Write a Book!

The Write a Book Project is in its 23rd year of existence. Organised by the Blackrock Education Centre, it is open to many schools in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin areas. Every year, after months of hard work and creativity, there comes a time for celebration. In 2007, it took place in the Fitzpatrick’s Castle Hotel in Killiney.

I can hear them before I see them as I approach the lofty hotel room. They’re there. In their noisy, lively hundreds. The Authors.
A TV crew is at work. Two big screens either side of the stage show the artists their own images. They look well in their varied uniforms, nicely arranged hair and huge grins. The ‘Writers Only’ zone is marked out by a no-nonsense sign that is shamelessly ignored by mammies, daddies and grannies, teachers, heads and fans of all descriptions and ages.
The authors are 5 and 6 years old. They’re beside themselves with pride. They’re the winners of the Write a Book (WAB) competition.

Twenty-two years ago, Seán O'Leary and Alice Quinn from the Blackrock Education Centre (Co. Dublin) launched the first WAB project. The goal was ‘to promote a love of books in the community and in children’s lives’. Thanks to the assistance of the Primary Curriculum Support Programme and An Chomhairle Leabharlanna, and funded by the National Reading Initiative and the Education Centres themselves, the project has now spread all over the island of Ireland. And as a good idea gets even better when it's shared, in 2001 the Blackrock Education Centre brought the project to Austria and Luxembourg through an EU scheme and later to Zambia!
In early December, teachers sign up to a project that will keep them and their pupils busy for the next couple of months. Each book, whether it is collective or individual, must be produced by the children with the occasional help of the teacher or the class assistant. Parents are, of course, encouraged to take an interest but, in most cases, they must absolutely refrain from adding their ‘personal touch’ to any aspect of their offspring’s work. In February, the teachers bring their book or books to the Education Centre where they are ‘traded in’ for a bundle from another school. The new books are then judged by the teachers, who are strongly encouraged to share them with their pupils, even though the latter are not supposed to participate in the judging. Before they are brought back to the Centre and then to their rightful owners, one book from each pack is awarded a Merit Award and three are declared Highly Commended.It is these lucky few who are gathered in the Fitzpatrick’s Castle Hotel in Killiney today.

Presently the parents are shooed back to their seats and the speeches begin. After a few introductory words by Betty Behan, Chairperson of Blackrock Education Centre, Minister Mary Hanafin stands up and asks her young audience:
‘Who in this room wrote a book?’ The Junior and Senior Infants have been waiting for this. ‘Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuus!’ they yell. Then the Minister tells them to turn around towards their parents, teachers, etc. and repeats her question to the adults this time. Only one hand rises tentatively in the air and the children erupt in laughter while the Ms Hanafin adds: ‘See, you’re very special people, and today it’s all about you.’
Now the kids are literally jumping on their seats and making faces at the camera. Time for some action. The names are called out and the authors rush to the stage where they’re given a Certificate and – if you please! – a medal. At this point, parents troop into the No-adult-beyond-this-point zone to take pictures of their darlings smiling next to the Minister and Gery Maye from RTÉ. A little fellow with a few teeth missing skips off the podium shouting ‘I won!’

Before the Junior and Senior Infants break into a victory dance, I make my way to the back of the room, where the books are displayed on two long tables. Their colourful covers, glittery spines, ribbons, feathers, ice-pop sticks and what-have-you seem to be screaming READ ME! These books have been selected for their ‘beautiful handwriting’, the quality of their illustrations, presentation or the originality of their themes and storylines. I’m skimming through pictures books (including a version of The Owl Babies retold by a class of Senior Infants in their own words), typed-up novels, quiz-books (about football and wrestling among other things), collections of poems or recipes, books about fairies, monsters, horses, zoos, me-myself-and-I, when I finally lay my hands on ‘We Can…’ a collective work by a class of Senior Infants.

Numbers is probably the only downside of the Write a Book project. At least for its organisers in the Blackrock Education Centre. This year, the Centre received nearly 7,000 books produced under the supervision of 313 teachers in 85 primary schools in their catchment area (from James’s Street in Dublin to the M50 and Wicklow Town). ‘It’s a massive administrative job,’ says John Brennan, CPD officer at the Blackrock Education Centre, ‘You keep counting and checking and recounting. You just can’t lose a book.’ Incredibly, they almost never do.

The speech from the stage is different now. It takes me a moment to realise why: it’s in Irish. For the first time this year, the project, in association with Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge and An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta & Gaelscolaíochta, encouraged children to write as gaeilge. The success was huge and immediate: about one thousand books were written in seven Gaelscoileanna and in another eight National Schools.

Looking back on the 22 years of Write a Book project, John Brennan reflects on its evolution and on how it is linked to the changes in the English and Gaeilge curriculums. ‘Today,’ he says ‘Children are engaging with and experimenting with the language in a manner that is different. They are trying their hand at writing short stories; they are discussing characters, the plot, the imagery, colloquialisms and the use of language and so on.’ Besides, John goes on, ‘they are being exposed [in school] to myriad terrific children’s authors from home and abroad and, in many instances, children have had the opportunity to meet with and discuss stories with the writers themselves in their schools.’

The project strongly ties in with the different curriculums, as well as the art syllabus. Whatever the age group, the experience touches on bookmaking, stitching, sticking, drawing and occasionally computing.
Cremona Special School in Dún Laoghaire (Co. Dublin) is one of the three special schools who entered the project this year. Here too, explains teacher Sue Tulk, Write a Book fits in well and is a positive experience. In September 2006, the school got involved in a crib competition. Their book describes the making of the crib. On each page, a photo shows one of the children at work, along with a short text and a sample of the materials used by the young artists (lollipop sticks, twigs, cardboard, glitter, feathers, felt…). Sue’s pupils are all visually impaired, some of them having no sight at all. But they still ‘loved the tactile aspect of the book’. ‘We always try to incorporate as much of the different senses as we can in anything we do,’ says Sue ‘And the WAB fitted within that philosophy’.
Project coordinator Josephine Heffernan for her part insists on the universality of the project: ‘It brings a lot of enjoyment and success to all the pupils,’ she says ‘Pupils with learning difficulties, special needs, international students, etc. All children can participate.’ Best of all, she adds, ‘The children do not look on Write a Book as work, they are very enthusiastic about it and will spend hours and hours working on it.’ Is there anything else to hope for with such a successful project? That it continues happily ever after, of course! Josephine also confides that she would wish to ‘get the opportunity to publish some of the children’s books’. 

So really, it seems that everybody is a winner. Even Aoife, who didn’t get an award this year but remembers the 2006 ceremony. She was in 2nd class and the author of The Haunted House. She explains how she preferred doing the illustrations to the actual writing because ‘it hurt her hand!’ This year, she knew she wasn’t going to do well. She started too late. But, even though we’re only in March, she’s getting ready for 2008 and has nearly finished typing her new story. And guess what? That hurt too! Aoife has no intention of becoming a famous author. She wants to be a famous actress. However, she enjoyed taking part in the project and especially wearing the rosette (as it was then) in school last year. Was she proud? Very. Every body looked at her ‘and some might have been a little jealous’.

To be perfectly honest, as I watch the next horde of children streaming out, I’m a bit jealous myself. Time to go back to my own writer’s desk and do some work. You never know, maybe, one day, I might get a medal too…
Juliette Saumande

For more information, check out the official Write a Book website www.writeabook.ie or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it