This morning I visited two Kindergarten classes at Oakview Elementary School in Holly Springs. This was a special visit as it was more intimate than my others. While I LOVE visiting whole schools, getting the chance to do one on one time with individual classes is amazing. This allows for more individualization in my visit.
We huddled up in the center of the classroom and began our session talking about authors, illustrators and publishers. After enlightening them on the process, I read the book. To my delight, a few kids have already read the book and some even own it! You could hear a pen drop in the classroom when I was reading the book, the wide eyes never get old as Ford & Red encounter their wild dreams.
I opened the floor for questions once the reading was complete. These students blew me away. Kindergartners were asking in GREAT detail about the publishing and distributing process of the book. Example questions:
How do you get ALL of your books all over the world?
How do the words and pictures come together in the book?
How are the books printed?
The answer to all of those questions, to keep it short and simple, is…. The Publisher!! So, thank you Mascot Books for doing such an awesome job and allowing me to share a bit about publishing to these K kiddos.
Once the Q&A was complete, the kids participated in a craft that I provided. While they were doing the craft, I was able to go around and dedicate books! It really was such a treat to visit this school.
If you’re a teacher and want an author to visit your classroom, let me know. It’s nice to break up my routine and sprinkle a few personal visits in with the big assembly visits!
Jacqueline Leigh 