Mr Coconut meets his first school audience…

So just before Christmas Catherine and I took Mr Coconut along to a school to meet a proper audience for a reading of his book. The puppet Mr C sat on Catherine’s lap as she read, and afterwards we introduced the children to the real Mr C, inside his coconut.

You can see his coconut in the picture, propped up on the blue box to Catherine’s right. And with the aid of some very small microphones hooked up to wires that we fed into the coconut, the children were able to ask Mr C questions. And he woke up long enough to answer them, say hello and a bit more about what it was like to live in a coconut. And then the lovely class even sang us an impromptu song about coconuts that their music teacher had taught them.

Six-year-olds seem to have no problem with the idea that Mr C is small enough to live inside the coconut. Adults are a different matter, however. The whole afternoon was one of the most enjoyable aspects we have had so far in making the book – actually getting to see children enjoying it…

If you know a school or group who would like a reading of the book, and a Q&A with Mr C inside his coconut, do contact us at mraugustinecoconut@gmail.com. We’ve also developed a schools workshop where children can use some of the methods we used for Mr Coconut in making their own book – more details about that later.

Next update: how we’re trying to sell the other 900 copies of the book…