Spread The Word!

Last Thursday was World Book Day, and to celebrate we headed on mass down to Merthyr Tydfil for the inaugural Spread The Word Festival, organised by Stephens and George Charitable Trust. School children of all ages were invited in their thousands to enter a world of pure imagination from loads of the local schools. Among the sea of craft stalls and fairground rides, Candy Jar was on hand selling books signed by our authors and meeting all the local school children. There were nearly three hundred events at various locations across Merthyr Tydfil, including a drama workshop with Waterloo Road’s Richard Mylan. Candy Jar authors Mark Brake and Jon Chase, Alison Thomas, Andy Frankham-Allen and Lorraine Bowen hosted sessions at the event, as well as a workshop run by illustrator Richard Young. Even Captain Jack Sparrow was able to turn up, also known as entertainer, performer and illustrator Terry Cooper.

In St David’s Parish Church Andy Frankham-Allen hosted a workshop talking about the everyday dilemma’s of time-travel, covering everything from Doctor Who and Anthony Ormond’s Tommy Parker: Destiny Will Find You! to Back To The Future.

Science duo Mark Brake and Jon Chase were there too and blew away the children of Merthyr with their The Science of Doctor Who road-show, talking all things sci-fi and inspiring the audience to make their own real life science experiments for their Space Time Machine Monster Competition, in partnership with the Welsh Books Council.

In the Tydfil Training Centre, author Alison Thomas lead a workshop with her magical friend Ddraig, chatting about her children’s fantasy-adventure book Amulet and inviting the children to take part in a fold-over poem. At Hope Church, Britain’s Got Talent contestant and crumble enthusiast Lorraine Bowen put on an all-singing all-dancing show for the children, who sang along and learnt that everybody’s good at cooking something, and Lorraine’s good at cooking crumble! 

With all this excitement going on elsewhere, the rest of us were all hands on deck at our outdoor stall, selling signed copies of the author’s books and getting involved with the action in the Charitable Trust’s spectacular reinvention of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. It got really intense...

Thanks so much to Stephens and George for inviting us to get involved with the Merthyr literary community. We met a load  of great people, and it was so lovely to see all the school children getting into the workshops and dressing up as their favourite book characters. With the Roald Dahl theme, we have never see so many Oompa Loompas in our lives! 

                                                                  

World Book Day: Candy Jar Talks Roald Dahl and Childhood Favourites

You've probably heard that Candy Jar will be at the Merthyr Tydfil Spread The Word Arts & Literary Festival on World Book Day this coming Thursday 3rd March; one of the largest growing World Book Day events across in the UK. We are very, very excited!

This year’s Spread The Word Festival is a celebration of one of children’s literature’s greatest, Roald Dahl. This year marks what would be the 100th birthday of the iconic writer on September 13th 1916, and there will be events celebrating the mind who brought us institutions like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda going on throughout the year and across Cardiff and Wales.

With the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory themed festival looming, we’ve been chatting away about our favourite Roald Dahl books from when we were growing up.

Shaun’s favourite: The Magic Finger 

We've got all the Roald Dahl books in our house - my girls love them! The Magic Finger really caught my imagination when I was younger, I just thought it was quite strange. It’s the Roald Dahl book that people don’t talk about as much, and I really like the juxtaposition of the characters and how the ducks and the people swap roles.

My favourite part is when they wake up and the Gregg family first realise that they’ve swapped places; they’ve turned into tiny people with wings and the ducks have grown to people size and they have arms instead!

Favourite quote:

“Don’t shoot! Please don’t shoot!”
“Why not?” said one of the ducks. “You are always shooting at us.”
“Oh, but that’s not the same! Said Mr. Gregg. “We are allowed to shoot ducks.”
“Who allows you?”asked the duck.
“We allow each other,” said Mr. Gregg.
“Very nice,” said the duck.” And now we are going to allow each other to shoot you.”

 Will’s favourite: George’s Marvellous Medicine 

I think George’s Marvellous Medicine was my favourite as a kid, purely because I remember reading it so many times. I loved that it was all about wanting to “one-up” the grown-ups and the rubbish relatives!
I think my favourite part was when George blew up the nan!

