Buzzing! Discover the poetry in garden minibeasts. By Anneliese Emmans Dean
160 full colour pages, over 170 close-up photos of garden minibeasts (that it took me around 8 years to take), 67 edu-taining minibeast poems and oodles of factabulous minibeast facts. For children aged 6-12, and for all grown-ups who are young at heart!
So now, it’s over to you. I hope that, as Ben Darvill says in his Foreword,
‘You’ll be edu-entertain-amazed.
Spending time in your garden will never be the same again!’
I’d like to say a big Thank You to the pupils at Le Cateau Primary School in North Yorkshire. Why? Well, for three very important reasons.
Firstly for welcoming me so warmly to their school on World Book Day this year. I greatly enjoyed performing my Buzzing! poetry show for them and then putting on poetry workshops with them afterwards.
World Book Day logo
Secondly for writing me such wonderful, beautifully illustrated, letters after my visit.
An excerpt from a Le Cateau pupil ‘Thank You’ letter
And last, but by no means least, for solving the conundrum of my Buzzing! book subtitle.
You see, when I went to Le Cateau School, everything was ready for my book – except the subtitle. You can find out more about the hunt for the Buzzing! subtitle here. As you’ll hear in the audio clip in that blogpost, the pupils of Le Cateau voted overwhelmingly for ‘Discover the Poetry in Garden Minibeasts’ as the best subtitle for Buzzing! And so … that is the subtitle the publishers and I decided on.
My Buzzing! book has just been published, so I can now reveal to you the title page – complete with subtitle (as chosen by Le Cateau pupils):
Title page of ‘Buzzing! – Discover the Poetry in Garden Minibeasts’, by Anneliese Emmans Dean
Cover of ‘Buzzing! – Discover the Poetry in Garden Minibeasts’ by Anneliese Emmans Dean
I’d like to thank Sheila Silvester of North Yorkshire County Council and Mrs Cafferty of Le Cateau Primary School for organising my visit. Thank you also to all the other Le Cateau teachers and teaching assistants for making me so welcome. Thank you too to Nicola Loxdale of Brambleby Books.
If you’d like your primary school to be Buzzing! for a day, contact me!
Well, not only has the Sheriff of York now heard York schoolchildren perform my award-winning eco-musical Compost! The (mini-)Musical, but the Lord Mayor of York has too. And both of them complimented the children on their work!
The Lord Mayor of York at the Annual School Council Conference at York Theatre Royal, 22 March 2012
This all took place in the very grand surroundings of York Theatre Royal, where the annual York Primary School Council Conference was held last Thursday (22 March). This is an occasion where pupil school councillors from all the primary schools in York get together to share ideas and experiences, put questions to leading members of the York community (including city councillors, head teachers and a police officer), and attend workshops.
I had the great good fortune to be invited to be a workshop leader for the day. In my workshop, I taught the children a very mini version of Compost! The (mini-)Musical – which they successfully learned in super-quick time.
One group even went onto the main stage of York Theatre Royal at the end of the conference and performed the musical to everyone present – including, as I mentioned, the Lord Mayor of York himself! Listen to the end of their performance (followed by a Thank You from teacher Mrs Pendry):
Then, it was the Lord Mayor of York’s turn to speak. Have a listen:
Thank you to the very wonderful Vikki Pendry, York’s Advanced Skills Teacher for Sustainable Schools, for inviting me to take part in the day.
Vikki Pendry, Advanced Skills Teacher for Sustainable Schools in York, 22.3.12
Thanks too to Lesley White and her colleagues at City of York Council for their organisational work.
Most of all, thank you to the inspiring schoolchildren I had the privilege of working with last Thursday. Judging by the creative, responsible and hard-working children I met and whose presentations I watched, I am confident that York will be in very good hands in the future!
Preparing the stage at York Theatre Royal for Compost! The (mini-)Musical, 22 March 2012
There’s great excitement here as my Buzzing! book is due to be published next month (April 2012).
My Buzzing! book, due to be published in April 2012, with around 180 colour photos and 67 edu-taining minibeast poems!
It’s in full colour, includes eight years’ worth of my photos, 160 pages, loads and loads and loads of my poems and plenty of factabulous facts.
But there’s just one thing we’ve yet to decide on: the subtitle!
My publishers, Brambleby Books, and I have come up with three subtitle options:
1. ‘A bug book with a difference’
2. ‘Discover the poetry in garden minibeasts’
3. ‘Minibeast verse, visuals and vital statistics’.
But we haven’t been able to decide which of these is best.
