A Mischief of Mice

It was such a busy week last week that I didn’t have time to blink. See, I spent the entire week at Morgan Elementary in Surrey, BC, working as a writer-in-residence.

What a week! Working with the teachers, I taught workshops to every student from Kindergarten to Grade 7! For the older kids I taught a variety of classes on crafting characters and building kingdoms through designing maps and writing proclamations.

For the younger kids I delivered my tried-and-true “Costume a Character” workshop. In this class the kids get to “costume” three little mice, after which they write a story explaining what happened in their characters’ lives to cause them to have to change into the three different costumes.

This mouse workshop never ceases to delight me. I am always treated to some new and delightful costumes. My favourite this week? By far, it was poet mouse, crafted by an imaginative student in Grade 3. She even had a delightful poem (all about cheese, of course) that was sang out by her poetic and whiskery little fellow.

In addition to this busy week, I also met Suzanne Collins (author of The Hunger Games) this week. She came to Vancouver and, despite being exhausted from ten hours of workshopping, my friend Kallie George and I rushed to meet her. We sneaked in just at the tail-end of the event! Notice the brace on her hand; the sign of a busy author!