Se7en+1 Meet the Legend Julia Donaldson…

I mentioned a week or two back that Julia Donaldson would be in town… and she was… She flew in, did a whole lot of rushing about, sharing her love of books with children from all over Cape Town… Held a couple of shows at the Baxter Theatre and now she is on her way to Johannesburg.

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I think we can safely say that all book loving families have at least one favourite Julia Donaldson book, that they have had in their book collection and read and reread and that you probably know off by heart… you know those stories that you can “read” in the dark as your children drift off to sleep… When our first child was born a dear friend sent us a copy the Grufflalo and we have been hooked ever since. So to meet the author was exciting beyond measure, the joy of meeting the person behind the magic of a book.

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Here’s the gang, eagerly awaiting the show…

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And a table full of interesting looking props… Very interesting props… aren’t these dragons just brilliant!!!

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The show is Julia and her husband singing their way through a number of her books… Imagine story time at the library, but so much more!!! The Squash and the Squeeze, the Gruffalo and such like. There is no expectation of a quiet observing audience… it is all about participation and singing along and joining in with the actions. Since they are such well loved books, and the words have a rhyme and a rhythm of their own, it is easy for everyone to join in and play along. There is no right or wrong, just go for it… and have some dramatic fun. This is a great way to introduce smaller folk to the theatre, so fun and lively and engaging. And I have to say a few small people dashed home to try their hand at reading out loud in a much more interesting way than ever before… there is so much more to reading a book out loud than just reading a book.

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After the show, we got to say hello and meet her team, while she signed a book for everyone… and that was it… a heap of kids on a hot hot day, happy to have their books signed and to have met a book legend in real life.

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For our Johannesburg readers there are still a couple of shows available this week… if you have little folk, then we would happily recommend you take the chance to see a real live performance of a literary phenomenon.

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Thanks to Panmacmillan South Africa, who have brought Julia Donaldson out for us all to enjoy, and provided us with tickets for the show. This is not a sponsored post and opinions expressed are as always our own.

5 Replies to “Se7en+1 Meet the Legend Julia Donaldson…”

  1. We also enjoyed the show and getting a book signed only took a minute of standing in line. We love her books and I took my daughter to exclusive books a few days before the show and we sat and read all the ones we hadn’t seen before.

  2. Oh Sanna, I am so glad you enjoyed it… My kids really enjoyed that they could join in, their vision of theater was nothing like that!!! I love how you prepared for the show… we do that too… nothing like a little preparation!!! Hope you have a great week!!!

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