Marshmallows or sprinkles? Pizza or chips? Sometimes you just want both!
So that is what Cat is giving you here. Her famous spooky ghost stories AND her funny and wondrous whacky science show, so you can laugh and shiver and go WOW all at the same time. Brilliant!
‘Absolutely wonderbubble!’ Ella, age 10
Suggested age 8+ Contains scary and noisy moments
Cat does a great deal of work in libraries as both a storyteller and an author.
Age 3 – 7: Cat happily works with children as young as three, making her a popular choice for Bookstart sessions. She combines age-appropriate stories with action rhymes, music, singing, hand puppets and physical objects to create lively, interactive and entertaining sessions for little listeners.
Age 7 – 12: Cat can offer either storytelling sessions or Meet the Author book sessions (or a combination of both!)
Cat tells WORLD TALES in her junior sessions, choosing age-appropriate stories that will engage and challenge her audience. Years 3 and 4 love magic and humour, for example, but older children often feel they have outgrown such fanciful fare, so Cat will give them problem-solving stories, lateral thinking and word play.
MEET THE AUTHOR book sessions. Author events can be quite dry, but Cat includes all her characteristic flourishes – a high energy performance style, music, fairy lights and plenty of audience interaction – to create lively, entertaining programmes that really bring her books to life. All sessions include Q & A and inspirational talk about writing and being an author.
These are always available to complement book weeks, summer reading schemes, etc. Beautiful full-colour A4 posters can be supplied free of charge to help to publicise your event.
Cat has worked with many of the Young Writing Squads in Wales. She has a selection of one-hour and two-hour creative writing workshops suitable for juniors (7 – 12) and seniors (12 – 16).
Cat frequently leads training sessions for librarians. She also welcomes any opportunity to work with the Over 65s. This age group is frequently overlooked and underfunded, which is a great shame because they are wonderful listeners and always keen to find ways to occupy their time. Afternoon events for this age group can be enormously popular. Both story sessions and reminiscence sessions are possible – please contact Cat for a chat.
Cat offers great value for money, based on twenty years professional experience as a performer, writer and artist in education. Please ask!
Cat is based in the West Midlands, two minutes from junction 4 of the M5. This makes travelling very easy, and Cat works nationwide.
Cat sometimes works at festivals, museums and tourist attractions, telling stories for children and family audiences.
Past clients include Cadbury World, Acton Scott Working Farm, Margam Park, Croft Castle, Torfaen Council’s Go Wild! ecology day, Eastnor Castle Family Fun Week, The Powis Wood Fair, Afan Forest Park, The Walsall Leather Museum, Together in Diversity event at the National Garden of Wales, The Green Man Festival and Worcester City Museum.
Cat often leads woodland story walks, so many of her children’s stories have a forest/ecological theme. As the children walk through the wood, they pause to listen to stories and collect leaves, seeds and feathers. These are used to make leaf crowns or Native American story sticks. Other activities include sky-walking and Hunt the Snail.
Cat DOESN’T do children’s parties – sorry!
‘The pupils were enthralled and captivated. Absolutely loved it. Met the needs of our kids. Rich language experience. Structure and content of session appropriate to age and abilities of pupils’ – KS1 Teacher evaluation, Read a Million Words in Wales project
‘It was a truly inspiring day. Lots of very positive comments from pupils and staff. Thank you so much!’ – Swindon Library Service
‘Excellent presentation. Very high standard. The children benefitted from a super day’ – Penllwyn Primary School
‘I think Cat is the best storyteller in the world’ – Cameron, Machynlleth CP School
‘Thank you for the boundless energy and enthusiasm you have given to each class. You have made our Writing Week exciting, fun and thought provoking’ – Kington Primary School
‘I have seen Cat work with a variety of ages of children for events organised as part of our Bookstart Week celebrations. Each activity was tailored beautifully to the ages of the children and exceptionally well prepared. Cat’s storytelling mesmerised the children and the sessions were really lively and interactive with a good range of storytelling, props, music and songs. I would highly recommend her and am looking forward to a return visit in October. Inspirational!’ – Bookstart, Swansea
‘Last year you visited our school. Since then you inspired me to read. I started by reading ‘Barkbelly’ and now I am reading ‘Snowbone.’ Now my mum has to tell me to STOP reading and go to sleep. But when she leaves the room I carry on reading because I love your books’ – Amelia, Sutton Coldfield