Bath Children’s Literatue Festival got off to a flying start as hundreds of people flocked to the opening night party, UpLate at The Holburne Museum.
Families filled the galleries and gardens to enjoy unicorn crafting, face-painting and meeting (and admiring) Storm, the beautiful unicorn who graced us with his presence. Children enjoyed meeting characters Pip and Posy and the Gruffalo, and loads of selfies were taken!
In the FIRST weekend of the UK’s biggest kids’ lit fest – right here in Bath . . .
Audiences were inspired
Festival favourite Cressida Cowell talked about her brilliant How to Train Your Dragon series, and showed her fans a tantalising glimpse of the new blockbuster film. Cressida brings a fabulous energy to the festival and is always inspiring and encouraging us to create our own stories and drawings.
Cressida had one serious message for parents, “Please read to your children. It makes all the difference, it’s been proved!”
And, those legions of Skandar fans really know their stuff! A.F Steadman took the time and trouble to meet them, and discovered that so many of them have read, and re-read all five Skandar novels. Parents should be proud of your Skandar fans – that’s half a million words they’ve read.
Dr Jess French and her amazing bugs gave children a fantastic chance to get really close to some live creatures, including a millipede, a praying mantis and the glow-in-the-dark shed skin of a scorpion.
Meeting the characters
It’s so nice to enjoy some of our much-loved characters and stories, including Percy the Park Keeper, with engaging storytelling from his creator Nick Butterworth, appearances from Pip the rabbit and Posy the mouse, with games and fun.
And they said there’s no such thing as the Gruffalo, but there he was, delighting his young fans.
So much laughter
The grown-ups in the audience had as much fun as the children. Tom Percival put on a show inspired by his Squirrel and Duck books, a mix of silly team games, draw-alongs, communal singing and a dash of stand-up.
Rob Biddulph is a big favourite with all generations, combining chat about his new book, When I Grow Up I’d Like To Be, with some ‘he’s behind you!’ fun with a monster called Trevor. And the dads especially enjoyed their drawing session.
There was lots of animated action from Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre, complete with dramatic ‘duh, duh, duh’ moments, as they brought us the latest Adventuremice book BEFORE it even goes on sale in the shops.
All this week thousands of local schoolchildren will be attending the festival’s schools’ programme, with visiting authors and illustrators entertaining and inspiring children from Bath, Bristol, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.
And the fun continues for families next weekend (October 4 and 5) – have you booked your tickets?
Here’s a taster of what’s to come:
- Robin Stevens,
- Phoenix Comic Books show,
- MC Grammar,
- Liz Pichon,
- Frank Cottrell-Boyce,
- FREE sessions with artists in residence at Waterstones, Bath
- A brilliant Harry Potter quiz.
Go to bathfestivals.org,uk to book your tickets.
(Photo – Pacific Curd Photography)
