Childrens Books Ireland

I’d been warned that Sligo was a backwards place but that was an tnemetatsrednu! From Gurteen to Tubercuury, Drimona to Alchonry, Eniscrone to Grange, Rathcormac to Sligo town, children were spelling words backwards… words like Elephant, Tarantula, Hippopotamus and…. wait for it CONCENTRATION! Yes indeed a thirteen letter words was spelt successfully by EVERY school! Yllacirogetac this means that the children of Sligo are the best backwards spellers in the UNIVERSE! The character of my three books, Walter Speazlebud, Moon Man and Alien Timebomb, would be proud to know that his quirky little talent has influenced so many, and driven a few teachers crazy along the way.

And if backwards spelling talent wasn’t enough, the writing workshops I had the pleasure of hosting in Sligo Library (thanks for the tea and biscuits) showed me that the children of Sligo can write a bit. We had a story about a purple Goldfish that could turn into an ELEPHANT, and a boy who wanted to be a history teacher was wasn’t very good at history, until he tumbles back in time and becomes part of it! ‘Wedgie man and the talking toilets’ speaks for itself, while ‘Moonshine the unicorn’ told a magical tale of a unicorn who turns into a pony whenever a human appears. This causes some problems when when taken away to a stable to be turned into a showjumper!

I enjoyed the workshops so much and learnt a LOT! I learnt that you don’t have to be afraid of the blank page. You just sit down and put words on it. I witnessed extraordinary noitanigami and exemplary gnitirw and it was great bloomin fun.

I even got to walk on the beaches at Eniscrone and Rosses point and on the fossil beach up beyond Lisadell. What a week, what a county, what a life!

*Pictured here are students from Rathcormac N.S Sligo. Thanks to Frank O’Sullivan for sending on the photos!