Caryl Hart's Blog, page 6

Girls Can Do Anything Inspirational Women - Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall (UK) Ethlogist, Anthropologist, Un Messenger of Peace

As a child, I was very interested in wildlife conservation and, in fact, went on to study it at university. I was an avid watcher of Planet Earth and other nature programmes and wanted to be David Attenborough - or someone like him.  There were two other people who came close in my esteem to Sir David. One was Joy Adamson, the naturalist and film-maker who raised a lion cub at her home in Kenya, and the other was Jane Goodall.
Growing up, I had very few female role models, but Jane Goodall was one of them.  She is a primatologist who spent years of her life studying chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National park in Tanzania and went on to become an advocate for non-human rights and a UN messenger of peace. She discovered that animals can have personalities, a notion that has informed the animals rights movement across the globe. She showed that not only could chimpanzees demonstrate affection, they were also ruthless hunters and inventive users of tools.  
I chose Jane Goodall to feature in the Girls Can Do Anything gallery of inspirational women, because she dedicated her life to the thing she loved most and,  more importantly, shared her knowledge and experience with ordinary people across the world. In doing so, her work has helped us to understand, appreciate and care for one of the most fascinating species on our planet.
Wikipedia

Jane Goodall on Twitter



COMPETITION TIME!Who inspires you?We want to create a gallery of people who inspire you. Visit the Girls Can Do Anything Online Gallery to download a competition entry form and you could win a hardback copy of the book, an awesome art set, and your entry in the online gallery. Competition closes 31 August, 2018. Entries sent after this date can still be included in the online gallery but will not be eligible for the prize.
Girls Can Do Anything is illustrated by Ali Pye and published on 2 August 2018 by Scholastic. Pre-order your copy here.

Girls Can Do Anything Inspirational Women - Marin Alsop, Conductor

Marin Alsop – Conductor (USA)
First female conductor at the Last Night of the Proms 2013
In the book Girls Can Do Anything we tell readers that girls can be firefighters and builders, police officers and lawyers, sports people, musicians, writers and many other things. And in the back of the book, we have created a gallery of inspirational women, to prove to children that what we say in the book is true.


The classical music industry has a long history of excluding women.  Pick any well known composer and I can pretty much guarantee he’s male. This includes performers, composers and conductors.  In 2014 Bachtrack reported that of the world’s 150 top conductors, only five were women. Five. That’s just 3%.
I chose Marin Alsop to feature in the Girls Can Do Anything gallery of inspirational women because she was the first woman to ever conduct a major US symphony orchestra. That was in 2007 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.  Then, in 2013, she became the first woman to conduct the infamous Last Night of the Proms, the iconic concluding performance in the eight week long Proms concerts held every year at The Royal Albert Hall in London.  The significance of the last night is that the music is generally lighter-hearted and includes more popular classics that encourage audience participation. It is, essentially, the people’s concert and is usually broadcast on national television.
Anyway, the Proms have been around for over 120 years, yet it took until 2013 for organisers to choose a female conductor.  In her speech at the event, Marin said: “I’m shocked that [in] 2013 there still can be firsts for women ...I want to say to all the young women out there ... believe in yourselves … because you will create a future filled with possibility.”
I want to show children that women can succeed in any chosen career, including classical music. Marin Alsop is proof.
Sources:Classical Music.com Best Female Conductors
The Guardian on gender issues in conducting
The Guardian on sexism in classical music
Wikipedia



COMPETITION TIME!Who inspires you?We want to create a gallery of people who inspire you. Visit the Girls Can Do Anything Online Gallery to download a competition entry form and you could win a hardback copy of the book, an awesome art set, and your entry in the online gallery. Competition closes 31 August, 2018. Entries sent after this date can still be included in the online gallery but will not be eligible for the prize.
Girls Can Do Anything is illustrated by Ali Pye and published on 2 August 2018 by Scholastic. Pre-order your copy here.

Girls Can Do Anything, Gallery of Inspirational Women

Scholastic UK, Ali Pye and I are delighted to bring to you Girls Can Do Anything - a celebration of all the wonderful things girls can choose to do with their lives. Of course, everyone can do these things, but we really wanted to make it clear that all of life's choices are available to girls as well!

