It’s always a highlight speaking at schools during Book Week. This week I was invited to Mt Eden Normal Primary and Kelvin Rd School in Papakura. The kids were awesome, crude, funny and polite. Before I read my story The Dog That Ate The Bathroom I asked what goodies their own dogs had brought home. Bras. Sausages. A cat. The list went on. My daughter recently wrote a story called Cinderella’s Bad Day whereby the poor woman dies every day in a myriad of ways. Shot by a creepy hobo. Killed in a rabbit invasion. Picked up by an Enderman and dropped into hot lava and eaten by robotic crocodiles. Every time I thought a particular death might be too graphic the kids squealed with delight.
It reminded me of a list Roald Dahl’s list of what children love:
Being spooked
Action
Treasure
Magic
Suspense
Ghosts
Chocolates, toys, money
Being made to giggle
Eccentricity
Monsters
Unorthodox methods
Marvellous/funny/incredible places
New inventions
Secret information
Time travel
Seeing the villain meet a grisly death
They love a hero and love a hero to be a winner
