Saturday, April 5, 2008

Wee Jasper

I just want to thank the lovely kids from Wee Jasper, Bongongo, Reids Flat, Rye Park and Rugby Public Schools for having me at their adventure camp, held at Cooradigbee. These schools are so small that when they have a school camp, they combine several schools, and everyone comes along - every student, every teacher, even (in one case) the teacher's dog.

We had so much fun. Whenever the kids weren't caving, stalking nocturnal critters, having professional tennis coaching, star-gazing or toasting marshmallows, they were having writing workshops with me.

For the record (and for the benefit of the students who were there), here are my five things:

1. Weirdest thing: the two Yr 6 boys who seemed incapable of saying anything but "Why?"
2. Funniest thing: The reaction when Mason pulled out the snake/legless lizard.
3. Scariest/worst thing: Hearing it rain all night and worrying that I might have to run workshops for 40 Kindy-Yr 6 students for an entire day. Also, having the telescope guys out there on a night of heavy cloud, but not having them there the following night, when the skies were perfectly clear.
4. Best thing: Hearing Ben read. That was pretty brave, Ben. Also, the huge batch of scones the ladies whipped up in the kitchen of the shearers' quarters.
5. The most interesting thing I learnt: Adding a cup of lemonade to your scone mix makes them FANTASTIC!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for making us famous James. We really had a terrific time at camp and your workshops were one of the highlights of the camp. Thanks for including me in your writing activities I found it wonderful to take time to write for fun.
Thanks from Mrs Michelle Fahey ( Rye Park School)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for all your wonderful support of Rugby students during your writing workshops. Including Ben as one of the best things about camp was wonderful! Thank you again - we enjoyed you workshops and camp immensly.
From Heather Shore (Rugby School)

Anonymous said...

James, we all at Rye Park thought you were so funny that Mrs Fahey orded a whole heap of your books. I could listen to your stories all day and I would not get sick of them. I thought your balloon story and the drunk Fijians one were the best and the swimming carnival one was so depressing.
From Lucy and Brianee

Anonymous said...

Dear James,
Thanks for coming I really liked the story of the ballon.The workshop and the lounges.I really enjoyed all your stoirs.

From Tommy and Mark

Anonymous said...

Dear James,
We realy liked your workshop and you're just about the funniest book writer in the world. I'm taking The Curse Of Big Red home for the holidays.
Thankyou from Mitchell and Rhys

Anonymous said...

Dear James,
You are a good writer and you have inspired me to writer poems and stories from Verdi and Ben

Anonymous said...

Dear James,
I really liked the story about the balloon and the drunk fijians it was so funny and I just can't wait to read your books .
from julia and Rhiannon

Anonymous said...

To James,
We really liked your workshop. We like your stories.I liked the story about the balloon and the wrestling story. Your activities were really fun. We think your the funiest book writer in the world.
From Catherine and Shania.