Shortlisted for the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize

Who says you have to choose between the sciences and the arts?

When I was at school, I did maths and arts A levels. At Cambridge University, I started off studying in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and ended up in the Department of Engineering. I enjoyed analysing a poem just as much as I enjoyed doing spectrographic analyses of speech signals. And so when it came to creating my  Buzzing! book, it was entirely natural to me to mix science and amusing poetry, entomology and etymology, to create a colourful, fizzing, ‘edu-taining’ experience.

I was thrilled to discover yesterday that the Royal Society, that august scientific body founded over 350 years ago, recognised what I set out to do by shortlisting Buzzing! for this year’s Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize.

Buzzing!, by Anneliese Emmans Dean

I was particularly pleased about this as I had had a hard job convincing publishers that mixing science and poetry was a good idea. But in the end I was very lucky to find Brambleby Books, who immediately  ‘got’ what I wanted to do, and who went on to produce the handsome tome that is Buzzing!

The Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize is a prestigious prize that ‘celebrates the best English-language books that communicate science to young people up to the age of fourteen’.

Buzzing! was one of six books shortlisted for the Prize by a judging panel that consisted of five eminent scientists, science communicators and educationalists. They described my book as being:

‘buzzing with interesting science facts and wonderful poetry. Each page features a different British minibeast that you might find in your back garden, with a funny poem about them.’

The Chair of the panel was Professor John Goodby FRS, who said:

‘This year’s books have shown how science can become the subject of beautiful poems, be the object of wonderful works of art, and all the time stretching minds, young and old, into the “realms of imagination” and down-to-earth “model building” … Our eclectic collection of books have been truly enthralling, and our decisions on six candidates for “book of the year” have been incredibly difficult.’

Copies of all six shortlisted books are now being sent out to groups of young people up and down the country. It is they who will be the final judges. The book they choose as the winner will be announced on 11 November …

Fingers crossed!

Meanwhile, you can find out more about Buzzing! here, order your signed copy here and see where you can catch a live Buzzing! show here.

Anneliese Emmans Dean – www.theBigBuzz.biz – Bringing poetry to life

Flying High on Friday

Have you heard your first chiffchaff of this (so-called) Spring yet? A member of the audience at our ‘Flying High’ show on Friday has – in York Cemetery.

Don’t know what a chiffchaff sounds like? You obviously weren’t at our ‘Flying High’ show! I defy anyone who was there not to be able to instantaneously recognise a chiffchaff when they next hear one!

Thank you to everyone who packed Jacob’s Well on Friday and joined in our York Literature Festival ‘Flying High’ show with such gusto. And listened to Catherine Heinemeyer’s telling of the Sumerian Anzu Bird story with such attentiveness.

Particular thanks to John Illingworth, for taking these fabulous photos of the event:

Flying High with Catherine Heinemeyer at York Literature Festival 2013. Photo by John Illingworth.

How big is a herring gull’s wingspan? This big! From Flying High at York Literature Festival 2013. Photo by John Illingworth.

Catherine Heinemeyer telling us the tale of the Anzu Bird, in Flying High at York Literature Festival 2013. Photo by John Illingworth.

Thank you too to Conor and Paddy, without whom we never would have got the venue set up in time!

And a big Thank You to Festival Director Miles Salter and his band of stalwart volunteers for putting on another fantastic York Literature Festival.

Oh, and if you’d like us to come Fly High at your school or event, just get in touch!

Anneliese Emmans Dean – www.theBigBuzz.biz – Bringing Poetry to Life

Buzzing! – ‘A triumphal stride’

Well now, another review of my Buzzing! book has come to my attention. It was published in the Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists’ Society (AES) last autumn, and describes Buzzing! as ‘an excellent insect poetry book’, providing a ‘triumphal stride’ towards encouraging all children to become entomologists!

Take a look at the review, by AES Honorary Secretary Dafydd Lewis, below, or download the review as a pdf by clicking on the following link: AES Buzzing! review

Review of Buzzing! in the Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists’ Society

The AES have invited me to perform poems from my Buzzing! book at an event they are holding at the Natural History Museum in London on 25 May.  I look forward to meeting some keen young entomologists there!

