Betty Birney’s Blog

 First… a word from our sponsor (yes, they used to say that on television): SURPRISES ACCORDING TO HUMPHREY is out and I’m getting great feedback. Also, TROUBLE ACCORDING TO HUMPHREY is now out in paperback. Both have the newly designed covers. And now, back to our program, where Betty just appeared at the Bath Literature Festival.

  We spent the night in Bath and the next morning, Helena and I hurried up the hill and met Gill at the Royal High School Junior School. A very welcoming place with magnificent views and VERY-VERY-VERY nice students and teachers! However, there were tech problems for the assembly at which I was to speak. My overall experience has been this: if they hire professional tech people, there will always be a glitch. Everyone bent over backwards but I had to give the assembly with no visuals. The students didn’t seem to mind.

Another tech person was brought in, the problem was fixed and I did two other presentations and signings. It was a whirlwind trip but not one easily forgotten!

Then we took a cab to a village school - the Shaw School in Melksham, Wiltshire. I truly have read so many British books, I felt right at home on the ride there and even more at home once I arrived. Many months ago, I made a connection with the Shaw School when teacher Susan Jackson emailed about her students’ love of Humphrey. They even got their own hamster named Humphrey, and searched out The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs, which isn’t published in the UK.

     Shaw School friends

& Susan Jackson

The students knew so much about me, we had a lengthy question and answer session after my presentation (no tech problems; I used my own equipment- it’s a drag to carry but never fails me.) Then I signed a lot of books. We had to hurry back to the train but it was a little difficult to leave Shaw School.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 2:09 am and is filed under Book News, Friends and Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.