In the book, we tell readers about some of the things girls can enjoy, including what sort of jobs they might do when they grow up.  We tell readers that, when they grow up, girls can be firefighters and builders, police officers and lawyers, sports people, musicians, writers and many other things and that while they are still children, they can learn and develop the skills that these jobs use.
But simply telling a child they can do these things is not enough.  Children want evidence that what we are saying is true.  If we tell children that women can be builders, but their personal experience tells them otherwise, they will not believe us.  In Girls Can Do Anything, I didn’t want to just tell children, I wanted to provide evidence that real girls have grown up to become real women who do all these things and more. 
This is where the idea of the Gallery of Inspirational Women came from.  

At the back of the book, we have created a gallery of 15 inspirational women, and over the next two weeks, I'll be publishing a series of blog posts about each one, telling you why she was chosen.

I thought long and hard about who to include, and had many discussions with Sophie Cashell, my editor, on the subject. After a lot of debate, we eventually whittled a very long list down to 15 people. Ali Pie created illustrated portraits of them all and we placed them in a gallery on the end papers at the back of the book.
So how did we decide who to include and who to leave out? 
I was very keen not to wheel out the same old historical figures that children learn about in school because I wanted children to know that there have been more than a handful of women that have made a difference to the world they live in. I wanted to choose people from a wide variety of backgrounds - people of different nationality, age, ethnic origin, ability/disability.  I wanted to choose contemporary role-models as well as historic ones.  I wanted to introduce readers to ordinary heroes as well as extraordinary ones in order to make their accomplishments feel achievable to ordinary children.
Girls Can Do Anything is out on 2 August and from Monday 23rd July, you'll be able to visit the gallery on my website where you'll find links to all the blog posts as they go live.  
Note that there are eight additional women who feature in another gallery within the pages of the book.  These are women who have made outstanding contributions to medicine. I have not included them in this list, but perhaps after reading the coming posts, you might be inspired to find out more about these other eight women for yourself.

Our first woman is Claudia Gordon:

Claudia Gordon – Lawyer (Jamaica)
First deaf African-American attorney in the US
Speaking out for others in difficult times is a challenging and brave thing for anyone to do, not least if you are a child. Who dares to face up to bullies, or tell an adult when someone is being badly treated? Who is brave enough to offer friendship to someone who is marginalised or despised by the rest of their community? 
In the adult world, this is the job of a lawyer - someone like Claudia Gordon.  But Claudia Gordon is not just any lawyer. She was the first deaf African-American attorney in the United States, which means she has had to work harder than most to achieve her ambitions. She now uses her position, skills and knowledge to support others, including deaf and disabled people.
I chose Claudia Gordon to feature in the Girls Can Do Anything gallery of inspirational women because I want to show children that women can succeed in any chosen career and that the country you were born in, the colour of your skin or your ability to hear sounds need not stand in your way.

Find out more



COMPETITION TIME!Who inspires you?We want to create a gallery of people who inspire you!
Visit the Girls Can Do Anything Online Gallery to download a competition entry form and you could win a hardback copy of the book, an awesome art set, and your entry in the online gallery. Competition closes 31 August, 2018. Entries sent after this date can still be included in the online gallery but will not be eligible for the prize.
Girls Can Do Anything is illustrated by Ali Pye and published on 2 August 2018 by Scholastic. Pre-order your copy here.

The Princess and the Giant on Stage!

This summer, children across the country can go and see The Princess and the Giant live on stage!  

The production has been put together by Folksy Theatre, who specialise in live action theatre in the great outdoors.

Co-Artictic Director, Lee Hardwicke, said, "After scouring libraries and ordering piles of books... I read The Princess & The Giant to my four year old daughter in bed one night. I loved it and so did she. She asked me to read it to her the next night and again the next (this is unusual for her, so it was a good sign!) We wanted a story that children couldn't get enough of, so this seemed the perfect fit for us."

The first showing was on 13th July and the play is running at venues across the country until 5th September.  It's packed with songs and fun and there's plenty of joining-in for chidren and their carers.  

So  what are you waiting for? Pack up your picnic, bring a blanket and head off to a venue near you! 

