Growing Wild, Noticing Everything
An outside adventure book created by 83 Reception, Year 1 and 2 children and their teachers at Waterside Primary Academy for The Roald Dahl Museum.
This book was made during creative play in a forest school space at Waterside Primary Academy in Chesham. The children were introduced to me via a short storytelling film I created and a big box of resources I sent in the post. We then worked together to make wild capes, sparkling wings and huge interactive paintings which was all whizzed together into a book. Rather than books for school, these books are for whole families to enjoy together with the aim to inspire imaginative and active play outside.
This was a ‘Glittering Eyes’ Project with The Roald Dahl Museum, and took place in May and June 2024.
Cats, Castles and Missing Crowns
A story invented through messing about and play at libraries, children’s centres and galleries in and around Sleaford, inspired by a castle which is long gone.
Based around a handful of truths - including a real medieval roof tile with a cat paw print on it and a real story about King John’s lost treasure - this book reflects four creative story-making sessions with children and young people in and around Sleaford. All the children depicted in the book are real residents of the local area, and all the illustrations are either live-illustrated by me or created by children and your people during the workshops. The story-making sessions were part of Riverlight Festival 2024 and the final book was celebrated through a short story walk for Sleaford’s Walking Festival.
This project was commissioned by North Kesteven District Council in May and June 2024.
Playing With Stories
The same story invented and retold three times by refugee families in Norwich, in collaboration with Zannie Fraser.
Over three Saturday mornings at New Routes Integration, families made puppets, stories, books and characters with myself and theatre-maker Zannie Fraser. In the first session, the group made up a story about a mushroom who travels to a new home. The other two sessions saw the story develop and get retold over and over again in different ways. After a fourth meeting with the families at a celebration and performance morning, the final book has been exhibited alongside the supporting artwork as part of Refugee Week Norwich 2024 at Anteros Arts Foundation Gallery. If you are interested in this book, is it being sold by New Routes Integration to raise money for their crowdfunder. Please do get in touch to find out more.
This was a Norfolk and Norwich Festival funded ‘Artist Bursary’ project in collaboration with Zannie Fraser, which took place in spring 2024.
What’s The Story in Dragon Hall? You Decide.
A choose-your-own-adventure book inspired by Dragon Hall created by a group of home educated young people aged 8-13.
The young people were challenged to create a navigation device and engagement tool for families exploring the National Centre For Writing at Dragon Hall. Each week we invented characters, settings, clothes, food, missions and plot twists informed by research on the medieval building, as well as knowledge gained through our own exploration of the rooms through drawing, photography, creative writing and painting. The resulting book is a lively starting point for imaginative storytelling in Dragon Hall. This project was funded by the National Centre for Writing and took place in April and May 2024.
The Logs That Lay On The Grass In March Came From A Seed
A collaborative picture book created by two classes of Year 3 children at Cavalry Primary School in March, Cambridgeshire.
Over 60 children at Cavalry Primary School were told that they could choose anything they liked in their local area to focus on for an art project. They chose some logs that stop people parking on grass near their school. Because of that, we spent a month focusing on the logs, dreaming up their stories and creating artwork and writing inspired by them, before turning the whole project into a book. It felt like a game of tennis, one class would come up with ideas and hit them over the net and then the other class would develop them and hit them back.
This project was a Norfolk and Norwich Festival funded ‘HotSpot’ Artist-In-School Residency, which took place in spring 2024.
Waterside Primary Publishing House
A pop-up book cart in Chesham showcasing five picture books created by Years 2, 3, 4 and 5, and a group of teachers for The Roald Dahl Museum.
Over two months, 96 students and 4 teachers turned their school into a publishing house. The five stories seem to describe an imagined dream world, but after closer reading its clear the narratives and characters are specific to the magic found in Chesham. The five books came from creative walks around Chesham, spotting local magic such as a giant-size tea cup above a cafe, a dragon in the pub and a sparkle on the river than just might be an alien fairy. The book cart was co-designed with the young people, and built by technician Mike Goddard.
Pick A Pathway / Story Bazaar
An interactive, double sided picture book made with 60 Year 4 students at Abbots Hall Community Primary School with Jubilant Festival and The Food Museum in 2023.
The book follows two characters, a bat-boy and a sausage dog, each embarking on parallel quests into alternative futures. Every creative decision, both frame narratives, all the stories, both introductory letters and all the artwork has been done by the students. This project spanned two months as part of Stowmarket’s Jubilant Festival of youth creativity, and included immersive story-making in the children's classrooms, and quest-finding at the Food Museum. Handmade books were showcased with Marion Leeper at the East Anglian Storytelling Festival, with the Year 4 students kicking off the event with a buzzy 'Story Bazaar'.
Our Stories Live Here
A picture book made with primary school students, young people who attend SENSE centres in Rotherham and families working with REMA (Rotherham Ethnic Minority Alliance) in 2022 for Clifton Park Museum.
The kitchen-focused stories, illustrations and characters in this book came directly from the young people, families and adults who took part in workshops and creative consultation from December - February 2022. At the start of the project, I sent activity packs to 4 families and 60 school children to explore stories in their own kitchens, before meeting with them to develop the book together. With support from community leaders in Rotherham and Clifton Partnership, the book includes a wide range of childhood memories based around food, as well as phrases translated into Polish, Roma, Urdu and Arabic.
I See A Family
A picture book made with 10 Norwich families in August 2021 during a 6 month writing residency at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery.
Alongside a medieval ‘poppet’ doll, the books will be available in kit bags for families to use as navigation devices around the galleries. The kits are designed to prompt play, conversations about objects, coming up with new stories and general messing about!
Alfred’s Adventure in the Children’s City
A picture book developed with families from North Cambridge and Imogen Alexander in Spring 2020 for Kettle’s Yard.
The 8 week project ‘Play and Picture books’ was delivered with Kettle’s Yard and The Red Hen Project and was funded by Talking Together in Cambridgeshire. The book has been gifted to participating families and is now sold in the Kettle’s Yard shop.