Favourite quote: 

“Lalalalalalalala I have nothing to say!”

(Either that or: “Never grow up – always grow down.”)

Hayley’s favourite: The Twits

The Twits is definitely my favourite Roald Dahl book. I really liked the illustrations by Quentin Blake, I remember a really gross one of the beard with all food in it!

I love that the characters were always playing tricks on one another and that they were really badly behaved – and I went to see a show of the book when I was little.

Favourite quote: 

“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

Lauren’s favourite: The BFG 

I loved The BFG, the book and the animated film; I’m a bit nervous about the remake! I liked that the main character Sophie was a bit lonely until she meets the BFG, and they sort of find eachother even though they’re both sort of left out in their own worlds. And the snozzcumbers, I liked them too.

My favourite part is when the BFG takes Sophie to the room full of the dream jars, and I always like the idea of “witching hour” which I fully believed in as a child!

Favourite quote: 

“Two rights don’t equal a left”

... and one from our author Jane Cohen who popped in to say hi!

Jane's favourite: The Witches

Roald Dahl is one of my absolute favourites! I loved The Witches; the magic in it, the way the girl moves in the picture into different positions and grows old in the photograph, and I loved that the witches all owned sweet shops to entice the children.

Favourite quote: 

"Witches of England you're a disgrace!" (and then she brings her potion out!)

We’ve also been obsessively browsing the internet for all things Roald Dahl, and here are a few of our favourite facts about the Llandaff-born author:

• His first children’s book is usually considered to be James and the Giant Peach, but actually it is The Gremlins, based on WW2 RAF folklore. The Gremlins was written when Dahl was stationed in Washington in 1942. Dahl already has a career as a WW2 fighter pilot, having flown planes in North Africa. The Gremlins takes place in southern England during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The made-up "gremlins" were commonly given the blame by the RAF personnel when anything went wrong throughout the Second World War, as Eileen Younghusband will well know.
• Roald Dahl actually co-wrote the screenplay for the children’s classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, based on the novel of the same name by Bond writer Ian Fleming. He was, in fact, the creative mind behind the chilling and villainous character The Child Snatcher (who terrifies the best of us to this day... even if we are too old for bedtime stories!), as the character didn't appear in the original novel. Thanks, Roald Dahl... 

  

  Sorry for the nightmares...

  
  
• The Fantastic Mr Fox was, at least partly, inspired by a tree that sat outside Roald Dahl’s house in Great Missenden. He used to call it the “witching tree” and tell his children stories about the family of foxes who lived inside it.

What was your favourite Roald Dahl book? Tweet us and tell us your favourites at @Candy_Jar!

WORLD BOOK DAY 2015

Candy Jar is delighted to be contributing to the fantastic initiative that is World Book Day this year, and has teamed up with the Welsh Books Council and the irrepressible expeditor of all things sci-fi Mark Brake to encourage scientific curiosity through reading. 

Mark’s book, Space, Time, Machine, Monster is bursting with examples of how science fiction literature, films and television shows have such as Doctor Who and Star Wars have helped build the world in which we live and influence how we imagine our future. To celebrate World Book Day Mark and, TV presenter and science rapper, Jon Chase have launched the Space, Time, Machine, Monster Challenge. Mark and Jon are hoping to spark children’s creativity everywhere by inviting them to create a science project based on the themes space, time, machines or monsters. The resource is designed to encourage scientific curiosity and enthusiastically promote science, tackling questions such as: Are robots going to rule over us? How do lightsabers work? How do you build a time machine?

Mark and Jon are itching to see what creative and interesting ideas the children can come up with. Videos, drawings and photographs of science projects should be sent to the Welsh Books Council. Mark and Jon will then judge the successful entries and award prizes, including visits to schools, to successful participants so get creative and good luck!

More information and details on how to enter please visit: http://readingwales.org.uk/en/space-time-machine-monster-challenge/.

Ben Taberer