Brantford Book Camps — a great success

Brantford Book Camps took place from August 21 to 25, but I am just now sufficiently dug out from under to be able to report back about them.

It was quite the juggling act, holding a writing week for 50+ kids between the ages of 10 and 12 while simultaneously holding one for 16 adults, but we did it — and did it well! In fact, I think this was Brantford’s best Book Camp week ever!

Book Camp could never happen if it wasn’t for all of our fabulous volunteers. This year we were fortunate to have four manager volunteers who came in every day of the camps —

Fleur-Ange Lamothe, for the 3rd year in a row, was our kids’ camp Manager and also Book Camp’s official photographer.
Melissa Poremba helped out Fleur-Ange this year. She looked after a myriad of minutiae — everything from nightly phone calls to Book Camp families who had no email, to keeping track of our colour coordinated buffs (this is how we code our four groups of kids) and dealing with moment by moment crises.

Sharon Brooks of Kids Can Fly also came in every day and floated as needed. Kids Can Fly is Brantford Book Camp’s sponsor. None of this would be possible without Sharon.

I managed the Adult Book Camp and Bobbie Henley was my assistant extraordinaire.

For me, Monday was the most challenging day. I opened the kids’ camp with the first keynote in the morning. The Monday morning keynote is the hardest gig because the kids are still in the throes of getting used to the writing camp experience. Many of the adult camp participants audited this first keynote, and of course, they were also just getting their feet wet. In the first hour, I talked about my own reading challenges as a kid and how Charles Dickens made me a reader and writer. During the second hour, I conducted a writing workshop. It is tough to do a hands-on writing workshop with 50+ kids plus a handful of adults, but it went over really well. The writing samples that were read aloud were spectacular.

At just the right moment, Vincent Ball from the Brantford Expositor tiptoed in. I think he was wowed by what our kids could write. He was especially wowed that they could do it in about 10 minutes flat!

In the afternoon on Monday, the Adult Book Camp participants all gathered together for the first time. I was impressed with the breadth of experience in the group. We did quick intros and a query letter exercise and then we all marched down to the reception area where we listened to a speaker phone presentation by Bill Hanna, principal literary agent with Acacia House. Immediately after that session, we trooped back upstairs for a session with Valerie Sherrard. A packed day for sure!!

After camp was over for the day, Valerie and I got together for a lovely dinner at Ged’s. We had a lovely evening with lots of laughter and good food. Too bad Valerie doesn’t live closer!

As soon as I got home, I sent out a nightly newletter to all of the children’s Book Camp families. I had made an “announce only” listserv of all the Book Camp families who had email, which comprised all but about three families. We have found that these nightly newsletters are the most efficient way of letting parents know what is happening the next day at Book Camp. We have different authors/illustrators each day and there is often an opportunity to children to get autographed copies of books. Also, some days the schedule is a bit different. The listserv is a quick and easy way to let everyone know what’s up. From the feedback we got, this service was greatly appreciated.

Author: Marsha

I write historical fiction, mostly from the perspective of young people who are thrust in the midst of war. View all posts by Marsha