Find out more

Big Box Little Box Teachers' Guidance Notes from CLPE

You may be aware that Big Box Little Box has been shortlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize, 2018.  

The prize, which was set up to honour publisher Klaus Flugge, founder of Andersen Press,  has be established to recognise the most promising and exciting newcomers to children's picture book illustration.

Big Box Little Box is Edward Underwood's first picture book, so I'm absolutely delighted that he's been selected for this accolade.  The winner will be announced in September.

As part of their work, The Klaus Flugge Prize have joined forces with CLPE, the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education to produce some outstanding Teachers' Notes for the five shortlisted books.  

You can find all the resources here. 

Alternatively, visit my website where you'll find a whole range of FREE activities for Big Box Little Box that you can use at home or in the classroom, including the CLPE resources.  

Lunch on a Pirate Ship

One fine day, a little boy called Jack
Was playing with his toys in his yard out back
It was so much fun being out and about
He didn't even hear his mum call out!

"Lunch is ready!" little Jack's mum cried
But when at last Jack came inside
He couldn't bear to eat his lunch because
His chips were cold and his baked beans crunched!

"I can't eat this soggy old chip
I'd rather have lunch on a pirate ship
I'll sail with the crew far out to sea
They're bound to have lunch for a boy like me."

Join Jack on this exciting adventure to find the perfect lunch.  Will the pirates have a tasty treat or will Jack have to venture further to fill his rumbly tummy?  

You'll have to read the book to find out!

I am so delighted to finally be able to show you this book - it's taken a good few years to get from the desktop to the bookshop, I can tell you!  But the wait was truly worth it.  Kristina Stephenson of Sir Charlie Stinky Socks fame, has done the best job at illustrating this cracking adventure.  She's been so utterly brilliant and clever in the way she's turned Jack's ordinary surroundings into an adventure to make your teeth rattle!



Lunch on a Pirate Ship is published by Simon and Schuster and is on this year's World Book Day recommended reads for 5-8 year olds.

OUT NOW!

Find out more here

RNIB Beast of Bramble Woods Talking Book

The Beast of Bramble Woods is to become the latest in a series of talking books recorded by RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind).  It will soon be available FREE for children who are unable to read printed material. The Talking Books Service is not just for children with sight loss, it's for anyone who has trouble reading standard printed text, including children with dyslexia, ADHD, autism and other disabilities - and their carers.

Children will be able to access the book via the RNIB Talking Books app and readers will also be able to download it to a CD or USB.

Angela Preston, Fundraising Manager for RNIB said, "It is a fantastic resource for not only children with sight loss, but for parents who are blind or partially sighted who wish to share the wonder and delight of a book with their children."

The Beast of Bramble Woods is one of 70 books chosen for this year's Summer Reading Challenge, which focuses on the theme of mischief makers. 

Summer Reading Challenge Must-have Reads

Summer Reading Challenge Website

The project has been sponsored by Nationwide Building Society in Peebles, Scotland.  

Out on 19 June 2018

Knock Knock Dinosaur Shortlisted

Knock Knock Dinosaur has been shortlisted for the Hillingdon Picture Book of the Year Award, 2018!  

The awards are run by The London Borough of Hillingdown Schools Library Service and are voted for by Year 2 children from 21 local schools.  

The other shortlisted titles this year are: 

Tidy by Emily Gravett

Perfectly Norman by Tom Percival

Mr Bunny's Chocolate Factory by Elys Dolan

Lucy Goose by Danny Baker and Pippa Curnick
After the Fall by Dan Santat

The winners will be announced at a finale event on 28 June.  

EEK!

Find out more

The Princess and the Giant on Stage!

I am delighted to tell you that The Princess and the Giant is coming to the stage!!  

It's being produced by the wonderfully talented people at Folksy Theater and will be touring the country this summer!

Folksy use a mixture of actors, puppets and multimedia to bring audiences the best in outdoor theatre so do check out the tour dates and book yourselves on to a show near you.  

Oh, and remember to bring your blankets!!

Click here for more information and Tour Dates

A fun Game for a Snowy Day

Fancy a game to while away the time on this super snowy day?  How about this?

What's in the Box?

And I've also included my favourite outtakes video to get you in the mood.