Travelling Suitcases: Fantastic author/illustrator resources for schools, libraries, & emerging writers

A Travelling Suitcase is just that – a suitcase packed to the brim with original resources, activities, realia, everything you need to get your students immersed in the working world of a writer or illustrator.

STORYLINKS spoke to Jenny Stubbs, one of the originators of the Travelling Suitcases, to find out what they are,  how they can be used in school, and how to get one!

Who are the creators who have a suitcase? Get a glimpse HERE.

Kerry Argent, illustrator of picture books for young children: Contents

Narelle Oliver, author and illustrator of picture books for all ages: Contents

Gregory Rogers, illustrator of picture books for all ages: Contents

James Moloney, author of junior and young adult novels: Contents

Michael Gerard Bauer, author of young adult novels: Contents

Jackie French, author of picture books, middle grade and YA novels,

Australian Children’s Laureate 2014-2015: Contents

When and how and why were Travelling Suitcases started?

The Travelling Suitcases are designed to support schools and public libraries who can’t invite an author or illustrator to visit for financial or geographic reasons. Instead, they can borrow a suitcase of resources, including original material, for their chosen author or illustrator and use it to explore how their books were created. The project kicked off in 2010 and now there are twelve cases covering six creators, ready for distribution throughout Queensland.

What sorts of things are in a suitcase?

Each case includes a ten-minute video that was filmed in the workspace of each creator. For the Jackie French case. we almost had wombat poo collected from underneath Jackie’s house added to her cases but sadly it disintegrated too fast. Other content includes a selection of books, edited manuscripts, storyboards, activities to use in the classroom and in public libraries and varying from case to case, other interesting objects. These vary from dress up items and soft toys to engage young readers to art materials and linocut blocks donated by the artists. Some cases include foreign language editions of books.

There is suitcase material available now on YouTube. Can you tell us what this is and how it complements the contents of each suitcase?

The six videos produced for the cases have recently been uploaded to YouTube to make them more accessible. Educators can use these videos as support material, or as a prelude to getting a suitcase.

What is the purpose of a travelling suitcase?

When a book creator pays a visit, they usually talk about their creative processes in writing or illustration. The cases were designed as another option to learn more about these processes and engage more closely with the books. They have been designed to provide a range of interesting and quality resources in one suitcase, that an author or illustrator has used to create a book. It has been shown that when children meet an author, they become more engaged with their books and borrowing rates for that author increases.

Who is the intended audience?

The original intention was to cater for a wide range of ages, for example in the Jackie French case you will find both the writing and illustration processes for a number of books ranging from The Diary of a Wombat for young readers through to Ophelia: Queen of Denmark for high school level. You will find information on how some were adapted for the stage, scene excerpts for the play Hitler’s Daughter, activity cards examining different covers for the same book, posters to use in displays, teachers notes, complete script and score of the musical The Shaggy Gully Times, various drafts of some books showing how they changed from one edit to another, correspondence about illustration and roughs supplied by Bruce Whatley. All content is supplied in folders and some on a USB. The contents of each case can be found on the website, https://booklinks.org.au/programs/the-travelling-suitcases/. Recently a few adults have dug into the cases to look at the illustration processes and there is now an interest shown by some emerging writers to examine the processes of the writers.

Can you give us some ideas on how the items in a suitcase could be used?

Some schools and libraries have used the contents to set up displays in their libraries and some classroom teachers borrow them to use during author studies. A few Brisbane and Sunshine Coast schools have taken advantage of using the cases as a lead up to an actual visit by the author. However, as the cases were developed more than ten years ago, these creators are generally not doing school visits any more and sadly two have passed away.

“The Travelling Suitcase provided a great stimulus for our focus on Australian author/illustrator, Gregory Rogers.  In our busy curriculum there are not always opportunities to do author/illustrator studies, so I have a corner in our library where I set up “Spotlight on…” displays for a number of weeks.  These displays are used to focus on and draw attention to a particular author and/or illustrator.  It is an opportunity to promote this author/illustrator’s work.  The Gregory Rogers Travelling Suitcase provided all manner of display signs, books, DVD and realia which enhanced the display greatly.  Once I had introduced the display to students, they were able to watch and ‘meet’ Greg Rogers via the DVD which was set up on a laptop for students to access before school and during lunch hours.  Students were able to read his books, play a game, leaf through display books containing copies of Greg Rogers’ rough drafts and storyboards and handle realia related to the craft of illustration.  Students enjoyed interacting with the display – it was something different.  Travelling Suitcases are a wonderful resource which are freely available to borrow (excluding postage costs) by all schools.  Teacher Librarians know that time is a precious commodity which few of us have much of, so when a resource like Travelling Suitcases comes along (where someone else has done all the hard work of collating all the items), I can’t but highly recommend it to all libraries”. Assunta Austin, Teacher Librarian, Wooloowin State School

How does a teacher/school get a suitcase? What is the process?

To borrow a case you apply via the online form . It can take a little time for our volunteers to post them out. Occasionally they can be delivered to local schools to save the cost of postage which is around $30 per case. Book Links covers the cost of getting them out, and the borrower pays the cost of returning them. Sometimes we can arrange for them to be collected by the school. You just need to have a conversation to see what works best for you. A few times a cluster of schools has borrowed a case then passed it around the schools keeping it in circulation longer. One year Gladstone Libraries borrowed a set of five cases and did the delivery to their local schools. So, finding a local public library servicing a number of schools is a low-cost way of managing the loans.

Where can interested people find out more? 

Detailed information is available on the Book Links Travelling Suitcases website.

Thank you Jenny, for talking to STORYLINKS.