Claire Hatcher-Smith

THE MIZZY MYSTERIES is the result of my career-long desire to give children with Down Syndrome the chance to see themselves as the star of the story. But Mizzy isn’t just about Down Syndrome. It’s also a fun, twisty, family-history mystery which encourages readers to smash all sorts of stereotypes and imagine what people might be like beneath the surface. Most of all, Mizzy aims to remind readers that they should never underestimate anyone, especially themselves.

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In other words, both my books and my speech and language therapy work are all about empathy. With 35 years working with students aged 3-18 years in a variety of school settings, I am passionate about supporting children to develop self-awareness and esteem, at the same time as encouraging them to explore how other people might have different strengths and thoughts and feelings.​

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Free Virtual School Visit Pack

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If you are interested in reading THE MIZZY MYSTERIES with your class, please email me at clairehatchersmith@gmail.com for a virtual visit pack. The pack reinforces Mizzy's message of empathy and includes:

 

• A video introducing myself and Mizzy.

• A video of me reading a key opening chapter.

• Mizzy's guide to smashing stereotypes (for teachers)

• Empathy-based discussion questions for whole-class or individual work

• Mizzy quiz: What sort of detective are you?

• Create your own Detective writing worksheet

• Feelings-Detective creative writing assignment (Imagine you are surveilling a suspect, like Mizzy when she’s investigating. Write down your observations of what they look like and what they are doing and imagine everything this could possibly mean about who they are and what they might be thinking/feeling…)

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In-person and Online Visits
 

​I also love doing in-person and online school visits. I currently offer 2 empathy-focused events:​

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1. Mizzy’s Feelings Detective Assembly (50 minutes)

• I support the students to guess key information about me, using photo clues from my life.  

• I then introduce Mizzy and the book and, during a brief reading, students are encouraged to listen for clues to Mizzy’s personality. 

• After the reading, I collate the clues identified by the students to create a description of Mizzy, including her detective superpower EMPATHY. 

• Following a brief discussion of what empathy is (and isn’t), as well as why empathy skills are important:as detectives, as readers/writers and as human beings, I lead the students in a FEELINGS DETECTIVE game: a fun, highly interactive and thought-provoking improv-drama activity which promotes affective and cognitive empathy. (Volunteers are shown an emotion card and then act out the target emotion, while also performing an action suggested by the group.The group use their feelings-detective skills to guess the emotion being acted). 

• The game is followed by a group quiz: WHAT SORT OF DETECTIVE ARE YOU? The whole audience participates at the same time, with designated actions for a/b/c answers, to find out if they are more of a Mizzy, an Oli, or a Grandma Mabel.

• The event wraps up with a Q&A.

• For this event, Claire will require a means to share her Powerpoint presentation, as well as enough floor space for up to six students to be involved in each round of the drama game.

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2. Create your own Detective Workshop (50 minutes)

• With examples from the Mizzy Mysteries, I walk the students through my approach to character creation, using a Mizzy-themed worksheet framework.

• I then support students to write a short scene introducing their detective, highlighting the importance of “showing rather telling” the reader who their character is. If time allows, students will be invited to share their scenes. I’m always happy to view students’ final work and provide feedback to their class teacher.

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NB I offer in-person visits in the UK during March and across British Columbia throughout the year. Online visits can be arranged pretty much anywhere, if we can find a mutually convenient time.  ​

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Fees: For more information please contact me directly at clairehatchersmith@gmail.com

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