Literary Juice: Meeting Cressida Cowell And More

Post By Happy Homemaker UK

My first job ever was at my college/uni library

(I tried to get work in high school, but I was plagued by looking illegally young)

- I'm not plagued by that anymore, btw :) -

And almost ever since, I have worked, paid and unpaid, in libraries

I love them so - 

for the adventures between the pages and magnificent artwork on the covers

The creativity and hard work imprinted on bound paper

Vintage french classic books for sale by Rosie's Armoire

As an English major,

I took a children's literature class

and have been hooked ever since

And then I had children, which has allowed me to easily follow my interest

So when I saw that Cressida Cowell of 'How To Train Your Dragon' fame

was speaking at our local library,

I jumped at the chance to see her

(a huge advantage of living in a small country is the famous are never that far away)

My kids moaned that I was dragging them to yet another thing,

saying they'd outgrown her books

'Too bad' was my only response

Trying to refrain from a 'I told you so' moment,
they thought she was utterly fantastic and inspiring

as they were riveted to her words

(as was I)

Rarely do I meet someone who is so clearly fulfilling their destiny

Someone who has been sprinkled with some kind of magic powder dust

who has laser focus, a lot of talent, and is one of the most successful in her field

Cressida has an amazing, dramatic storytelling voice

And she looks like such a normal mom

who I easily could have stood next to in the grocery line

But her creative Viking/dragon stories are not ordinary at all

In fact, she is telling and illustrating what in her mind are true stories

Although she grew up in London, her family took an annual summer holiday 

to an uninhabited island in Scotland (just their cottage on it)

A fisherman would drop them off on the island and pick them up 6 weeks later

There, she and her siblings would have endless days of roaming freely on the island

and eating fish they caught

She wove tales in her head about the Vikings who really did live in the area

and of dragons the Vikings believed in

Cressida starting putting those childhood stories to paper when she was 32 years old

and the rest is history

''My whole life my teachers said 'Stop daydreaming!'. 

And now my publisher says 'More daydreaming; faster daydreaming!'''

Newly released in series
[source]

Cressida went on to say ''Writing is like telling a really good lie''

with lots of detail and embellishments 

so the reader can picture what the author is trying to convey

''Books put an idea in your head and your imagination does the rest of the work''

Writing advice also included 

drawing a map and seeing how the story develops from it

which is exemplified in Treasure Island and Peter Pan

Cressida loved the film 'How To Train Your Dragon '
and was a part of the process along the way

More films based on her books are due for release in 2014 and 2016

source

And as I flipped to the end of one of her books,
there sat an invitation for readers
to join a 'review crew' for the publisher!
My kids could get unpublished manuscripts to read and review?
How fast can you say 'Hello, my kids are so on board?!'

So moving on...

now seems like the perfect time to show you my favorite section

in a recent children's exhibition at SouthBank (London) over the summer

- 'aMAZEme' labyrinth of books -

Not a great photo, but the concept is that as you walk through the maze

you encounter blinding thick rain, secret passageways, 

invisible avalanches, dangerous pirates, magical waterfalls 

which all are held within the pages that surround you in the maze

So creative!

All ages were reading books from that delicious assortment

It was irresistible

Covering over 500 sq meters, the 250,000 remaindered, used, and new books

were loaned by charity shop, Oxfam, and donated by publishing houses in the UK

Afterward, all books were given to Oxfam

The labyrinth was in the design of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges's fingerprint

Love it!

Anyhoo, as I was talking to Cressida's publisher

(I was talking to Cressida's publisher!)

she mentioned a few literary festivals around the country including

ones in Bath, Oxford, and Cheltenham

(links provided)

It looks like they pull in some really big names from around the world

Have you ever attended one?

How far in advance do I need to buy tickets?

Any advice?

Make room -
I'm about to bust out another happy dance!

- all photos by me unless otherwise indicated -

Cressida Cowell's UK Book Tour dates here

Other children's lit posts:
English History For Kids (books)
Beatrix Potter
Roald Dahl Museum