Scot Gardner visits Scotch
A privileged group of boys laughed their way through Scot Gardner’s quietly delivered talk today, entranced by tales such as his dream to win the Year 9 Sewing Grand Prix. His sewing teacher, whom he and other boys tortured week by week, ended up becoming his mother in law! Karma!
Over the next few weeks Scot will use his wry humour and understated sense of drama to inspire a hand-picked group of boys to read and hopefully write. Scot congratulated these boys on the fact that at Year 9 they are special… they are at the peak of their ’stuffaroundability’. Until year 11 Scot was a non-reader, able to achieve an A grade for an essay on Of Mice and Men without actually reading the book. His turning point came when he picked up a book called ‘My Side of the Mountain’, by Jean Craighead George. At this he point he realised he’d been missing out on a depth and richness in his life that only books can deliver. In fact, books were to become his main source of income.
Fast forward a couple of decades, and you have a writer of books for young adults and children, an expert at seeing through the eyes of teenage boys and girls. Scot’s books include Burning Eddy, One Dead Seagull, The Legend of Kevin the Plumber, White Ute Dreaming, Gravity, The Other Madonna and The Detachable Boy. We look forward to him passing on some of his insights and secrets to the lucky boys participating in this special program.
Mrs Sweeney