So, I decided to ask the people who really count: children! And I’ve had some great feedback and ideas from them. As you’re about to see (and hear) …
On World Book Day I was performing my Buzzing! show at Le Cateau Primary School in North Yorkshire. So, I decided to ask the children there what they thought my subtitle should be:
A pretty categorical result for subtitle number 2 there, from an audience of primary children who’d just watched my live Buzzing! show.
However, not everyone I asked agreed.
Freddy and Henry in York, for example, preferred ‘Minibeast verse, visuals and vital statistics’. But Katharine in York said this was too wordy. She preferred ‘A bug book with a difference’.
When Mrs Bryant asked her pupils at Hornby St Margaret’s CE Primary School in Lancashire, they didn’t like any of the three subtitles my publishers and I had come up with. Instead, the pupils suggested some fabulous subtitles of their own, which they then voted on. The subtitle the boys liked best was:
‘Minibeasts and much more …’
Whereas the girls’ favourite one was:
‘Step into the garden of twisting and twirling creatures’(which I personally think is fab!)
Mrs Bryant’s favourite was:
‘The book of poems buzzing with bugs’.
Grown-ups I asked were equally divided – and inspired. Catherine in York categorically ruled out ‘Minibeast verse, visuals and vital statistics’, and suggested instead:
‘Bugs in their own words‘.
Charles in foreign parts suggested:
‘Chapter and verse on (small) animals with (big) attitude’.
Bob and Jenny sugested a whole raft of options, including:
‘Who lives in your garden?’
and ‘ ‘Discover the secrets in your garden’.
Their suggestions were very similar to Debra’s niece’s suggestions from over the Pennines in Lancashire. She is a big fan of my Buzzing! CD, and she suggested:
‘What’s lurking in your garden?’
and ‘Discover the secret world of minibeasts’.
So, what have I learnt from this extensive consultation exercise? Simple: that the more people you ask, the more different (and imaginative) answers you get!!
A very big Thank You to everyone who took part and put their very creative thinking caps on to help me come up with the perfect subtitle to my Buzzing! book. All your input was very much appreciated!
Now all I’ve got to do is make a decision! (Unless anyone else out there has any more suggestions …)
Forget all your troubles and cares at York Literature Festival on Saturday 31st March. We’ve an evening of cabaret entertainment from some class acts (and me!) There’ll be words, music and laughter from a fabulous line-up of very talented folk:
Mike Barfield (who wrote gags for Chris Tarrant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire – check him out at http://www.mikebarfield.co.uk/)
Bedern Hall in York was at its beautiful candlelit best on Monday night for the Rhyme and Dine event I put on with chef Roger Lee for Cambridge Education Group’s FoundationCampus annual conference.
Bedern Hall, York, decked out for a Rhyme and Dine evening for Cambridge Education Group
Inbetween the courses of the delicious meal, I entertained the – very convivial – group of people gathered there. With poems such as this one:
Plus a a poem about FoundationCampus that they had commissioned from me specially for the event.
The evening ended with delegates entertaining each other – and me – with their freshly minted limericks. Much fun was had by all!
How did the event go down? Well, listen to the conference organiser, Lisa Tyler:
Or, as she subsequently wrote:
‘Thank you once again for helping to make our annual conference such a success.’
FOC Conference Organiser Lisa Tyler at Bedern Hall
A big Thank You to FOC’s Lisa Tyler for all her behind-the-scenes work in advance of the conference. To Roger Lee and his staff at Bedern for a fabulous meal. And to the great – and very talented! – group of people who make up FoundationCampus, for sharing their evening with me.
And if you’d like some entertainment with a difference for your conference dinner – with, perhaps, a poem written specially for the occasion - then get in touch!
Well, I’ll say this for Acomb Brownies and their families: they’re intrepid! Last Wednesday night they braved snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures to come to Acomb Methodist Church in York to continue learning, and then to perform, my award-winning eco-musical Compost! The (mini-)Musical.
Delightful weather conditions in York, February 2012
The Brownies gave a stonking performance of the musical, and were rewarded with very warm applause from the – intrepid – audience. Have a listen to the finale:
When asked what she thought the best thing had been about learning and performing Compost! The (mini-)Musical, one Brownie frowned deeply then said: ‘Everything!’
Excellent news! Let’s hope that once the snow melts, there’ll be lots more composting going on in Acomb …
Acomb Brownies rehearsing Compost! The (Mini-)Musical, February 2012
Meanwhile, a big ‘Thank You’ to Rachel Bell from York Rotters for her invaluable assistance over the two visits we made to Acomb. And thank you lots to the Brownies for their lovely – compostable! – present, which was most unexpected, and much appreciated.
If you’d like to learn and perform Compost! The (mini-)Musical where you are, you can buy a Teaching Pack which includes everything you need to put on a successful performance (find out more).
Alternatively, contact me to arrange for me to come and teach it to your group.
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