Julia Donaldson's writing course

[DaisyArtichoke7]

I'm interested in the children's book class by Julia Donaldson through BBC Maestro. Have you done this course? Is it any good?

I just wanted to post that after reading your Op I googled the course and it looks really good. I hope some people who have done the course are on Mumsnet and can tell us what it was like.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has bought the course and is thinking of having a go at writing a children's picture book.

I’d be interested to hear too. She is so talented and animated.

Hi! I’m interested in this too and found this review which was helpful:
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/georgelthomas.com/2021/06/22/bbc-maestro/amp/

I’ve got this course and it offers great insight into her work and some interesting tips on the most important aspects of picture book writing. Things I would have never had thought of. I think she has a great understanding of language and it’s nuances. It does show it’s not as easy as you think it might be.

I have this course & I would recommend it if you are interesting in writing childrens picture books.

It comes with a printable pdf download (about 110 pages with a LOT of images), a downloadable template for storyboarding a standard picture book, each lesson is an average of 15 minutes long covering different topics (e.g. baddies) & she talks about that topic plus shows something relevant from a wide range of childrens books - not just her own.

She is very engaging & it covers pretty much all aspects of creating this sort of book.
I'm only half way through it at the minute, but it's interesting enough to make me want to continue.

She sets an optional exercise for you at the end of each lesson - this won't be marked & there is nobody you can show it to, so it's just for you to do.

e.g. in the topic about sounds it suggests you choose a vowel sound & write a story based on words with that sound in (her example being The Snail & the Whale both with the ai sound).

I have not done that one but the Malorie Blackman one is brilliant. They have offers all the time so put it in your basket and wait a week and they'll email you a discount code.

Has anyone tried the David Walliams course?

It's a bit disappointing that the courses all cost the same, although eg the David Williams one much much shorter than the Julia Donaldson one.

Thanks for this

I got the Julia Donaldson course in the end and it was excellent. I also got the course by David Walliams for my birthday and it was really helpful too (even though the poor man seemed to have indigestion / burping throughout). Although you don’t get any feedback from the courses they are really helpful to get you started.