To those of you who asked about having a David Sargent author visit:
My original request was to ask if anyone had had him at their
school.
the only responses that I got were positive ones. The discussion,
however, was primarily on the quality of the presentation, not on the
quality of the literature. I did receive a response from the person
who reviewed a Sargent title for a professional magazine. I would
concur with her assesssment: this isn't great literature and older kids
will probably not sit still very long for the stories. However, since I
received a number of favorable replies from librarians saying that Mr.
Sargent's presentation was very much enjoyed by their students, we took
the gamble and invited him to visit our school.
His presentation lasted about 40 minutes. He was very well
organized and arrived promptly and with everything that he needed. His
dogs were very well behaved and having them in the building was not a
problem at all. He came at no cost to the school; he sold books after
his program and that was his "fee." He didn't comment on how well / how
poorly his sales were; I don't have any idea how much he made. A
volunteer Mom helped him take money from kids.
Now that he has been here, let me try to sum up the information
that I now have. Mr. Sargent's time is spent primarily talking about
the dogs that travel with him. They are the subjects of the stories
that he writes in his Doggie Tails series. Of course right away he had
the kids mesmerized because they loved the dogs. The author explained
that the stories he has written about his dogs really did happen. The
message that we, as teachers, can take from this and try to get across
to our kids is, "WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW."
I purchased the 4 titles that were actually discussed during the
presentation. One of those is nearly wordless. One is a rhyming story
that our 2d grade teachers said would work well for their "rounding up
the rhymes" plans. The other 2 books "starred" the dogs who accompanied
him. They were checked right out by our kids.
The other series of books that Mr. Sargent has to sell is the
Feather Tales series. I did not care for them at all. AR says they are
written at the 4th grade level. Anyone who is capable of reading the
books would be too "grown up" to enjoy the stories. They are all
"character development" and, in my opinion, would be beneath their
maturity level to read them. Besides, for the message that you get, it
is just too many words. I would not recommend them, to be very frank.
So, if you, personally, are willing to spend a little time
organizing for the visit, I think you'd find that your students would
enjoy the presentation and your teachers could gain a positive message
to carry back to the classroom and writing instruction. However, if you
are afraid that your peers will never trust your judgement on good
literature again after you invite this author to your building, you
might want pass.
Patrice Huckaby, media specialist
South Central Elementary School
6595 E. Highway 11 SE
Elizabeth, Indiana 47117
812-969-2973, ext. 2511
HuckabyP@south.shcsc.k12.in.us
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