School Visits

A testimonial:
"Today, I met with several classes you spoke to yesterday. They all talked about your "seed" imagery, "strong feeling" and "throwing the stick" requirements for a good story. You do a fabulous presentation that stays with the kids."
-- Barbara Shostal, Librarian, Hunter College Elementary School



I do school visits in the New York City area, and sometimes farther afield. Contact info and fees at the bottom of the page. Below, I describe five basic presentations, but really -- it's all flexible, depending on your school, its population, and what books you want your students reading before I arrive!

NURSERY SCHOOL AND PRE-K CHAT, for children under five. I talk about my job as a writer and then I read two books which are about taste, likes and dislikes: usually Sugar Would Not Eat It and Daffodil Crocodile, both of which have opportunities for the children to participate and call out repeated phrases. I ask the children about their own clothing and food choices, favorite pets etc. -- and encourage them to make comparisons. I explain how my feelings about what I like (and who I am) became stories. The presentation invites children to share before and after each story. 30 - 45 minutes or so.

PICTURE BOOKS: SEEDS OF STORIES, for K-3. This classroom presentation is for slightly older kids but it still involves reading stories aloud and is suited to small groups. I read stories that each have an interesting "origin or "seed" " -- most often Skunkdog, Daffodil and That New Animal. I begin by telling a story from my own life connected to each book; then I read the story and ask the children to notice how I exaggerated and fictionalized a true event to turn it into fiction. I talk about how strong emotions are very often useful story seeds, and connect that idea to the texts I am reading. There's a question and answer period at the end. 45 minutes or so.

SEEDS OF STORIES (library or auditorium), for K-5. This is the presentation I'm most often asked to do on school visits. It's a slideshow presentation about my writing process and the origins of my books, Toys Go Out, Invisible Inkling,Skunkdog and That New Animal. It's for a large group of kids. The talk has the same themes as the one described above, but includes includes images and is designed for a much larger audience. I don't read aloud from my books but instead focus on how stories begin with a seed idea and develop over multiple revisions. I discuss the elements of strong storytelling: emotion, problems, action, and so on, and show slides that convey how illustrations get revised, too.

THE TOYS BOOKS (library or auditorium), for K-5. This is a slideshow presentation about Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party for an auditorium. These books have been often used as a "one school one book" choice, aka an all-school read, so I do a presentation that's focused exclusively on them for that situation. The slides show in-process art work by Paul O. Zelinsky, both covers and interior art, personal shapshots and more -- As above, the focus of the talk is on the ways a story grows from a seed idea to a fully developed book. This presentation includes a reading from Toy Dance Party.

INVISIBLE INKLING (library or auditorium), for K-5. This is a variation on SEEDS OF STORIES, a slideshow presentation starting with a discussion of strong storytelling and the sources for stories in Skunkdog and That New Animal, and moving into an in-depth discussion of my writing process on Inkling (which required heavy revision) and its upcoming sequels. I show art work by Harry Bliss.

If you want to sell books for me to autograph when I come to your school, I recommend you partner with your local independent bookstore and arrange advance orders -- that usually works best. Please email me with any further questions.

Out of town, prices include travel and lodging expenses.
Inquiries:
For Toys books and picture books, or for conference and keynote talks, contact Lisa McClatchy at Random House.
For Invisible Inkling, contact Tony Hirt at Harper.

For more information and ideas for using my books in the classrooms, please have a look at the children's book page, the teacher resources page, and the bio.