Our Hay Festival Adventure 2014 - Part 2: Plastic and Pooches

Sadly Hay Festival ended - but what an amazing time we had! Yes, there was lots and lots of rain, but we had some great events and learnt a lot about books. In fact, the last two Templar authors gave great talks about the environment, animals and the First World War. 

Have you ever wanted to know where burgers and rubber ducks come from? Or the best way to recycle your rubbish? Christiane Dorion, author of  the fantastic How it Works series of books hosted a wonderful workshop with answers to this and so much more. 

From creative design where the audience was encouraged to draw something that could help the environment in the future to a fascinating talk about animals, how they survive and what we can do to protect them and their habitats. At the end of the event Christiane encouraged people to take a look at some of the exotic things she had brought along with her (including ivory tusks and leopard fur) which had been confiscated by customs at airports around the world for being illegal items. We all left the event feeling much more informed about what we can do to help preserve the wonderful planet we live on.

Christiane Dorion at Cambridge Wordfest

I was slightly apprehensive about Christiane Dorion's How the World Works appearance at the Cambridge Wordfest Spring Festival because it was on Friday 13th! I'm not normally superstitious but as soon as I arrived, I discovered that things had already started to go wrong: the books hadn't arrived. Despite the concern and obvious distress from the Festival organisers, Christiane emitted an aura of calm - she simply shrugged her shoulders and admitted her events are for her to meet and interact with her readers, not for any other reason.

However, catastrophe struck again whilst we were setting up the stage ready for Christiane's talk and we discovered one of her props, a fish bowl, had broken in transit. Despite her obvious disappointment, Christiane continued with a determined dexterity that was admirable, and explained rather than demonstrated her fish bowl experiment. Luckily it appeared our Friday 13th bad luck was not going to come in the traditional 'threes' and Christiane's talk went down a storm!



The room was positively vibrating with the excited buzz Christiane created among both children and their parents! The entire room was engaged as she led them through complicated tide cycles and carefully explained to one young member of the audience why we don't fall off the top of the world. The best moment for me was when Christiane was explaining the various theories surrounding global warming and scientists predictions for the future. She asked the children to vote which outcome they thought was most likely: 1, 2, 3 or 4. A lovely warm feeling of optimism swept through the room as nearly every child raised their hand to vote for option number 3: A different way.

Once Christiane had finished her talk, she invited the audience to ask her some questions. And wow! There were some seriously intelligent and eloquently asked questions - even from the youngest members of the audience! Christiane answered every question clearly and enthusiastically - it was evident her belief that children shouldn't be patronised with explanations but should have complicated concepts explained clearly to them has some merit to it - the whole audience were engaged, both young and old!

After the Q&A there was just enough time for Christiane to meet her young fans and sign their books - one young boy simply told her 'I think your books are great'. It was fantastic to see so many children excited by science and it was clear Christiane had inspired many young minds.

Despite the hiccups, Christiane behaved like a true professional and I think everyone learnt a lot - I know I did!

By Annie Godfrey, digital marketing intern.

Cambridge Wordfest are on Facebook and Twitter

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with all our news.

How The World Works Wins the Royal Society Young People's Book Prize 2011

Well it certainly feels great to be the WINNER!

It was such a proud moment for the Templar team last night to step up and accept the top prize from The Royal Society at their very smart awards ceremony for their Young People's Book Prize 2011 for How the World Works.

Very nice things were said to us (and about us) by the adult judges and we watched a hilarious video made by the younger judges from schools all over the UK. Lying in a pile of autumn leaves in a park, alongside a motorway, one young judge said, holding up our book, "You can read it anywhere!"

One thing that came over most strongly was that the interactivity of the book made it stand out head and shoulders from the rest of the field. The scientists (there were lots of them there) and the judges all praised the fact that the pops weren't just for decoration, they actually contributed to the understanding of the content.

Christiane made a lovely speech and both she and Beverley were congratulated by the other shortlisted authors and illustrators - with Nick Sharratt being especially complimentary about the book.

We then rounded off the evening with a bite to eat, before heading off home - weary but so glowing from the praise.

Good on Templar!

The winning team (left to right): illustrator Beverley Young, author Christiane Dorion and paper engineer Andy Mansfield proudly hold their award!

Edinburgh - Day 2 - part 2

It's like stepping into another dimension when entering the yurt at Edinburgh Book festival, conversations go off on an entirely different tangent to the real world happening outside…

"Do you want the fish tank?" ask the helpful staff at the ediburgh book festival.

"Well, only if you have one. I can make do with the book, the clock, I can just explain the fishtank without a demonstration and I've always got my rubber duck". Said Christiane Dorion in her French Canadian lilt. You wouldn't imagine this is the type of thing you might hear from a teacher/doctor/environmentalist/WWF consultant and all round science expert!

But Christiane who left her native Quebec to study a phd in the UK over 20 years ago and stayed, is in fact referring to the visual aids for her schools events. An impressive CV you must admit, and now author can also be added to her list of many talents. She is the writer of the hugely successful series of pop-up science books, How the Weather Works and Blue Peter Award nominee, How the World Works.

Each page is bursting with interactive facts about the universe we live in and the science that surrounds us here on earth everyday.

So… as a class of primary 4 children file into the RBS imagination theatre ready to absorb the knowledge Christiane is eager to pass on.

You could say it is a lot to cover in one hour… starting with the big bang, how the universe was created, our solar system, where weather comes from, the water cycle, what are fossil fuels and even right through to what the future holds for humans on earth. Although some of the children believe we will need to move to another planet entirely, which is not entirely out of the question, she adds.

Christiane is impressed with the huge amount of science knowledge the children already have, even before she has a chance to explain or show her experiments, hands shoot into the air to tell her exactly what all the names of the planets are.

So, you may wonder why the clock and the rubber duck... well... using the 24 hour clock to simulate the existence of the earth until present day, we all learned that the dinosaurs arrived at 23:40, and we humans only arrived at 23:59:46. And as for the duck..? Well, did you know that scientists discovered how the currents of the worlds oceans worked by a shipwreck of plastic toys that spilled it's cargo into the sea and various toys washed up on shores all over the world, including Scotland!

As Christiane prepares herself for the onslaught of questions which range from... 'how did the dinosaurs die?' through to… 'are we alone in the universe?', and as a scientist, she is open to all theories and is happy for the children to come up with their own explanations, but also reminds them that according to current research what she has written in her book is what we believe to be best explanation.

But what facinates Christiane and the message she is keen to get across is the fact that everything on earth moves in cycles. Everything has a life cycle, humans, animals, plants... even the water we drink, the air we breathe and the clothes we wear.

As Christiane concludes her presentation, she is happy to point out the positive message to take from doing events like this, is that children even as young as 8 years old are aware of the changes we need to make to save the fragile environment we live in, and are taking steps towards providing themselves with a sustainable future.