Last year (when they were in Year One), the Year Two classes had lots of fun tweeting and connecting with author Felice Arena as we read the books in his Sporty Kids series. So this year Felice and I had a surprise for them! This morning the three Year Two classes came to the library with their teachers thinking I wanted to have a serious talk to them. You can imagine their surprise (and I think some of them were a bit shocked) when Felice appeared!
What a wonderful hour the Year Twos spent with Felice! They had fun silently cheering on their very own Specky Magee in slow motion. Everyone listened closely as Felice read his Swimming book from Sporty Kids and some students even knew the story off by heart! Felice told them about some of the other books he has written including Specky Magee, Andy Roid, Farticus Maximus (lots of laughs talking about this), Stick Dudes and his picture book Sally and Dave, A Slug Story (which translates differently in Chinese!). He also revealed that he had been an Art teacher and actor before becoming an author. Felice explained that listening to music as he wrote his latest book for older readers helped him think about the setting, plot and mood for his story. He played some of this music and asked students what they were thinking as they heard the music. I think we might have some budding writers in Year Two because their responses were very closely connected to Felice’s new book!
Thank you Felice for coming to visit the Year Twos, and for bringing your books to life and making reading fun!
Here are some photos from Felice’s surprise visit…
How wonderful and very exciting. You are very lucky Year 2s! I bet Miss Y was just excited as you to have one of her favourite authors popping in to say hello. I like the idea of the slow-mo Specky Magee – just makes taking a mark even more exciting. I look forward to reading Felice’s new book. What type of music does Felice listen to? Is it ‘Up There Cazaly?’
Hi Louise,
It certainly was exciting having Felice visit our library! He has so much energy and we hope he didn’t lose his voice after bringing his books to life for us!
I’m not sure if he listened to music when he wrote Specky Magee, but it definitely helped him write his historical novel set in Sicily during WWII. Felice has to be very patient because this book won’t be published until February 2017!
You should go to the Somerset Celebration of Literature in March and see Felice there…
Miss Y 🙂
Did Felice shock the grade twos? I wish I was there. You are so lucky grade twos. Miss Y would also be happy for Felice to come in.
From Edie
Hi Edie,
Felice certainly gave the Year Twos a big surprise!
It was very hard for me to decide which level for Felice to visit and the Year Twos were very lucky to be chosen. I hope you enjoyed hearing and reading about Felice’s visit even if you weren’t there.
I am very excited to have any of our wonderful authors visit our library!
Miss Y 🙂
Hi Miss Y!
I really love looking at Felice Arena’s towel dance.
Hi Miss Y,
Looked really fun wish I was there. I also LOVED the new dance moves. I think my favourite was the shark fin. I think it was the most popular. I also liked when they did the towel.
😉 from Dane
Hi Miss Y,
I wish Felice Arena could come and see us. I AM VERY JEALOUS! And I love his books. I can not wait for a new one.
From Sienna
Hi Miss Y
Why did you choose AP to do the Specky?
From Matteo
3O
Hi Miss Y,
I wish I was with Felice. I wonder if he said stuff about Geelong ?
Did you have a nice time?
from Indi 3o
Hey Miss Y
I can’t imagine the Year Two’s faces when Felice walked in the door. Plus Happy 7th Birthday to the LRC blog.
From Millie 3O
Dear Miss Y,
Thank you for letting the Year Twos see our best author
from Lucia
Hi Lucia,
It was my pleasure to choose the Year Twos to see Felice Arena. Last year as Year Ones you all had lots of fun tweeting with Felice and I know you all enjoy his Sporty Kids books.
Miss Y 🙂
Hi Millie,
Felice had been hiding on the floor in my office so the Year Twos couldn’t see him when they entered the LRC. The Year Twos were shocked at first as though they couldn’t believe Felice was there. Then they were VERY excited!
Thank you for your birthday wishes for our LRC Blog.
Miss Y 🙂
Hi Indi,
I wish I could have invited everyone to see Felice. It was a really hard to choose just one level. We had lots of fun with Felice, especially doing the Swimming dance!
Felice actually didn’t mention Geelong on this visit. (Phew!)
Miss Y 🙂
Hi Matteo,
Felice asked the Year Twos to choose someone to be Specky Magee and take a Specky. I didn’t choose the person.
Miss Y 🙂
Hi Sienna,
It was VERY hard to choose which year level Felice would visit. Felice’s next two Sporty Kids books will be out in May and they will be Basketball and Handball.
Miss Y 🙂
Hi Dane,
We definitely had a fun time with Felice! The Swimming dance was a great success and Felice has added some fun moves. The Shark and Beach Towel moves were my favourite!
Miss Y 🙂
Hi Ariel,
It is a Swimming dance and the Beach Towel is one of the dance moves. It’s a fun dance to do!
Miss Y 🙂
Hi Miss Y,
Was it hard to choose a year level? Thank you for choosing the Year 2s. I loved doing the swimming dance, it was amazing seeing Felice Arena. I had a huge surprise!
From Lucia (2MB)
P.S.You’re the BEST librarian ever!
Dear Miss Y,
The Year 2s were very lucky to see Felice Arena! 🙂
The little clip was fantastic!
I love the moves!!
From Alessandra
Hi Lucia,
It was hard choosing the year level, but I knew the Year 2s had fun tweeting with Felice last year and I thought they would like to see him in person again. I’m so glad you had a huge surprise and I’m relieved I managed to keep it a secret!
Thank you for your lovely comment. I love being a teacher-librarian!
Miss Y 🙂
Hi Alessandra,
Thank you for leaving a comment.
The Year 2s were very excited when Felice appeared in the LRC. We had lots of fun doing the Swimming dance! Felice is very creative coming up with dance moves!
Miss Y 🙂
Hi Miss Y!
Did you pretend that you didn’t now that Felice Arena wasn’t coming in?
From Ariel
3O
Hi Ariel,
The Year Twos thought I was having a talk to them about behaving in the LRC. The last thing they were expecting was Felice! It was a great surprise 🙂
Miss Y 🙂
Dear Miss Y
I wish that I was there but I had croup. I would like to have been there and had a fun time with all of the Grade 2s and Felice.
Heidi
Hi Heidi,
I’m sorry you were sick and missed Felice’s visit and having fun with the Grade 2s. I hope though that you enjoyed seeing the photos in our slideshow so you didn’t miss out completely.
I hope you’re feeling much better now.
Miss Y 🙂