SHARJAH – Humour in books were taught to young children during an author and students session during the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, which runs until April 28 at Expo Centre Sharjah.
The hour-long Laugh Out Loud session was part of the 10th edition of the festival, themed ‘Your Future… Just a Book Away’.
From mystery books to investigation and humour, children, aged seven to 11, spoke about what makes a book entertaining for them.
As Miranda Paul, the author of 10 children’s books and a few non-fiction books, kicked off her talk, she started off with a joke, making the children giggle. She explained the meaning of wordplay and asked the children what made them laugh.
In the interactive session, the youngsters were asked to be a part of the presentation by volunteering to act out one of her books, entitled The 10 Little Ninjas.
As 10 volunteers formed a straight line, they acted out 10 characters from her book, in a bid to help them understand why children love this book, and why they laugh at it.
The children used their vivid imagination to act out ninjas, astronauts, race car drivers and tigers, as well as rowdy cowboys, hungry sharks, thirsty firefighters, pirates, sleepy dragons and cuddle bugs.
Paul also touched on the different humour in different locations in the world and further explored what causes humour in books. “If they can realise when they read a book that someone had a purpose, reasons, and made specific choices, then they will start to think about that in their own writing, whatever kind of writing they do,” she said. “This will help them make a stronger choice when they write, to maybe evoke an emotion or state an opinion.”
–PR
