Inspiring other kids to discover wonder of books
SOUTH Africa’s youngest award-winning author, Stacey Fru, speaks to Carla Lever in this Q & A.
Stacey, congratulations on your two books.
I’ve actually written seven, but only two are published . . . at the moment.
Most people haven’t even written one! Do you have a favourite?
I think it’s still my first book, Smelly Cats, that I wrote when I was seven.
It’s about two cats – Mark and Mack – who go to the same school for six years. I actually just wrote a follow-up called Smelly Cats Go On Vacation.
How long did it take you to write your books?
Well, it took me five months to write Smelly Cats and the same to write Bob and the Snake.
I notice you write a lot about animals. Why’s that?
In my first three books I wrote about animals because I thought that children would want to see more creatures than people in the books.
But, to tell a secret, I really don’t like cats myself! I’m actually a dog person, not a cat person . . . or even a snake person! So I guess you might be puzzled why I chose cats for my first book.
I am!
I guess I wrote about cats because it would be more exciting, intriguing and popular.
Tapping into all those cat videos on the internet? You’re a natural marketer! What are you reading at school right now?
Right now we’re reading Sherlock Holmes.
The teachers get us to read a lot – we have series of books to get through.
We have to prepare readings each day, read at the library and also write book reviews – we always have to do those.
They’re getting you to do a lot of reading and writing – I’m really impressed.
Yeah . . . That’s why I love school so much!
You haven’t just been writing books, you’ve also started an organisation called “A Child, A Book” to make sure other children have access to them too. Hopefully more people will learn about your books and help with your campaign.
Yes. I’m also hoping for that, but you just have to keep on pushing them!
What’s the best thing for you about getting a new book?
I feel happy and excited just to get the book and read and finish it – I really love it. There’s a local series by Dan Sullivan – it’s really great.
At the end of each story, they always do a preview of the follow up book. So every time I get a new one to read and get to the end, I already can’t wait to read the next! It’s pretty clever.
Do you prefer reading or writing?
I prefer . . . hmm, well I can’t choose a favourite, but I would say I find reading a bit more relaxing than writing. My love for writing and reading is because reading gives you so much knowledge and creativity and writing helps you to express yourself in all ways.
Why is reading important?
I think it’s important because you can read for knowledge – you build your vocabulary for a start. But also just owning a book is empowering and powerful because a book can hold many things and many wonders.
I want to inspire children to read and write – if you want to write, there’s no limit, you should just keep on going.
Reading and telling stories with your children is a powerful gift to them. It builds knowledge, language, imagination and school success! For more information about the Nal’ibali campaign or to enter its national multilingual storytelling competition, ‘Story Bosso’, running this September, visit www.nalibali.org