Chris Riddell's Books
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Chris Riddell Chatterbooks activity pack Chris Riddell About this pack Chris Riddell is a prolific author and illustrator whose huge range of award winning work covers picture books and fiction for older children. He was appointed Children's Laureate for the period of 2015-2017, a position he is more than qualified to fill. Find out more about Chris and his fantastic books in this Chatterbooks pack. This pack is brought to you by The Reading Agency. Chatterbooks [ www.readinggroups.org/chatterbooks] is a reading group programme for children aged 4 to 12 years. It is coordinated by The Reading Agency and its patron is author Dame Jacqueline Wilson. Chatterbooks groups run in libraries and schools, supporting and inspiring children’s literacy development by encouraging them to have a really good time reading and talking about books. The Reading Agency is an independent charity working to inspire more people to read more through programmes for adults, young people and Children – including the Summer Reading Challenge, and Chatterbooks. See www.readingagency.org.uk Contents 3 Things to talk about 4 Activity ideas: Warm ups 6 Longer activities 8 Chris Riddell’s books 13 Answers For help in planning your Chatterbooks meeting, have a look at these Top Tips for a Successful Session Page 2 of 14 Things to talk about Have you read any books Chris Riddell has illustrated or written? Which are your favourites? Chris Riddell has a very distinct illustration style. What do you notice about this style? Look at the colours he uses, the shapes he draws and the similarities between his various characters. Chris Riddell has been the Waterstones Children’s Laureate from 2015-2017. The role of the Children’s Laureate is to promotes and encourage children's interest in books, reading and writing. Previous laureates include Malorie Blackman, Julia Donaldson and Jacqueline Wilson. Have you read any books by these authors? Which are your favourites and why? Page 3 of 14 Activity ideas WARM UPS Wordsearch : Chris Riddell’s Characters All these words are characters from Chris Riddell’s books or books that he has illustrated. Look for them in the squares below - across, down, diagonally, and from right to left. The Wordsearch solution is at the end of this pack OTTOLINE LETTIE PEPPERCORN BABY BOD YORK JIM CORALINE FLO SKRITCHETT MR MUNRO HAGGFIEND C L O R N W Q F T U S N U P J G D A E X V N M L C Z A S F Q B R G U J D O W C O R A L I N E A T Z G C B T O V S Z A D E I M B B A H S D T H I K T Y P K L I Y G U A T E O D E R Y I O C A Q B I O G K S L P F I Z C X R E W O G L G J Y I L G T E N Z X K V D G P F O A N A T C O M A S U C H L J E L P E Y N H V C P A O N G E L E T T I E P E P P E R C O R N C N X T Z R A T F X N W X I J B V D B I A X N T J U D A B D G P J I M C U O L J M D S Z C E V Q Z C X K B Q Z R B J R U O M U H W J R Y I P M H F D A Z C O S X X C B M N C S J P B V Y W C M B Chris Riddell Quiz 1. Riddell has illustrated more than 150 books since his career began. TRUE/FALSE 2. Riddell was born in South Africa TRUE/FALSE Page 4 of 14 3. Riddell is one of 10, with 9 brothers and sisters. TRUE/FALSE 4. When he was a kid, Riddell bunked off tennis lessons to go to the Tate Art Gallery. TRUE/FALSE 5. Raymond Briggs (Who created The Snowman) was Riddell’s tutor during his degree at University TRUE/FALSE 6. Riddell draws his illustrations using a feather dipped in dragon’s blood. TRUE/FALSE 7. Riddell’s favourite book as a child was Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown TRUE/FALSE 8. Riddell first started writing and drawing at the age of 18. TRUE/FALSE 9. Riddell’s favourite book shop is the Alligators Armpit in Richmond. TRUE/FALSE 10. Riddell draws comics for the famous newspaper, The Observer. TRUE/FALSE Page 5 of 14 LONGER ACTIVITIES Drawing together "Everybody Can Draw. Don’t think about it, just do it." – Chris Riddell Chris Riddell strongly believes that drawing together, like reading together, is a bonding experience. This activity will get your group drawing together. You will need: coloured pens or pencils and a big roll of paper, wall lining paper would be good. Pick out some quotes or titles of children’s books, write or print them out onto pieces of paper and put them in a shoebox. Each child picks out a piece of paper and draws what it makes them think of on the big piece of paper. Everyone can draw at the same time, that’s the fun. When everybody has finished, admire the piece of art you have created together! Can you guess which picture matches which quote or book title? Create your own sketchbook Since Riddell became the Children’s Laureate in 2015, he has created a sketchbook, drawing a new page every day. You can take a look at his sketchbook here. Your group can use exercise books or why not get them to create their own books? You can easily create an 8 page book using just a single sheet of A4 paper. There are videos on youtube to show you how, such as this one. Once your group have sketchbooks, they can fill them up. They could do like Riddell and take them home to complete a page each day or if you want to fill them up during the session why not fill them using favourite book characters or cutting out images and words from magazines. Drawing with Chris Riddell There are lots of videos on youtube of Chris Riddell demonstrating how to draw various characters from his books. For example in this video he draws Ishmael - The Ghost of a Mouse from his book Goth Girl. Watch one of these videos with your group and get everyone to have a go at drawing one of Riddell’s characters. You could also get your group members to have a go at making their own videos. They could demonstrate their own drawing, or something else they are good at such as craft, telling a story or acting out a scene from a book. Page 6 of 14 Children’s Laureate for a day The Children's Laureate is a well known writer of children's books who promotes and encourage children's interest in books, reading and writing. A new one is chosen every two years. Children’s Laureates have done lots of different things to encourage children to enjoy books, reading and writing. They have created exciting children’s book festivals launched competitions and toured around libraries across the country. Ask your group to imagine they are the new Children’s Laureate. How would they get other kids interested in books, reading and writing? Share everyone’s ideas. Children could draw a picture or write about their idea too. Page 7 of 14 Chris Riddell’s books The Emperor of Absurdia Chris Riddell Macmillan Children's Books 9781509813735 Welcome to Absurdia: a strange and wonderful land where nothing is quite what it seems. Trees are birds, umbrellas are trees, and the sky is thick with snoring fish. Join one small boy as he tumbles out of bed into a crazy dreamland of wardrobe monsters, dragons - and amazing adventure Wendel and the Robots Chris Riddell Macmillan Children’s Books 9781509813742 If his inventions go wrong, Wendel just throws them away and starts again. So when Clunk, his robot assistant, fills the sock drawer with cups and saucers and makes tea in a Wellington boot, Wendel throws him on the scrapheap and makes himself a new assistant: the Wendelbot. But he gets more than he bargained for, and soon Wendel finds himself on the scrapheap. Can he win back his workshop from the mighty Wendelbot? Let the robot battle commence! Mr Underbed Chris Riddell Andersen Press 978-1842709429 When Jim kindly allows Mr Underbed to sleep in his bed he is unprepared for all the other night-time visitors who want to share it too! Page 8 of 14 Alienograph: Or, How to Spot an Alien Invasion and What to Do About it Chris Riddell Macmillan Children’s Books 978-1405050609 Do you know the difference between a Nostromian Weevil and a Zyglon Tentacle Beast? Could you resist an invasion of Purple Peekons? And can you outwit a Fantabbydosian? No? You need this book! Witchworld Emma Fischel & Chris Riddell Nosy Crow 9780857634177 The witches of Witchworld have no need for old-fashioned wands or broomsticks, not when they have shiny Spellsticks and super-whizzy Skyriders instead. And no one has a cauldron anymore, just a cupboard full of Potions2Go.