Webchat with Chris Riddell and Michael Rosen on Wednesday 2 Sept 12pm

[TinaMumsnet]

Hello

We're very pleased to announce a webchat with current Children's Laureate Chris Riddell and former Children's Laureate Michael Rosen on Wednesday 2 September at 12pm.

Chris Riddell, is an accomplished artist and the political cartoonist for the Observer. He has twice won the Kate Greenaway Medal – for Pirate Diary and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver. Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse won the Costa Children's Book Award 2013. His other titles include the bestselling Ottoline books, The Emperor of Absurdia and, with Paul Stewart, the Muddle Earth books, the Scavenger series and the Blobheads series. Visit his website to find out more.

Michael Rosen is one of the most popular authors of stories and poems for children. His bestselling titles include: We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Little Rabbit Foo Foo, Michael Rosen's Sad Book, This Is Our House, Tiny Little Fly, Dear Mother Goose and its sequel Dear Fairy Godmother. Michael received the Eleanor Farjeon Award in 1997, and was the Children's Laureate from 2007 to 2009. He is Professor of Children's Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London. You can read more about Michael Rosen on his website.

Chris and Michael have recently collaborated on a new book for young children. A Great Big Cuddle is an illustrated collection of poetry which celebrates all the best things about childhood. Watch the video to see Michael Rosen perform one of his poems.

Do you or your DC have any questions for MR or CR? If so, come and join us on Wed 2 September at 12pm - or if you can't make it, leave a question below.
Thanks
MNHQ

[MichaelRosen]

PlaysWellWithOthers - there are days when I can't spell my own name and some of my relatives couldn't make their mind up if it was Rozen or Rosen.

[TheNewStatesman]

Nice books. Terrible phonics advice.

[ChrisRiddell]

Dd(9)- My favourite book is 'Hugo Pepper', one of the Far Flung Adventures- it has my favourite illustration in it of an extremely timid Yeti.
I can imagine Michael writing a poem about him.

[MichaelRosen]

TheNewStatesman - let's have a discussion about it. Which bit was 'terrible advice'?

[RachelMumsnet]

@ChrisRiddell

Countrygirl70-My main plans are to encourage children and parents to draw together as a shared activity and to celebrate the role of school libraries and librarians in creating readers by the work they do. I'm also documenting my day to day progress in visual form and posting up the results in my 'Laureate Log' which you can see on my website and other places.
I've also warmed a breakfast sofa or two and haunted any number of radio studios.
On Sunday I held a toilet door open for Gordon Brown (I was honoured!)

Here's a link to Chris' brilliant Laureate Log.

[ChrisRiddell]

My advice to anyone who wants to be an illustrator or visual artist of any sort is to buy a sketchbook and fill it up with drawings. When full, get another.
My advice to statesmen, scientists and scholars of every description is do the same thing.
Every one should draw!

[ChrisRiddell]

I still dream about Peter And Jane book 2c...It changed my life.

[ChrisRiddell]

Thank you to everyone for your questions- I'm now off to London to give Michael a great big cuddle!

[MichaelRosen]

ChrisRiddell - isn't that tomorrow?

[TinaMumsnet]

Thanks to all who posted questions, and thanks to MichaelRosen and ChrisRiddell for joining us!

[PlaysWellWithOthers]

Thanks for putting this on MN. Really lovely to have the chance to thank people who've made a real difference to my DS's life, feels a bit odd randomly writing to them, but this felt good.

[MichaelRosen]

Thank you everyone for your messages. I fully understand that people get very agitated about this phonics question. Just to be clear. I am not against the use of phonics in teaching children to read. What I'm against is a 'first, fast and only' approach. Some great advocates of phonics are against the 'only' bit too. They think (and I agree) that it's a great idea to give your children books to look at and read from the day they are born and forever after.

[nico4]

Thank you to you both for brightening our day!

[WiryElevator]

An Ottoline film??????

[TheNewStatesman]

"Some great advocates of phonics are against the 'only' bit too. They think (and I agree) that it's a great idea to give your children books to look at and read from the day they are born and forever after.”

Children can't "read from the day they were born." Babies cannot talk, let alone read. What they can do is look at books with the parents and listen to their parents reading to them. All synthetic phonics advocate strongly advise parents do to this.

When synthetic phonics advocates are saying when they say "only," is that WHEN IT COMES TO DECODING STRATEGIES, children should be taught systematic phonics stage by stage, without being muddled by advice to "look at the pictures and guess from the context."

I have surrounded my daughter with rich literature and story books right from when she was a baby, and read (and discuss) many wonderful books to her every day. When it comes to LEARNING TO DECODE, however, I teach her synthetic phonics, step by step, and I do not encourage her to guess at words or to think that memorizing a book and reciting it is the same as decoding.

If you do not understand how reading instruction works, then please leave the subject alone, and allow the experts (and laypeople who understand reading instruction properly) to do the talking.

[Banderwassnatched]

Hi! Much love Michael.

How much do you think children are being drawn away from books by computers and devices? What do you suggest to rekindle their interest in books and stories?