Thank you, Wauchula Elementary School!

I had so many great school visits this year. Thank you to all the librarians and teachers who invited me, who read my books aloud, who inspired such great discussions and projects.

My last school visit of 2015 was memorable. It was the first time I'd spoken to so many students who'd all read THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY.

From the drive across the state through Florida's strawberry and citrus fields, I made my way to the little town with a lot of enthusiastic readers, Wauchula, Florida. Enthusiastic readers, great teachers, and one really fantastic librarian.

Here's my day, in pictures.

Even before I arrived, the kids had been reading, thinking, imagining and dreaming.

I loved these giant keyboards that filled the walls!

Each student wrote a dream on a key.
Dreaming big, just like Theo.

In the run-up to my visit, not only had the students and their teachers read my book, Mary Idsardi, super librarian, produced a piano recital!

Check out "Theo's" baseball bat.

Doesn't he look just like the Book Fair/ club edition's fabulous cover?

Now this was no ordinary recital.

The program.

The playlist. Be still my heart.
















A Vietnam veteran spoke to the classes. 
And they raised money for the Wounded Warriors.

Truly a special day. Thanks, Wauchula Elementary!

 (The bookshelves, right next to me.)

(I love that t-shirt.)

All the way home, I thought about those kids, 

my home state, Theo and Miss Sister. 

About how difficult and challenging it is to move to a new place.

(My car's GPS, guiding me all the way, 

so I could think about something other than what road to take...)

Writers appreciate how hard it is to organize a school visit so well. 

And how important it is. 

We really and truly appreciate all the work that goes into making these days special for your students. 

Have a great holiday break, librarian and teacher friends!

Thank you, Grady Elementary!

One of the joys of having your book on the state reading list for your own state is that you get to visit nearby schools and hear what they think. And of course, we all know that kids LOVE to tell the truth.

Tampa's GRADY ELEMENTARY was my most recent stop. Despite the rainy weather, I was welcomed in a BIG way! Check out the sign as I drove into the school.

All the teachers and the librarian were so enthusiastic and their students were delightful.
A huge image of my cover art adorned the library.

4th grade teachers Melinda Dickens and Charlene Ritter truly made my day. The projects were fabulous!

Here are a few FLOATS, based on the Sunshine Reader list books. They'd had their own book parade! (It's all about Gasparilla in Tampa.)







4th grade kids made Lap Books, fully illustrated.

Tons of great stuff in these projects, including a letter to the EDITOR standing up for something they believed in.
Check this one!

"Naps help our health and give us energy to do our work."
Smart thinking.


And the fun continued today when I opened a folder full of letters, thanking me for sharing my book's journey with them.

Must share a few of these detailed, thoughtful notes. I'm still smiling.
(Some great advice, too...)

"Keep revising and work hard."
Okay!

"I think it's really cool that you and your editor revised together. 
I think my hand would fall off."
Yep, mine almost did.

"Now I know what Mrs. Ritter means by 'Our writing is never done!'"
Listen to your teachers, kids!

"As soon as your new book comes out I will surely be reading your newest master piece."

"Someday when I grow up I might write an autobiography and it might have your presentation in it."

"I loved your book. I'm pretty sure it was the BEST book I ever read."
Hey- I'll take Pretty Sure any day!


"I understood you like to read. I am a reading maniac as well. Now if you will excuse me, I have to do some reading myself."

On that note, I'm off to follow Jake's example and do a little reading myself.

Have a great week, teachers and librarians, and thanks for the amazing work you do to make kids so enthusiastic about books.

Sharing the Fun

Last week I visited two great schools, full of enthusiastic readers. Both local, which is my favorite thing to do this wintry season.

Do you know what a charming little place DUNEDIN, Florida is?  

(I've spent days wandering around Dunedin, visualizing a different, fictitious place for my next book. Hint: Dunedin and Destiny are a bit alike!)
 
When the librarian at Curtis Fundamental School in Dunedin contacted me way last summer inviting me to visit, her email was the very first I received after GLORY BE was selected for the Sunshine Readers list. 

Who could resist an invitation with sentences like these:
Thank you for providing us with your historically accurate, beautifully written narrative about family and community support systems, and a very timely teaching tool! I know our students at Curtis would gain valuable knowledge and insight about the historical fiction writing process.

Of course I said yes. And now I have a new friend of my very favorite sort. Librarians who love books.

 Her school has won the Battle of the Books trophy! Two years running!

I came home with flowers, Bridge Mix, and neat bookmarks, and I signed a big stack of books.

(Jennifer, a teacher with a whole bunch of stickies in her copy of Glory Be. Actually, many of the teachers, volunteers and especially librarian Jan Hager had read and prepared the students so well. Thank you Curtis Fundamental School!)


An Aside:Dunedin has a whole lot of Little Free Libraries. 
I need to go back to see them. 
Here's the link. 

There's also a beautiful public library. Some of the Dunedin librarians came to visit and gave me this eye-catching necklace- It's a bookshelf!
Can't wait to wear it on my next school visit.

Earlier in the week I got to spend a little time with another Pinellas County school. Sutherland Elementary in Palm Harbor. Librarian Jackie Keller invited the special kids who'd read all the Battle of the Books books to a pizza party. 
Wow. Impressive!

I shared my GLORY BE stickers. 
These two turned theirs into a tiny book. 
I loved hanging out with these clever kids!
(and the Godiva chocolate was nice, too...)


 

Going back to Baltimore

Packing my Junk Poker box, my Glory Be notes, my book for a very exciting three days in Shelby County, Indiana (more on that later) and sharing a recent really fun day with kids.

I love Baltimore. Another city I think of as Home.
Is there anything more fun that returning to a place you love, speaking to young, enthusiastic readers about the book you wrote? I doubt it!

The Bryn Mawr School's Newbery program has been going on since the mid 1970s.  
It has evolved since my day as a librarian there. Now, instead of creating books for the younger students, some 5th graders create Book Trailers.  Instead of dressing in costume, acting out a scene, and writing reports, they blog about their favorite books.

But the love of literature hasn't changed.
We did a fun project with boxes, inspired by my Junk Poker Box.

At the noontime event, I was invited to speak to the students and their special guests.

Here I am going on and on about how excited I was to be back home. It was all true. I was very excited.










In anticipation of my visit, I reread and skimmed recent winners and new books that the girls might be reading and discussing. When reading an award-winning book as if I were a student, dissecting the writing, I was surprised at how picky I could be!

Parents made these beautiful tabletop decorations. Each table was different. Book jacket art from all the books the girls had read. I'm in very good company, hanging with Ivan.

It was a great, fun day. 

And, false alarm-- We didn't even need the services of this guy, thank goodness!

(Though the snows came the next week when I was safely back in sunny Florida. Whew.) 


Read more thoughts, visits, friends from Baltimore from these PAST POSTS:

http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2012/05/another-homecoming.html

http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2009/12/going-home-again.html

http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2009/05/childrens-book-week.html


 Writing this is reminding me of a quote hanging over my desk:

You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home so it's all right.
Maya Angelou

 What do you think about Going Home Again? Truth or myth?