books!
I wanted to read them all, but it was all I could do to stop everything for a bit, right before everyone came into the assembly hall, and browse the books as fast as I could. This pop-up one jumped out at me:
The author of Chaos Moon put so much into it, it was fantastic.
I loved the books with novelty elements, such as this pocket with 'Foggle glasses'!
On my first visit, we created and played a board game, and here's a much more lovely and carefully planned version.
(Detail)
Another class featured the staff of the Underwater Funfair they had imagined. Meet 'Mr O'fish'ous!
Here are some drawings of Emily, the orphan in Funfair Moon who really, really wants to be an engineer on Jinks & O'Hare's repair team. (Here's a sheet you can download from my website to learn how to draw Emily, step by step.)
Here's a poster advertising the fair.
And several people created the sort of guides you'd collect at the funfair entrance with the tickets, or possibly at an information booth. They were great!
Huge thanks to teacher Lynda Smith for being our school contact person, and Stratford Lit Fest director Annie Ashworth for her inspiring ideas for the schools and for coordinating my visits. And to all the teachers and children who created such amazing work!
(I just had to show you bits and bobs from the room near the entrance lobby.)
I stayed with Annie on my first visit but on the second visit, I stayed in this remarkable hotel, right across the street from William Shakespeare's school and birthplace.
And I got to travel and have dinner with these amazing people who were also doing school visits: writer Abi Elphinstone and a writer and illustrator whose work I've known and loved since I arrived in Britain, Nick Butterworth.
Big thanks to Jo James, who drove us around! Abi and I both knew Jo from the Dubai Lit Fest, where she's the fun highlight of the authors' lounge area and the one who's famous for being able to trouble-shoot any problem or deal with the most difficult of divas. :)
If anyone near Stratford would like to come along next Sunday, I'll be doing a Jinks & O'Hare event with Philip (tickets here) and a group event, the Big Draw Challenge, with Philip, Martin Brown, Rob Biddulph and Jonny Duddle (tickets here). It should be good fun!
http://www.stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/event/big-draw-challenge-with-sarah-mcintyre-martin-brown-rob-biddulph-and-jonny-duddle