Kathryn Evans - AIM High Writing
Kathryn
Evans
AIM High Writing
Summary
Age range Years 3 to 13
Books Yes
DBS Checked Yes
Curriculum Checklist Includes:
- Oracy & Fluency
- Critiquing & Appreciating Literacy
- Grammar & Vocabulary
- Composition & Editing
- Teamwork
Kathryn combines being an author with being a mum, running a strawberry farm, occasionally performing belly dance and fencing competitively. What she’s best at though, is not giving up.
About Kathryn
Finally published by Usborne after fifteen years of trying, Kathryn’s debut novel More of Me was nominated for the 2017 Carnegie Medal, won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for UK and Ireland 2017 and the 2016 Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award – the first YA novel ever to do so. She has a firm following of young readers, has been shortlisted for multiple regional awards and More of Me has been sold to territories world wide – including Poland, the USA, Germany, Korea, Russia, Hungary and Turkey.
Her latest book, Dylan and Mouse, is for younger readers looking for a warm, funny adventure story with just the right amount of jeopardy!
Kathryn’s AIM High Writing Day
The aim of Kathryn’s AIM High day is to deliver all the key ingredients for a plan for a story – Ideas, Plot, Structure, Character and Setting. Kathryn gives every child a ‘Magic Spark to Manuscript’ notebook that is filled in throughout the day and children get to keep.
As children arrive, Kathryn talks to them about what they are reading – as well as settling the children who may be in an unfamiliar environment, it’s an opportunity for Kathryn to choose books she can add as examples they will know.
The day proper starts with a one-word story warm up and a five minute introduction to the day, covering the power of storytelling and why it’s so important.
Then using prompt items such a Victorian book hook, a flint axe head, a stuffed toy, the group explore how they can come up with quick ideas. These form the basis of the days developing plan.
After this exercise, everyone has at least one character idea and they move on to develop that.
The group usually cover Character first. Using examples Kathryn teaches a simple way of thinking about internal character dynamics by using personality types. This technique encourages children to think about how the character acts, rather than how they look, and to build character from the inside out and they begin to develop their own character ideas.
The group moves on to look at setting – how writers use it to manipulate the way a reader feels, and how we can use it to show readers what the character is like – Kathryn uses examples from her own work and three sets from the Harry Potter films to demonstrate this. The children then work on their own characters
Focus then moves on to plot where all discuss the seven plot types. Kathryn give examples to encourage children to think of their own – and also to be thinking about their story ideas and how it might work as one or more of the plot types.
The final session of the day is on structure, in which Kathryn demonstrates that every story is exactly the same structure using Jack and the Beanstalk and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as examples. This final session is a mix of the children writing their own story outline, interspersed with some dramatic story telling from Kathryn.
The day ends with the children working on their story, or creating a cover design and title on the workbook.
A Selection of Kathryn’s Books
Laura is dying. Her last desperate hope is to be frozen until she can be cured. But what happens when you wake up one day and the world has moved on forty years? Your best friend is middle-aged, your parents are presumed dead. Could you find a place to belong? Could you build a new life, while solving the mystery of what happened to the old one?
Dark secrets lurk in the future of the girl from the past…
Dylan knows he could soon be thrown out of the castle home he loves so much. With their money gone and time running out, what can he do? Luckily his fierce and funny best friend Mouse is ready to help. Together, they launch a treasure hunt but end up tumbling straight into the paws of Pirats!
Can Dylan and Mouse outwit the ratty crew, uncover long-lost treasure, and prove that even the smallest of heroes can make the biggest difference?
Teva’s life seems normal: school, friends, boyfriend. But at home she hides an impossible secret. Eleven other Tevas.
Because once a year, Teva separates into two, leaving a younger version of herself stuck at the same age, in the same house… watching the new Teva live the life that she’d been living. But as her seventeenth birthday rolls around, Teva is determined not to let it happen again. She’s going to fight for her future. Even if that means fighting herself.
Bookings
To book Kathryn Evans please contact
aimhigh@caboodlebooks.co.uk
Kathryn also offers visits to schools and other settings, click here for more information.