Two days of school visits. Two completely different schools. The first day, I went to a beautiful, old school in a well to do part of town. I was presented with a lovely bag from whole foods with snacks and goodies for my day at school. Lots of parents around. (They raised the money to bring me there.) I had requested transparencies and pens for an overhead projector. They bought a new box of transparencies and the biggest container of colored pens I had ever seen
The day was great. Two writing workshops. I loved getting to spend an hour with two separate classes and brainstorm ideas. I would like to do that more often. One class, someone said, "What's next?" That became the title and we developed a story about a squirrel. It began with him never being satisfied, but ultimately, we wrote a story where our main character was was having a bad day and every time something funky would happen, he would say, "What's next?" It was fun to create with a group.
Second day. An old school, beautifully landscaped, but the inside of the school needed paint, and new lighting. The kids all live in homeless shelters. I could have adopted all of them right there on the spot. I drew pictures on a dry erase board as they walked in, in an effort to gain credibility before I ever opened my mouth. Based on the ooh's and ahh's I was hearing as they walked in, I knew I had won them over.
I know there are wealthy families and poor families in every city, but going from one school to another in two days made the stark differences appear that much more. One school, filled with moms who could come in and see the visiting author and buy their children books. The other school had some volunteer community people visiting but these children have parents who are in jail, rehab, or missing in action. Nobody was getting a book to take with them. They wouldn't be cuddling in bed last night reading a story because these children don't have bedrooms to sleep in, or in some cases, beds, let alone money to buy books. I will go back again and bring books to give to these children. Lots of books!
