‘The Ickabog’ celebrated in Knockbridge
PUPILS at St. Mary’s National School in Knockbridge were celebrating their love of reading, and the success of one talented little girl at a special Christmas event held in the school last week.
Budding artist Béibhinn Kelly, from Ms. Starkie’s class, was celebrating with her school friends after an illustration she had drawn was selected to feature in J.K Rowling’s smash hit book ‘ The Ickabog.’
The Harry Potter author had launched a competition earlier this year for school kids to send in their drawings to be considered as a part of her new book.
She decided to publish the book, which had been in her attic for many years, as a gift to children who had been stuck at home during the Covid lockdown.
‘It was very hard on children, in particular, so I brought The Ickabog down from the attic, read it for the first time in years, rewrote bits of it and then decided to publish it online for children stuck at home. I also thought how wonderful it would be if children on lockdown illustrated the story for me, and so we launched the Ickabog illustration competition, run by my publishers around the world.’
Béibhinn Kelly was one of those children who put pencil to paper to sketch an entry for the competition, never dreaming her drawing would be selected by the world famous author for inclusion in her new book.
Having received a copy of ‘ The Ickabog’ she proudly displayed her very own illustration during a day of celebration last week.
The event saw Ms. Starkie’s class showing off some of their favourite books, and even performing the ‘Jingle Bells’ rap.