Over to youTwo readers report from Hay festival

Sunflower raceHave a blooming time this summer!

Eggcellent!Make a mobile from an egg carton

Recycle itTurn a newspaper into a cool chair!

thecomicSaturday | 31.05.08

Fold this page along the dotted line. When you’ve read the Comic, unfold it completely to see the activity page inside

episode 3

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Bring your wellies! If the weather report forecasts rain, you’re going to need them.If your favourite author is at Hay, bring your books along with you — you could get them signed Fill your pockets with snacks and bring a drink (all this literary business is thirsty work!) Expect a few freebies! We got pens, pencils, books, Plasticine and loads of other goodies after doing the workshops

The Guardian | Saturday | 31.05.08

The talks

What has a spine but no bones? A book Why was the T-Rex afraid to go to the library? Because her books were 60 million years overdue Why was the

library so messy? Because it w

as full of litter-ature What’s the diff

erence between a boring person and a boring book? You can shut the book up W

hy does the ghost come back to the library

every day for more books? Because he goes through them too quickly What does the mummy do when he goes to the library? He gets all wrapped up in a good book

FINN: Roony the Orange Orangutan stops people cutting down trees by jumping down on them from the trees. He also eats all the litter.ELLA: Emily the Environment Elephant picks up litter with her trunk and lets people to ride on her back instead of

using cars.

Our green superheroes

Top tips for next year

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Last month the Comic ran a competition to find two budding young journalists to report back from the Guardian Hay festival. Here, the winners, Finn and Ella, tell us a bit about the event and how they got on ....

The Guardian Hay festival is an event about books and reading, but we found there’s so much more to it that that. As well as listening to inter-views with your favourite authors, you can take part in workshops and learn how to write reviews, design cartoon characters, make bread and much more! What’s great is that young people have their own area and can do activities without their parents being there. The festival started 21 years ago and is in Hay-on-Wye, on the England/Wales border.

What’s it all about?

What we found out at Hay

On our first day we got some tips from Jenny Valentine (left), the author of Finding Violet Park, at the What Makes a Good Story? work-

shop. We did some brainstorms and she gave us some ideas to help us start our own story. Next, Julia Eccleshare, the Guardi-an’s children’s fiction editor, taught us how important it is to be critical about the books we read and films we see. She told us what to look out for when judging how good a book is.

After lunch we went to the Create a Green Superhero to Save the Planet workshop (see our superheroes below!): we talked about things that harm the environment and worked out what our superhero could do about it. The last workshop was Toon Time, where we learnt how to draw a comic strip character.FINN’S BEST BITS: My favourite workshop was probably Green Superheroes because because it was so quick and easy to create a

fabulous funny hero.ELLA’S BEST BITS: What Makes a

Good Story? was my favourite as I liked meeting Jenny Valentine and hearing about her experiences and finding out what makes a good story.

On Tuesday, our second day, we were meant to see Jacqueline Wilson give a talk, but she was ill so her illustrator, Nick Sharratt, stepped in. He talked about her latest book, My Sister Jodie, and drew a picture of what Jacqueline would look like with tattoos on her arms (like in The Illustrated Mum).

The poets Roger McGough and Brian Patten were the next people we saw: they read out some of their own poems (we liked the “In case of fire …” one) and their favourite poems. Finn had to leave after lunch as she had to get back to Aberdeenshire (a massive 10-hour drive!), so Ella went to see Georgia Byng and Andy Stanton on her own.FINN’S BEST BITS: Roger McGough was the best talk. I liked him because he was funny and I have read his stuff before so it was exciting to hear him read his poems!ELLA’S BEST BITS: I liked Georgia Byng and Andy Stanton: Georgia is my favourite author and Andy was really funny. His jokes really livened up the place.

✹David King, an animation director and cartoonist for Cartoon Network: his favourite cartoon character is Daffy Duck✹The author Jenny Valentine likes writing mystery stories✹Nick Sharratt, who illustrates Jacqueline Wilson’s books, hates drawing gerbils and hamsters✹If he could be any of his characters, the author Andy Stanton would be Alan Taylor, the gingerbread man with electric muscles✹Tanya Landman, an author who is nominated for this year’s Guardian children’s fiction p rize, had a pet pig for 15 years✹The author Georgia Byng will set her next book in London and the Galapogos Islands

Getting creative! We saw Roger McGough while having lunch, so did a quick interview:Who are your favourite poets?Michael Rosen and Brian PattenWhich of your poems is your favourite?The Sound CollectorWhen did you know you wanted to be a poet?When I was 18 years old

Over tO YOu

Q&A

Finn Manders, eight, from Aberdeenshire

Ella Rook, 11, from Pembrokeshire

The Guardian | Saturday | 31.05.08 The Guardian | Saturday | 31.05.08