October
16
Parma Third Graders Interview Oliver Jeffers
My students love everything written by Oliver Jeffers. His new book, Once Upon An Alphabet is one of the hottest books in our third grade classroom. When I was given the opportunity to interview Mr. Jeffers for Nerdy Book Club, it seemed only fitting to have my third graders to conduct the interview instead. We hope you enjoy the interview!
Why did you decide to write about the alphabet?
I had lots of ideas for the start of stories, but none big enough to fill a whole book, so I thought a collection of short picture books was a good idea. I made it an alphabet book as that seemed like a good structure to put them all into, and save me meandering off into the completely obscure.
Why do you write funny books?
I don’t necessarily mean to write funny books. They just come out that way. I keep trying to write serious books but funny things keep happening.
I’m 8. I want to be an author. What do I need to do?
To be an author you need to look and listen a lot. And write a lot. And read a lot. And share your stories with people. And enjoy doing all of that.
How did you come up with all these story ideas?
-I get my ideas by watching the world around me, reading books, listening to conversations and drawing things. Big ideas are often just a combination of small ideas, and you never know when they will come together in your head. The brain is funny like that, when you’re not trying to come up with an idea, that’s often when you do.
Did you ever write a story that you thought was terrible, but other people liked?
-All of them are like that. Sometimes I think everything I do is brilliant, and sometimes everything I do is an utter failure. It depends on the day.
Oliver Jeffers was born in Australia and bred in Belfast. Following his highly-acclaimed debut, HOW TO CATCH A STAR, he has gone on to create a collection of award-winning and bestselling picture books which have been translated into 29 languages around the world. Oliver thinks his favorite letter is possibly ‘O’ because it’s his first initial, because he was born in October and because it’s well-rounded. There are even two of them in Brooklyn, where Oliver now lives and works.
Mr. Sharp’s third graders love learning, swinging on the tire swing, playing kickball, and all 26 letters of the alphabet. You can follow them on Twitter at @sharpleaders116.
Nerdy Book Club 
Beautiful post! Thanks for writing and sharing your students and the insight from a terrific author interview.
You’ve created a life long memory for the kids. What a great experience!
Terrific interview!
Even his serious answers have a pinch of humor!
You don’t have to be in third grade to be a HUGE fan. Just sayin.
What a unique author! That’s what makes his books so unique!
Mr. Sharppp I need some books
Your students were very savvy with their questions. Jeffers is such a unique author.
Dear Nerdy Readers,
Thank you for reading our interview with Mr. Jeffers. Have a great day and HAPPY READING!
From,
The students in Mr. Sharp’s class
I love Oliver Jeffers books also and every one of these questions! Way to go Parma class!
I love that the kids asked the questions and Oliver’s answers are just as good as his books! 🙂 I picked up the new alphabet book the other night and it is DEfinitely an original, funny take on the whole “ABC” thing. What else would you expect from “O is for Oliver” Jeffers? 😀 Thanks for the interview, everyone!
Ha! “All of them are like that. Sometimes I think everything I do is brilliant, and sometimes everything I do is an utter failure. It depends on the day.” Love that.
Definitely, Laura. I have a feeling all we “creativies” think that way, unless someone lives delusionally! lol
Dear Parma Third Graders and Mr. Sharp,
We are the G3 students of Hong Kong Academy. We live in Hong Kong but we come from many different countries.
We are inquiring about Oliver Jeffers and love his books just like you – how cool is that!!! One of our favorite Oliver Jeffers books is definitely The Incredible Book Eating Boy. Can you suggest any other favorite Oliver Jeffers books we should read?
We think it’s great that you got to interview him. Some of the questions you asked are also things we wondered about and now we have the answer. Thank you!
Have you seen this really great video from Oliver Jeffers (Oliver Jeffers Author Video 2013 on Vimeo)? We loved watching it and learned so much about him.
Did you put everything that you learned about Oliver Jeffers in the interview on the blog or is there something else you can share with us? So far, we have watched his video, read and looked through some of his books and read your interview. (We haven’t explored his website yet but will do that next week.) This gave us some answers. We still wonder about a few more things:
How many years did it take him to make his first book?
How long does it take to complete a book?
Has he always wanted to be an author?
What book is he writing/illustrating right now?
How long has he been making books for?
Does he have best friends who are authors?
Do you have any questions for us? Maybe we have some answers for you from what we learned. We have an inquiry journal in which we write everything we notice, find out and wonder about. We would be happy to share this with you.
Do you have any other favorite books?
Do you have any other favorite authors you think we should read?
We would love to hear from you. You can add your comments to this blog post on our Primary Library blog:
http://specialists.hkacademy.edu.hk/library1/-g3-students-make-connections-while-inquiring-about-oliver-jeffers
Kind regards,
The G3 Students, their teachers and librarians from Hong Kong Academy
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