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Age guideline 7-11
About the event
Join Amelia Fang creator Laura Ellen Anderson for a journey to The Weatherlands, the magical setting for her new book, Rainbow Grey. In a fun-filled event, meet an extraordinary cast of characters including Ray Grey and her Weatherling friends Snowden Everfreeze and Droplett Dewbells. Create an exciting book cover, featuring your very own climate-controlling Weatherling character and learn how to draw Ray’s adorable cloud-cat Nim.
Buy the Book here: Rainbow Grey - Laura Ellen Anderson
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.
Be prepared
Make sure you have pencil and paper as Laura will be showing us how to draw a Cloud Cat as part of the event.
Teacher Resources
Character Building, Character Development, Personification
Laura has personified different types of weather in her story. How do the types of weather influence what the characters are like and what they do? How could you personify other things in the natural world - trees, rivers. mountains, flowers etc.?
Create your own build your own character pouches or boxes (works best when you can’t see inside, like a lucky dip).
Create a pouch for each of the following and write down lots of options for each on separate small pieces of paper. Fold them and place them inside, ready to pull out.
First Name - include names from lots of different cultures
Surname - these should give an inspiration to the character in appearance or personality
Creatures - could be real animals or mythical creatures or robots, aliens etc.
Personality Traits
Things or Objects - these could become sidekicks or accessories or important objects
Use the ‘tin can & a piece of string in an empty room’ challenge to find out more about the characters you’ve created.
Weather
Link this event to a scheme of work around the weather and weather patterns. Laura’s book also explores the impact of different kinds of weather on the natural environment, and looking after the planet.
About the Author
When she's not trying to take over the world or fighting sock-stealing monsters, Laura Ellen Anderson is a professional children's book author and illustrator, with an increasing addiction to coffee. She spends every waking hour creating and drawing, and would quite like to live on the moon when humans finally make it possible.
The best-selling Amelia Fang series, which has sold over 180,000 copies, and sold in 21 languages, was her first as an author-illustrator. Amelia Fang and the Bookworm Gang was published as a £1 World Book Day title in March 2020 and the final book in the series followed in October of the same year.
“An instant hit thanks to its richly imagined Tim Burton-esque world, pun-laden humour and lively illustrations” – The Bookseller
“A fantastical comic package”– The Irish Times
Instagram: @laura_ellen_anderson
Facebook: LauraEllenAndersonIllustration
Twitter: @Lillustrator
Website: https://http://lauraellenanderson.co.uk
About the festival partner
This event has been programmed by Bath Children’s Literature Festival
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.