Endeavor Charter School in Wake Forest welcomed me with open arms. I shared both of my books with K, 1st and 2nd graders. The day started with Mrs. Mosca’s class. I met Mrs. Mosca at a craft fair! I had a table with my books and the crafts. I always have a school visit sign-up sheet just in case I meet interested parents or teachers. This is one of the many reasons you will see me setup at craft fairs around town, not only am I getting my books in front of people, but I am creating potential businesses opportunities.
The school visit started with Kindergarten. K is always a lively bunch! I later visited 1st grade and 2nd grade. I love to see the transition of knowledge throughout my school visits, you can really see our education system at work as you watch these young minds grow throughout the years.
I opened each session with a little background of becoming an author, followed by reading Time For Bed With Ford And Red. I have this book 100% memorized and that always seems to excite the kids. After reading Ford & Red, I talk about becoming a two-time author and I even share some storyboard illustrations for my second book with the kids. They LOVED this part. It surprises them that the illustrators start out with a piece of paper and a pencil, they expected the process to be a lot fancier. It put it into perspective how reachable this career could be for them. I did explain to them HOW much time and the attention to detail that goes into being an illustrator, but they still love it.
I then read The Spill. So, I don’t have this book memorized yet, but I imagine it’s only a matter of time. This book is just so much fun to read, every single page elicits laughter or chatter among the kids. You will here a lot of “Oh no!!” statements happen and when we get to the “uh-oh” page, it’s cool because the kids can read that word. So I simply hold the book open and they all in unison say “Uh-Oh!!”
My goal now is to make EVERY single book I write this interactive.
Here is a quote about the visit itself from Mrs. Mosca: “We had a wonderful school visit with Jacqueline! She read both of her books to our kindergarteners and they absolutely loved it! Her presentation had lots of kid friendly aspects to it which kept them interested. “
Below, please enjoy snippets from my live readings.
Jacqueline Leigh 