Age guideline 7-11, 11-13
About the event
Take a walk with Cressida Cowell around the ancient woodland setting of her bestselling Wizards of Once series. Listen to the creak of the trees, the whisper of the wind, and imagine what could be lurking, hidden in the shadows. Hear about the real woodlands that inspired Cressida’s fictional wild woods as well as other famous fictional woods with real-world beginnings. Be inspired to explore wooded areas near to you, and to learn why we need to protect and preserve these.
How to access the event
Listen to the event on SoundCloud here.
Teacher Resources
Record yourself (audio only) describing somewhere familiar to you e.g. your school playground/yard, a local park or walk or your house.
Activities from the Woodland Trust:
The Young People’s Forest facebook page https://www.facebook.com/WTYPF/
Print your own tree id guide: http://www.woodlandtru.st/m59V0
Help track nature’s changes https://naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk/
Identify bird song https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/04/identify-bird-song/
About the author and illustrator
Cressida Cowell is the number one bestselling author-illustrator of the How to Train Your Dragon and The Wizards of Once book series, and the author of the Emily Brown picture books, illustrated by Neal Layton. She has sold over 11 million books worldwide in 38 languages. How to Train Your Dragon is also an award-winning billion-dollar DreamWorks film series, and a TV series shown on Netflix and CBBC; The Wizards of Once has also been optioned for film by DreamWorks.
Cressida is an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust, a trustee for World Book Day and a founder patron of the Children’s Media Foundation. She has won numerous prizes for her books, including the Blue Peter Book Award and the Ruth Rendell Award for Championing Literacy. She is a honorary fellow of Keble College Oxford, and has a honorary doctorate from the University of Brighton. She grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland and she now lives in Hammersmith with her husband, three children and a dog called Pigeon. cressidacowell.co.uk
Twitter: @CressidaCowell
Instagram: @CressidaCowellAuthor
Facebook: /CressidaCowellBooks
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.