Eileen O'Hely

Children’s Author

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Choose Your Own Adventure

February 17, 2016 by Eileen O'Hely

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When I was the right age for reading junior fiction, one of my favourite types of books was the Choose Your Own Adventure series published by Bantam. I’d use multiple bookmarks through each story thread so I didn’t miss any possible endings. You can imagine how excited I was last year when I found out about the live action version you can do here in Brisbane! All you need is Mum or Dad’s (or your own) smartphone or tablet and the Story City app which you can download from www.storycity.com.au. Get Mum or Dad to take you and your phone to the location where the story starts and begin your adventure.  You have the option of either reading or listening to the story, and at the end of each section, you make a choice about where to go next and the adventure continues. (In the first one of these I did I was killed by birds and had to retrace my steps several times until I reached a happy ending.)

Then things got even more exciting when I got the opportunity to apply to write my own adventure. I chose a nearby park and originally planned a story that would be fun but also had subtle messages of how to care for the environment. However, when I did a proper research trip through the park I realised it was rich with military history, so my story idea changed a lot. The producer liked my application, but there was one problem. The park I had set my story in was earmarked for another project called Outdoor Reads, so I had to wait a few months to apply again.

Luckily when the producer read my application for Outdoor Reads she still liked it, and I got invited to a workshop to learn all about writing locative fiction: stories designed to be read in the place where the story is set. Just like the original Choose Your Own Adventure books, the stories are written in the second person:

You look across the street and see a winged reptile dive-bombing you. Do you A. run down the alley to your left? or B. put up your umbrella and hope for the best?

Some stories require you to solve puzzles to reveal where the next location is. Some get you to draw a picture in the sand or build a little sculpture from natural materials, which can be quite cool when you see other sand pictures or sculptures so you know you’re following in the footsteps of other reader adventurers.

For Outdoor Reads, two other writers and myself wrote 3 stories each: 1 set in 7th Brigade Park, Chermside, 1 in Hanlon Park, Greenslopes, and 1 at Mt Coot-tha. Our stories are now awaiting final approval, but in the meantime if you’d like to do a live-action CYOA there are heaps of stories to choose in Brisbane City, Southbank, Sandgate, Woolloongabba and Dutton Park, and even Adelaide and the Gold Coast.

As they say at Story City, the city is full of adventures. Choose yours.

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Top Secret Spy Business!

January 11, 2016 by Eileen O'Hely

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I hope that you all had a fun Christmas and you’re enjoying the new year.

We’ve got some great Kitten Kaboodle activities planned for 2016. At 2pm on Tuesday 12 January Arana Hills Library, 63 Cobbity Cres, Arana Hills QLD 4054, is hosting Top Secret Spy Business, a workshop where you get to make your own spy gadgets just like Kitten Kaboodle. I’ll bring some signed copies of The Lightning Opal along.

And in more exciting news, the 3rd installment in the Kitten Kaboodle series: Mission 3 The Tiger’s Eye, will be made available on my website chapter by chapter. There’s a slight twist: since I am an author, not an illustrator, there aren’t any pictures, so YOU get to be the artist! Stand by for the first chapter and exciting competition details.

For older readers, I have finished writing Book 2 of PEP Squad, and I’m looking into ways of making this accessible.

Happy reading!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Events

Term 3 holidays

October 3, 2015 by Eileen O'Hely

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School holidays are almost over, and this time round I’ve had the pleasure of holding Kitten Kaboodle spy workshops at some of the Brisbane City Council libraries. The library staff have all been wonderful, arranging rooms, printing out templates for the spy gadget belts, wristbands and collars and supplying craft materials to decorate them with. I’m particularly chuffed that they ordered in extra copies of both Kitten Kaboodle books, and most of these are not currently on the shelves in the library but on bedside tables, bedroom floors, or safely in library bags of the library members who borrowed them.