Meanwhile, if you’d like to have a read of Buzzing! yourself, you can buy copies here.

www.theBigBuzz.biz – Anneliese Emmans Dean – Bringing poetry to life

World Book Day 2013

I spent World Book Day last year with the pupils of Le Cateau Primary School, who helped me come up with the sub-title for my – then soon-to-be-published - Buzzing! book.

This year I spent World Book Day in the company of the pupils of Leeming and Londonderry Primary School, where I had the great pleasure of signing copies of my – now well-and-truly published – Buzzing! book.

I also had the very onerous job of judging their World Book Day competition. The children had each brought in a photo of themselves reading a book in an unusual place. I had to judge which place was the most unusual!

It was an impossible task. There were so many fabulously unusual and quirky places, including upside down on a climbing frame, on a quad bike, and in a jacuzzi! Take a look for yourself:

In the end I did choose a winner – but it was one of the most difficult jobs I’ve ever had to do!

Here’s to next year’s World Book Day! I wonder what it will bring …

Meanwhile, Thank You to Leeming and Londonderry Primary School for inviting me to spend this important day with them.

Happy Reading one and all!

Anneliese Emmans Dean – www.theBigBuzz.biz – Bringing Poetry to Life

Ribbon cutting at Elvington Primary School

I have done many jobs in my time, from shop assistant to translator for the High Court in London, but last Thursday I added another string to my bow: I became a Ribbon Cutter! Yes, I had the enormous privilege of cutting the ribbon to formally open the new wing of classrooms and library at Elvington Primary School – as you can see in the article from The Press below:

Article from The Press, 5 March 2013

The pupils of Elvington Primary School are extraordinarily lucky to have such a fabulous new block to learn in. I visited their school when they had a couple of Portakabins as classrooms instead, and this new building is so much better! It even has underfloor heating – so I was able to teach an entire lesson in my stocking feet! Deliciously warm! (And the good news is that where the Portakabins used to be, the children are going to have a wonderful garden where they’ll grow fruit and veg! F.A.B.!)

To celebrate the fact that the new block includes a library, I wrote a poem specially for the children to perform in praise of their ‘brilliant, brand new library’. Class 4 gave the world premiere performance of this poem as part of the opening ceremony in front of the whole school and lots of grown-ups who’d come specially for the ceremony. I’m pleased to say that the children did my poem proud!

Thank you to Head Teacher Mrs Rogers for inviting me to take part in such a special day at Elvington Primary School, and thank you to all the staff and pupils for for making me so welcome. I won’t forget the day I became a Ribbon Cutter in a hurry!

www.theBigBuzz.biz – Anneliese Emmans Dean – bringing poetry to life

Another Buzzing! book review

Cover of ‘Buzzing! – Discover the Poetry in Garden Minibeasts’ by Anneliese Emmans Dean

Many thanks to Lynsey Evans of Book a Poet for her wonderful review of my Buzzing! book. The review begins:

‘Buzzing! is a brilliant book that will enthral and delight children, and it is easy to see why it has been nominated for this year’s Carnegie Medal!’

The review continues:

‘There is potential for hours of fun, whether that be reading the poems or the facts, studying the pictures or getting out into your garden or park to hunt for the wildlife depicted in the book – it offers lots of opportunities for learning and having fun as a family or with friends.’

You can read the review in full here.

And if you want ‘hours of fun’, then order your (signed) copy of Buzzing! here.

Anneliese Emmans Dean – www.theBigBuzz.biz – Bringing poetry to life

Flying High at York Literature Festival

Do you like birds? Are you between 5 and 12 years old? Then come along to the brand new show, Flying High!, that storyteller Catherine Heinemeyer and I are putting on for York Literature Festival on Friday 22 March at Jacob’s Well off Micklegate in York.

I’d advise you to book early, as the last two York Literature Festival family shows Catherine and I put on were sell-outs!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Flying High at York Literature Festival on Friday 22 March 2013

Book tickets here or phone on 01904 623568.

Anneliese Emmans Dean – theBigBuzz.biz – Bringing poetry to life