Getting Creative with Karen Hendriks and her book Go Away, Foxy Foxy

In this special Books on Wednesday post, I am delighted to introduce you to Karen Hendricks and her lovely new picture book Go Away Foxy Foxy.

 In this post, written by Karen, she explains how creativity is explored in the picture book and suggests conversations you can have with children to encourage their creativity. The post is part of a Books on Tour promotion.

About Go Away, Foxy Foxy

Go Away, Foxy Foxy is a delightful story of three little bunnies who decide to sleep out in a tree house one night. Outside in the dark, Foxy Foxy prowls. He’d like nothing better than to make a feast of those little bunnies. The bunnies show different levels of fear and bravery and use their intelligence, without having to resort to using the Mummy bell, to scare the fox away.

Children will easily identify with the different emotions displayed and will be encouraged to discuss different ways they may respond to the situation and solve the problem.

About Karen Hendriks

Karen Hendriks is a children’s author who lives in a small seaside village in Shellharbour, New South Wales. Picture books are her favourite kind of books. Karen adores how words and pictures join together to create story magic in picture books. Karen is very passionate about writing quality stories for children.

Now over to Karen.

Go Away, Foxy Foxy Celebrates Creativity, by Karen Hendriks

I think one of the greatest gifts we can give a child is creativity. Life presents challenges to children every day but with creative thinking they can overcome many things and develop a strong sense of self belief. Creativity sparks joy and children realise they are capable and can solve problems.

Go Away, Foxy Foxy is a picture book that celebrates creativity and is a doorway to talk about creative thinking. I believe creativity doesn’t just magically appear in children, it needs to be developed and fostered. Creative children dare to dream and believe in themselves. Creative thinking is showcased in Go Away, Foxy Foxy.  Believing is seeing, and once a child can see creativity, they can understand what it is and then believe they can be creative too.

Let’s have a look at how creativity was explored inside the picture book Go Away, Foxy Foxy.

1.       The bunnies asked themselves questions about Foxy and their situation. They didn’t accept the situation, they changed it. The bunnies wondered how they could outwit and outsmart Foxy by being imaginative and curious.
2.       Each bunny had their own type of intelligence which they each recognised. Velvet read books, Vanilla Bean experimented with balloons and Valentine knew that safety was not far away if needed.
3.       The bunnies understood that facing the problem of Foxy was not going to be easy and they thought about this in different ways. Velvet read a book and learned facts about foxes which she shared with the other bunnies. This inspired Vanilla Bean who was experimenting with balloons to think creatively. Something clicked and she knew exactly what to do. Valentine clearly knew Foxy was dangerous.

4.    On their sleepout the bunnies were curious. They talked and shared ideas about the Foxy problem. The bunnies collaborated. The bunnies were able to think out of the box and go beyond the obvious, which was to ring the mummy bell.

5.    The bunnies had the courage to believe in themselves and their abilities. They didn’t allow the fact that they were small and no physical match for Foxy stop them.

When children think creatively, they are problem solving and thinking about their world. Creativity is a skill that a child will take with them all throughout their life. There are many different aspects of creativity that can be explored in Go Away, Foxy Foxy. I hope that Go Away, Foxy Foxy inspires children to be creative in their own special way.

Find out more about Karen Hendriks

on her website: www.karenhendriks.com

or connect with her on social media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karenhendrikschildrensauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/karenhendriks1

Go Away, Foxy Foxy is available in selected book shops and online from https://daisylanepublishing.com and Amazon for $18.99 (soft cover) and $29.99 (hard cover)

This post was organised as a part of the ‘Go Away, Foxy Foxy’ book campaign with Books On Tour PR & Marketing (www.booksontourpr.wordpress.com). You can find other posts about Karen and her book here.

Remember to check out the complete readilearn collection of

over 430 teaching resources for the first three years of school

Resources beyond worksheets – lessons for teachers made by teachers.

Let readilearn lighten your workload.

Browse resources now

If you haven’t already, follow @readilearn on Twitter and readilearnteachingresources on Instagram and like the readilearnteachingresources Facebook page.

I appreciate your feedback and comments. Please share your thoughts below.