Guest blogger Linda Sue Park is the author of A Single Shard (Newbery Medal winner), Kite Fighters and her latest book, Keeping Score . In addition, Linda Sue has published several other novels, as well as picture books, poems and short stories. Linda Sue recently visited a First Book school and kindly agreed to share her impressions.
I recently visited a Title I school in Washington state to share some of my books with students there. I met with 83 fifth-grade students in the library. It was clear to me from the moment I arrived that the students and the staff took pride in their school and were eager to welcome me.
The librarians and teachers had done some wonderful preparation before I arrived and the kids were already familiar with my picture book THE FIREKEEPER’S SON. I talked to them about my own family background; my love of reading; my early efforts at writing; and of course showed them photos of my dog. Then I booktalked a few of my titles, including KITE FIGHTERS, and finished up by talking about revision and rewriting, rejection, and the importance of reading. After that we had a few minutes of Q&A.
The kids were terrific. I didn’t see a single one of them wiggling or acting distracted–it felt like all their eyes were on me every minute. It is a K-8 school, and several eighth-graders were studying in the library at the time; I was tickled to see that by about halfway through, they had all abandoned their carrels and were standing at the back listening to my presentation!
At the very end I talked about First Book, and when I advised the assembled group that individual classrooms could register in addition to the school as a whole, I was encouraged to see the teachers and librarians in the room scribbling down the web address. I then brought out boxes of books and told the kids I had made arrangements with First Book to provide each child with a copy of KITE FIGHTERS. I wish you could have heard the squeals in the room! Then I told them that I had already autographed the books for them and got a second chorus of squeals. We did a round of applause for First Book, then we handed out the books as the kids left the library. The best part was that as the students went down the hall, most of them already had the book open, reading as they walked!
I hope everyone involved with a school or program serving children from low-income families will visit www.firstbook.org/register to connect with your great organization!