Myths and magic in Northern Ireland with Lari Don
Scotland and Ireland are both steeped in myths and legends, so who better to take on the Scottish Friendly Children Book Tour’s very first trip to Northern Ireland than award-winning Scottish author and storyteller Lari Don.
Over the course of a busy week, we snaked our way all around Northern Ireland from its northernmost tip Londonderry, out to the east coast and an atmospheric evening walk around Giant’s Causeway before heading inland, working our way through towns and villages surrounding Lough Neagh before heading into Belfast at the end of the week.
Lari’s enthralling storytelling style meant at times you could literally hear a pin drop in school halls as pupils and teachers alike we enchanted by her readings from her award-winning Spellchasers trilogy and Fabled Beasts series. Imaginations sparked and led by Lari, pupils then created their own chase scenes, traps and cliffhangers, bouncing ideas of one another and building scenes together in the event. Lari bound the whole event together by telling her own favourite Scottish myths, now being told to parents and friends all over Northern Ireland.
A huge thank you to Lari, Book Trust Northern Ireland, Education Authority Schools Library Service and all the schools who took part in what was a fantastic week!
Congratulations to Molly from Wakefield who won a signed copy of Spellchasers: The Beginner’s Guide to Curses in our Lari Don competition!
Super Stats!
• We saw 1500 pupils from 13 schools across Northern Ireland
• 650 book sold!
• Three Scottish mythical tales including ‘The King of the Black Art’ now being retold by children all over Northern Ireland!