Janey Louise Jones, author of bestselling Princess Poppy books, talks about her experiences of literary events for children, the art of making the perfect tiara and why the events are crucial to her job as an author.
It coincides with the wedding season, and it’s nearly as stressful. What can possibly go wrong at a literary event for the under-fives? Plenty.
There are the ‘caught short’ accidents, tantrums (and parents with ‘liberal’ attitudes to discipline, not to mention the ones who simply go away for some 'adult time'), inappropriate shouting out, risky attraction to scissors and other dangerous weapons, the glitter-glue-on-clothes compensation scenario (and we’re talking glam princess dresses here, not any old tat). Need I go on?
I have got the formula down to a fine art after four years of doing picture books events. People say: “Oh, it’ll be easy for you, you were a teacher.” Well, I was a secondary school teacher of English and the character flaws in The Mayor of Casterbridge don’t exactly prepare you for questions such as “What age are you?” “Are your teeth real?” and “Can I try on your shoes?”
Dancing, games, making tiaras – and stories too
I recently went to one of my favourite festival events in Glasgow. As well as hearing four stories, playing princess games, and dancing, we were going to be making a princess tiara with floral adornments. There’s none of this adult-style event stuff, of sitting prettily with your book, marked in a couple of places, reading two paragraphs, then relying on intelligent questions from the crowd.
Toddler events are altogether more taxing. Now, here’s what I mean about getting it down to an art form. Over the years, I have gone through metres of tissue paper, gallons of glitter glue, acres of sequins, boxes of stickers and tubs of tiaras. What I have learned is that the more pretty decorations you offer, the more they take, so that a paper crown can become as heavy as the Queen’s coronation crown!
Cunning preparation is the key
So, what I have cunningly developed is that I now make pre-prepped craft bags for each child, with just the right amount of petals, stickers, sequins, and crucially, just the one basic tiara template. Cries of “I’ve finished, can I make another?” are politely ignored these days. At first, I felt a bit mean about the rationing, but actually, the tiaras look so much nicer this way.
There have been many attempts to find the safest way to secure the flat tiara into a ring on a little princess head. 'No!' to staples. Too dangerous. 'No!' to glue. Sticks to hair. 'No!' to stitching it. Too time consuming. 'Yes!' to old-fashioned sellotape.
So, the tiaras are on their heads, the stories have been told, the dances have been danced, the books have been signed, the photographs taken.
Off they go, thrilled with their first literary event. And I so hope they keep coming back, because despite all the petals sticking to my hair and the blisters on my feet (my shoes are far too glamorous for this sort of thing) it is the events which give me the inspiration for the next story and the expressions on their faces make it all worthwhile.
About Janey: Janey Louise Jones' Princess Poppy books are published by Random House. Her latest book Cloudberry Castle is due for publication in September (Floris).
Read about Janey's experiences of self publishing in the Children's Writers' & Artists' Yearbook
Janie,
Very interesting and informative. Thank you for sharing your first-hand experience in children's book events. I always thought the way giveaways at events worked was orderly, planned and.... for profit. For example, the agent or publisher orders a tiara or bunch of tiaras to giveaway and then later recuperates the expense by selling food, souvenirs, etc. to the guests. I'm sure there probably are events that function like that, but definitely not all, as you have proved. Personally, I like your do-it-yourself approach.
Cressida,
Did these eyes see correctly? Did you just say something went haywire even with all that preparation and those dedicated professionals on the planning gears. How could that happen? Pointing faults in others is easy, but admitting to flaws and mishaps in one's own organization and perhaps ourselves takes courage. I commend you for it. Analysing our mistakes/shortcomings and acting on the understanding obtained are the first steps to making ourselves and our surroundings better. And with that, the world becomes a better place. Three cheers for Cressida the Brave!
Xean
23/8/2010