Author Visits

[Elizabeth Wellburn <ewellburn@PINC.COM>]

Dear Group,

I've noticed that 'author visits' have been a recent topic on this list.
From the author's point of view I'd like to comment on a few things that
schools can do to make these even more successful.

The obvious one is preparation, which can take a variety of forms. My best
visits have been to schools where students have read or discussed my work
(and/or similar stories by other authors) in advance. At one school, I
arrived to find a mural of artwork based on the book I was coming to read,
and it was a very gratifying experience for me. Hopefully it was also an
experience that helped the children understand some of the concepts in the
book. Also, I've found that intermediate or middle school children are
fascinated by the publishing process, and one group I met with had samples
of their writing and illustrations prepared and ready to show me -- with
hopes that I could give them some tips about getting published. This led
into a wonderful discussion about the research and editing that goes into
getting a book into print. Depending on the type of book and the age of the
children, preparatory discussions of style, fiction vs non-fiction, etc.
are helpful in getting the kids ready to absorb a lot and ask good
questions. Another type of preparation involves the Internet. If the author
has a website, it's a great idea to allow children to spend some time there
before the visit. If not, the web might still have relevant information
related to the type of work the author does.

At the readings, I'm sometimes overwhelmed by enthusiastic kids trying to
get me to answer their questions. Name tags would help me to keep a
"speaker's list" so that nobody is missed, or a teacher could help by
keeping track for me. I'd prefer to be able to say, "now I'm ready for
Mary's question", instead of "the girl in the blue shirt". I'm sure the
kids would like it better too.

Finally, follow-up is another element that could extend the experience, but
of course this depends on both the author and the school. There's never
time to answer all the questions the children want to ask, so I always
leave my email address. I've been surprised at how little it's been used. I
hope this doesn't mean that once the author visit is over, the group moves
on to something without tying up the loose ends. Often questions come up
that, in my mind, could lead to some very interesting activities or
discussions in class. I hope that the teachers *do* follow through with
these, even if I never get to hear about it. But I'm certainly available
afterwards for questions from anybody.

Hope these ideas help those of you who are involved in author visits. My
book-related webpage is at:
http://members.home.net/dhouston1/teacher_page.html

Elizabeth Wellburn


=================================================
Elizabeth Wellburn             ewellburn@pinc.com
http://members.home.net/dhouston1/e_wellburn.html

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