Our library was excited to welcome author and poet Kathryn Apel for her visit on Monday, May 22nd.

However, four keen students met Kathryn the day before at her Poetry workshop at The Little Bookroom in Carlton where they had fun with 30 other children playing with words and exercising their creativity.

I was very excited to meet Kathryn who I’ve known on Twitter for some time. To celebrate the release of Kathryn’s latest verse novel Too Many Friends, I even managed to make a Ferris Wheel cake!

Kathryn spoke to our Year 3-6 classes. Each session with Kathryn was different and we discovered how important Kathryn’s family and her life on the farm are in helping to shape her writing. 

We also learnt a lot about getting stuck in the mud on the farm and how hard it is to get out!

We enjoyed learning how Kathryn writes her verse novels and were very impressed with her shape poems, especially ‘Duck Dad!’ She has given us lots of ideas for our own writing.

At the end of each session, Kathryn encouraged us to turn off our televisions and devices and be creative. Kathryn showed us lots of ways her sons had been creative over the years and students were amazed that one of her boys had made a chain mail top! When Kathryn returned to our library on Tuesday before school she had a wonderful surprise when two students popped in to show they had heard her message and been creative with boxes that night!

One of our Prep classes was very lucky to listen to Kathryn read her book This is the Mud! before she had to leave. This book is special to our library because Kathryn thoughtfully sent it to us when our library was damaged by flooding and now she has been to our library to read it!

Thank you Kat for showing us how to paint pictures with words and reminding us that playing with words and being creative is FUN!