During book week, the children of Claregalway NS has the opportunity to dress up as book characters which was great fun! The author Kate McMahon came to visit our school. It was a great honour to meet her as she has written many successful books, for example Timber Twig and A Horse of Another Colour. On the day, we all dressed up as book characters and she guessed who we were.
She was very inspirational as she made us realise that absolutely anyone can succeed in writing good material if they persevere and try their best. Kate was dyslexic and admitted that she let dyslexia hold her back as a child and felt so sad when she saw red marks on a test that indicated all the spelling mistakes she made. When she grew up, she decided to write a workbook for dyslexic children, however, it didn’t get published. Kate did not give up though. Instead she decided to write books about her children’s lives, a subject that she could also relate to.
She gave us some hints about writing:
- Write about things you know about
- Think about your audience
- Plan it out
- Don’t ramble on
- Pick a very small subject and write in detail about it
- If it’s a (for example) sports book that you are writing, go to a publisher who has published a sports book before as they’re more likely to publish it
Kate McMahon is a wonderful author and is very kind and funny. She has written many books about her family and she doesn’t let her dyslexia get in her way. She lives very close to us, on a farm in Athenry.
Timber Twig is a great book based on Kate’s daughter. Horse of Another Colour was written for her son and is about a boy getting up to mischief. The class members who have read these books would highly recommend them.
le Aoibhinn O’Connor, Lauren Staunton agus Aoife Ryan
