Published on: 28 March 2014


Members of the Preparatory School Book Club used video conferencing software to talk to Australian children’s author Ken Spillman in India this week. During the club’s lunchtime session, the Years 4 to 6 boys met the award winning writer online via Skype, discussing his recent book tour and the inspiration behind his Jake and Magpie series.

Teacher librarian Mary Hookey, who runs the Prep Book Club with Anthea Feaver, thanked Shane McGurk from Next Learning and e-Learning Co-ordinator Daniel Budd for facilitating the opportunity to connect with Ken virtually in India without disruption to the students’ school routine.

Ken spoke about his current tour of India and his career, which includes more than 35 books, spanning various genres. “The boys have thoroughly enjoyed reading Ken’s books and leapt at the opportunity to prepare for a discussion with him. They were thoroughly engrossed in what was a very real and intimate experience,” Mrs Hookey said.

“Unfortunately, lunchtime went far too quickly as the students cast their pre-prepared questions aside and discussed his digital workflow for writing and his inspirations for character, settings and plot,” she said.

Mr Budd said based on the success of this session, the School hoped to take advantage of more of these online opportunities.