Published on 28 April 2011

Julia Donaldson: Authors Live

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Authors Live - Julia Donaldson - Full Session

Julia Donaldson acts out her stories and sings her songs, with help from the audience and from a very special guest. Michael Rosen talks about writing being his best friend and performs his poem The Space. Michael Rosen tells the story about his dad's sayings and how his brother would mimic and exaggerate them, including 'the Noise!'

About Julia Donaldson

Warm congratulations to Julia Donaldson who has been confirmed as the new Children's Laureate.

Julia and the Gruffalo visited BBC Scotland in May 2010 and the video shows the fun we all had that day! Julia is best-known for her book The Gruffalo, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, which has sold over 4 million copies and was adapted for BBC One last Christmas. While working as a singer/songwriter, one of Julia's songs A Squash and a Squeeze was turned into a book which set her off on a career as an author. Since then she's published over 20 books including Running on the Cracks, a novel for teenagers, and Tiddler, the most borrowed book in Scottish libraries in 2009. Julia lives in Glasgow and has just had Zog published, a dragon story, co writen with Axel Scheffler. The illustrator is award-winning Emily Gravett.

Questions

After the live session we managed to get Julia to answer these questions too:

What made you become a writer? (from Blue Coat School, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucester)

I suppose I've always loved writing ever since I was at school. My favourite thing at school was writing stories. Maybe that was because my parents and my granny used to tell me stories and read to me a lot. I remember writing one when I was five about an orange rabbit - and another one about a wizard who lost his tail!

How do you become an author? (from Port William Primary School)

You just have to keep writing, and sending stories off to publishers. But you have to try not to mind too much if they say no, which often happens to everyone, including me.

What authors inspired you to write? (from Milne's Primary School and Bishop Winnington Ingram)

Lots and lots! One of my favourites is Arnold Lobel who wrote some very funny books about Frog and Toad.

Where do you get your ideas from? (from Kirn Primary School and Port William Primary School)

Sometimes I think of a character, say a witch or a dragon, and wonder what might happen to them. Sometimes I think of a setting (say, underwater) and wonder who might live there. And sometimes an idea just pops into my head. Ideas often come to me when I'm in the bath or when I'm going for a walk.

Did something real give you the idea of the Gruffalo? (from Bishop Winnington Ingram)

From an old story about a tiger - but I couldn't get anything to rhyme with "tiger" so I invented an imaginary monster instead.

Was the illustration of the Gruffalo as you expected it to be? (from Lycee Francais de Singapour)

Actually, the very first sketch I saw of the Gruffalo had clothes on, which I didn't think was right. But then the next picture I saw looked just right.

Of all the books you've written which is your favourite? (from St Eunan's Primary School, Clydebank and St Bedes Infant School Widnes)

I like them all, but some better than others. My favourites are Stick Man and The Snail and the Whale. I also like my chapter book The Giants and the Joneses.

What were your favourite story books when you were 5 years old? (from Milne's Primary School)

When I was five, my father gave me a very fat book called The Book of a Thousand Poems. I loved it. I read the poems, recited them, and made up plenty of my own. I wanted to be a poet then - but afterwards I changed my mind and wanted to be an actress. It was only when I was grown-up that I changed my mind back again!

How long does it take to write a book? (from George Heriot's School and Nether Currie Primary School)

It takes a very long time (sometimes two years) for the idea to grow in my head and for me to plan the book. This is a very important part. Then, when I am ready it could take anything between a week (for a picture book) and six months (for a chapter book) to write it.

How did you learn about all the rhyming words that you use in your stories? (from Newlaithes Infants School, Carlisle)

I think of a word, and then I go through all the letters of the alphabet, trying them at the beginning of my word to see if they make other words which would fit my story. So if the word is "ill" I would think "Bill - maybe; kill - perhaps; dill - no; fill - maybe; gill - no; hill - maybe; Jill - maybe; Lil - probably not; mill - perhaps; nil - no; pill - could be good; quill - probably not; rill - no" etc etc. You could try this, if you get your teacher to make you a list of the word beginnings.

Partners

Authors Live is produced in association with the Scottish Book Trust, Creative Scotland and Glow. The Scottish Book Trust is the leading agency for the promotion of literature, reading and writing in Scotland and their Authors Live programme is funded by the National Lottery through the Creative Scotland's Inspiring Communities Fund. The Authors Live webcasts are also available through Glow - the world's first national intranet for education allowing joined-up working the length and breadth of Scotland.