An entourage of princesses and draglins welcomed well-known children’s author Vivian French to San Anton School’s Library. Some of the Grade 5 students were dressed in their best royal or dragon-like garb as a tribute to Ms French’s extremely popular series of books, The Tiara Club and Draglins. The author was also welcomed to the library and introduced to the children by School Librarian and the School Librarian of the Year, Noel Tanti suitably dressed as Prince Regent!

In the run up to Ms. French`s visit Mr. Noel held library sessions for the students where he explained the process of book writing and publishing in detail, with a focus on Vivian French`s works and achievement, though the author needed no introduction with the students of course. The children`s anticipation was further heightened as in preparation, the children and Mr. Noel made Tiara Club Crafts and peformed related activities made available by Merlin Library who invited the author over to Malta.

Ms French`s previous experience as an actress and story teller, certainly shone through on the day, as the children and their teachers were immediately absorbed in the vivid descriptions of her childhood days, how she goes about writing a story, where she gets her characters from, and some of the similarities between her life and the stories in her books.

It turns out that Ms French was not an avid reader in her younger years. And she wasn’t even all that good when it came to writing. However she was excellent at… chatting. Her determined efforts in this ‘unusual’ skill paid their dividends later on when she embarked on a career as a story-teller.

By this time Ms French had realised that the secret to telling good stories is reading a lot, and all the time. Even now that she is a full-time writer, Ms French still insists that reading is the best form of practice if one is to learn how to tell first-rate stories.

Most of the characters she creates are drawn from real people she comes across in her daily life. Of course, they would not be an exact copy of someone in particular, but made up of bits and pieces of people she knows.

Ms French proceeded to read excerpts from some of her books to the children. During a particularly engaging moment, she explained to the children that they themselves are a veritable treasury of stories. They have experience of life and they have imagination – what they lack are the necessary skills to transform these two very important things into a story. And here once again, Ms French stressed the importance of reading.

After an hour or so, during which all the children (and the adults) sat enthralled, Ms French obliged everyone by signing their books. It was a fitting conclusion to a memorable event.

Ms Vivian French was brought over to San Anton School courtesy of Merlin Library.