But of course, the most inspiring aspect of the workshops was the fabulous kids who came along! These spies-in-the-making came up with amazingly cool gadget ideas: underwater breathing apparatus, invisibility mode, forcefield maker, hypnosis function, flight mode, rainbow creator, flower thrower, burrito button, walk-through-walls mode (quantum tunneling perhaps?) and gravity-modifying boots that let you walk up walls. One bunch of secret agents, who will be known here only as N.E.M.A., even brought their fluffy animals along and made gadget collars for them! I was also particularly excited that one of the attendees came dressed in cat ears. Everyone worked very hard on making their own unique spy gadgets – even the folks at ASIO would be impressed!

If you missed out on the workshop and would like the template for making your own spy gadget belt/wristband/collar, then contact me and I’ll send you the template.

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Book Week #2 Brighton State School and St Dympna’s

September 16, 2015 by Eileen O'Hely

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Had a fab time in the last week visiting two schools who host Book Week a few weeks later than the norm.

Sandra, the librarian at Brighton State School, closes the school library for Book Week itself, while she puts up the most AMAZING decorations. The theme this year was “Books Light Up Our World”, and the library was decorated with fanned book lampshades, fairy lights, a campfire and fantastic recreations of a Pig the Pug book cover, a wagon from the tea and sugar train from Tea and Sugar Christmas among others. Loved it! I had a chat to the lovely Year 4s about Penny in Space, then they made and decorated their own rockets for launch outside in the breezeway.

Maree, St Dympna’s librarian, set up her own special reading chair and this wonderful tree stump lectern for me to use. I was lucky enough to speak to the whole school (in three batches!). The students had lots of thoughtful questions and were simply overflowing with brilliant story ideas.

Special thanks to Sandra, Renata, Maree and Mel for allowing me to share Book Week with their students.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Events

Book Week 2015 #1 and Brisbane Writers Festival

August 30, 2015 by Eileen O'Hely

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What an amazing time I had during Book Week this year!

Firstly, a very big thank you to Hope Francis, Teacher Librarian at Aspley State School. Hope has been a great supporter of my work, and this year she was very keen to introduce Penny the Pencil to her students. (That’s Hope pictured above dressed as none other than Penny the Pencil for the school’s Book Week parade. She made the costume herself – not sure if she’s taking orders, but if you contact me then I can always ask her!) I spent a fantastic couple of days with students from Prep through to Year 3 reading excerpts from Penny in Space, making rockets with the children, and then launching them. I also went along to the Book Week parade where I found Kitten Kaboodle him(her)self!

I spent the weekend in Melbourne, chiefly to attend the Davitt Awards dinner. Although Kitten Kaboodle and the Catier Emerald was shortlisted for Best Children’s Crime Novel, it lost out to Withering-by-Sea by Judith Rossell.

This week I’ll have my head down putting the finishing touches to my three locative fiction stories for Outdoor Reads. No doubt fellow writers Nick Manning and Lee McGowan will be similarly busy, although Nick tells me he’s already finished.

On Sunday 6 September I’ll be part of the Books From Our Backyard Living Library at Brisbane Writers Festival. If you’d like to come and chat to me (and other Queensland writers) about my books, or writing and getting published in general, then I’ll be on Level 2 of the State Library from 11:45 to 12:45. Hope to see you there!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Events

Brisbane School Holiday Fun

August 17, 2015 by Eileen O'Hely

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The bit down the side says it all. Kitten Kaboodle is school holiday fun!

I’ll be taking Kitten Kaboodle on tour to select Brisbane City Council libraries during the September/October school holidays.

The workshop will begin with an introduction to Kitten Kaboodle followed by a short reading, then it’s over to you to name your own spy agency and to create your own spy gadgets.

Check out times and locations on page 39 of What’s On.

Numbers are limited, so get in quick. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Events

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Penny on Safari
Penny in Space
Penny the Athlete
Penny the Star
Penny goes Undercover
Penny the Pencil
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