June in 486 words
Peaceful hotels and Olympic-like reading events
Hello!
I’m writing to you from drizzly Melbourne, where I’m have a wonderful few days interstate, speaking at schools and enjoying the properly wintery weather.
When my kids were in the baby/toddler stage, I used to think having a hotel room to myself for a couple of days, without anyone needing anything from me, would be the ultimate luxury.
Now, with my kids in the “golden years” of primary school, whenever I travel for work and have the peaceful hotel room experience, I have to say it’s not all I envisioned when I was elbow deep in nappies and breast pumps. It’s a nice change, don’t get me wrong, but I have to say hotel rooms are slightly boring without someone arguing over what to watch on TV, or complaining that someone’s taking too long in the bathroom.
I miss the stories my kids come up with, too. Like the time recently when we were talking about politics at dinnertime (which might sound highbrow, but isn’t a common occurrence) and my son picked up on us mentioning ‘Trump.’
He piped up. ‘Did you know Donald Trump makes people in America pay to use the toilets?’
‘No, I didn’t know that,’ I said, wondering what new policies had been put in place.
Then, his brow furrowed.
‘Actually, no, that was South Africa. When Oscar went there on holidays, he had to pay to use the public toilets.’
Gosh, it made me laugh. I suppose it was just one of those times you accidentally mix up a world leader’s legislation with an eight-year-old’s vacation.
I miss my kids’ delightful anecdotes. I don’t miss their complaints about what I made for dinner. But you can’t have everything.
As well as visiting Melbourne schools, this month I had the honour of speaking at two Readers Cup events. This might sound like an exaggeration, but Readers Cup could very well be the most wonderful event for young readers in the entire world. Picture the Olympics for kids who love reading; teams of students read sets of books and then compete with other teams in their region to answer quiz questions. The winning teams receive trophies or medallions, and the victors from each area competes in a state final.
I was thrilled when I learned that 11 Ruby Road: 1900 was selected as one of the books this year, and I was honoured to be Quizmaster for the Brisbane Central and Somerset/Lockyer competitions. Let me tell you, they were NOT easy questions … For some of the questions that had been created for 11 Ruby Road, I didn’t even know the answers off the top of my head!
Teachers/librarians in QLD, I highly recommend getting your kids involved in this fabulous competition. It’s not just metropolitan; regional competitions are held state-wide. I SO wish this had existed when I was in school. (Learn more at the link below…)
At the Brisbane Central competition, I even scored a homemade cupcake from one of the teams, which, along with meeting dozens of enthusiastic young readers and writers, was one of the definite highlights of the day.
And that’s all this time. :)
Until next time, happy reading, writing and creating,
Charlotte
Enjoy Melbourne Charlotte.
I'm looking forward to hearing about the Victorian schools.