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Age guideline 7-11, 11-13
About the event
Have you ever wanted to make a difference to the world but didn’t know quite where to start? Thai-Irish author Emma Shevah and Dutch writer Marc ter Horst are here to tell you how small things can make a big, and positive, difference. In How to Save the World With a Chicken and an Egg, Emma’s characters Ivy and Nathaniel unexpectedly meet on a cold English beach with the arrival of a rare and wondrous giant leatherback turtle who lays her eggs in front of the world’s media. Soon they’re united in an eco-mission. While Marc’s intriguingly titled Palm Trees at the North Pole encourages young climate activists to engage even more deeply with their chosen cause by sharing the science and history of climate change in an accessible and entertaining way. Get top tips on how to get started and how you can make a difference!
Buy the Book here: How to Save the World with a Chicken and an Egg - Emma Shevah
Palm Trees at the North Pole - Marc ter Horst
How to access the event
From 1 January 2022, this event will move to our collection of Past Event Videos where you can access all past festival events for a small one-off fee of £5. Go to the top of the page to view Past Event Videos. Please click here to sign up or log in if you are already a member.
Teacher Resources
Download the teacher pack here.
Teaching Notes for Emma Shevah - How to Change the World with a Chicken and an Egg. Including lesson notes on why we need to save water, creative writing tasks and reading group discussion notes. Download them here:
https://www.chickenhousebooks.com/schools/emma-shevah/
Teaching Notes for Marc ter Horst that explore: reading and writing non-fiction, writing for purpose and topic of climate change: pdf in resource folder
Comparing Emma and Marc’s books - they both write about the environment and the human impact on it, but through different methods. Use this event and their books to explore the differences in fiction and non-fiction writing. How do the different written forms affect the impact on the reader? Is it different for different people in your class?
Link this event to Science topics that explore the impacts humans have on their environment, and how changes to the environment can pose dangers to living things. How can we change our behaviour to minimise our impact on the natural world?
About the Authors
Emma Shevah is Thai and Irish and was born and raised in London. She is the author of four middle-grade novels published by Chicken House: Dream on Amber, Dara Palmer’s Major Drama (optioned by the BBC), What Lexie Did and How to Save the World with a Chicken and an Egg, and an early reader for Bloomsbury: Hello Baby Mo!. She has lived and travelled in many countries but now lives in Brighton with half of her four children. She is Head of Year at Roedean, where she teaches English and gazes at the sea, wishing she was in it.
Marc ter Horst is a Dutch writer of nonfiction children’s books. Growing up upstairs from his parents’ bicycle shop, he read many books and comics. Marc studied literature, but soon found himself more interested in geology, astronomy, and evolution. Working at the National Institute for Curriculum Development, he discovered his real talent was explaining things in little words. Eventually he found the courage to become an independent copywriter and wrote for websites, museums of (natural) history, and educational publishers. He is the author of several nonfiction books for kids, and his books have been translated into several languages. Marc lives in Nijmegen in the Netherlands with his girlfriend, two kids, and two naughty rabbits.
Twitter: @emmashevah | @marcth
Instagram: @emmashevah
Facebook: emma.shevah
Website: https://www.emmashevah.com | https://marcterhorst.nl/
About the festival partner
This event has been programmed by Bath Children’s Literature Festival and New Dutch Writing.
2021 is the third year of the New Dutch Writing campaign, promoting Dutch authors in the UK & Ireland and celebrating the important work of literary translators in making Dutch literature available to English language readers. It is supported by The Dutch Foundation for Literature which invests in the quality and diversity of literature through grants for writers, translators, publishers and festivals, and contributes to the production and distribution of Dutch literature at home and abroad.
Bath Festivals is a charity that brings you the Bath Children’s Literature Festival, Europe’s largest dedicated children’s literature festival with a vibrant array of talks and activities for children. They are also responsible for The Bath Festival in the summer which bring the city alive with a celebration of music and books in the beautiful venues and spaces of the world heritage city. By creating innovative and diverse programmes, their festivals inspire and provide unique experiences for residents and visitors to Bath and surrounding areas. Their year-round creative learning programme of hands-on music and literature projects gives children and young people opportunities to gain real-world experience, building their inner confidence and improving communication skills through the arts.