Blogger: Rachel Kent
Yesterday, my daughter had an author come to her school to give a presentation. Envelopes were sent home before the event so parents could buy an autographed book in advance (nice for the author!). I am not sure what the author spoke about, but I’m sure he had to tailor his talk to interest the kindergartners through 6th graders. He writes picture books, so it is good that he was speaking at an elementary school.
I remember a couple author talks from when I was in elementary school. One of the presentations was too old for the young audience. I was in 3rd grade and it was an author who wrote for pre-teen girls about puberty. I’m sure the younger grades and the boys were all a little uncomfortable with that one. The awkwardness made an impact on me, for sure. This author should have been speaking to middle grade audiences. Or the school should have made sure that only the 5th and 6th graders were present for her talk–and maybe only 5th and 6th grade girls.
The other author I remember was very nice. She didn’t talk much, but did read us her story.
If you were going to talk about your book at a school, which school would be the best fit for you? Is your book a better fit for a high-school audience or maybe college students? Or could you entertain elementary school children?
How might you change your talk to work for the audience you are presenting to?
Have you ever spoken at a school? How did that experience differ from other speaking you have done?
Do you remember authors speaking at any of your schools? How did they do?
My book in progress is aimed at adults, so I wouldn’t be reading my book. But I’ve talked with my elementary-age grandsons about the process: finding your voice (they understand the difference between Little House and Captain Underpants), writing and editing (as writers they want to skip editing, as readers they prefer well-edited words), conflict and resolution (my boys are heavy on conflict, light on resolution). They had great fun with the elevator pitch for their books and struggled mightily with a one-sentence summary. My young wannabe writers Their elementary school encourages writing by having the kids write and illustrate in a blank book and putting these books in the library for other children to check out and read.
Talked to a junior-high class once. Had them break up into groups and write/perform skits based on Marvel superheroes facing incongruities, like:
– Thor’s Bad Hair Day
– Superman And The Lost Contact Lens
– The Hulk Goes To Work At Starbucks
* I circulated from group to group, mainly making sure everyone contributed and participated. Once they realized that I was actually listening to their ideas, they took the exercise seriously and produced some funny – and sometimes cutting – stuff.
* It was fun.
My grandsons would love this, Andrew. I’m going to save your topics and make a Christmas writing assignment. It’ll be the best entertainment of the season.
You just made my day, Shirlee!
Andrew, what a fun idea! You did a great job tailoring your talk to their interest level. 🙂
Thanks, Jeanne. It really was a lot of fun.
Rachel, it’s so important to tailor a talk to the intended audience! I feel sorry for those young kids and the boys in the audience who heard the author speak about puberty. 🙂 I haven’t spoken at a school yet. I always thought it might be fun to teach some of the basics of writing. My older son, when he was in junior high, had a lot of friends trying to write books. It would have been fun to teach them some basics to help them in their storytelling.
We never had an author come to our school, but I got to sit in on the class when an author spoke in my 6th and 8th graders’ class. She wrote horror fairytales for teens and it was the right audience for her as Jr. Highers do love their scary stories. She also spoke on how to write fight scenes as she was both an author and a black belt. It was fascinating and gave the young writers a new skill to use in their own stories. I have led a year-long creative writing class with Jr. High students, but have not spoken as the guest author where I only present my own books. If I were to do so, boy I have several different age groups represented in my writing, but most of them are not published. I have a YA published that would interest Jr. High or High School students and mss. all the way from picture book, lower middle grade, upper middle grade, YA, and romance … So, I could go to all the schools! I think I would probably most enjoy going to our elementary school and talking on how to take real life crazy dog stories and put them into fiction. My puppy middle grade manuscripts would be fun to share … and they might let me bring my dog!
Thanks Rachel for giving us another potential opportunity to strive and plan for.
No, I never had an author come and speak to me and my classmates during any grade of school.
I have spoken to all ages in various venues and positions, as a substitute teacher for elementary grades, as a lay junior and senior high leader during a year as the church board was looking for a new youth pastor, and at the same time as a nurse instructing staff in the hospital on risk and safety.
I relish the opportunity to speak to grades of all ages with regard to my book, Letters from Great Aunt Lizzie: Quirky Humor with Indespensible Wisdom. It could be easily tailored to each grade level beginning with the youngest. I don’t know many people that dislike humor, and interactions with great aunts who are both loving and humorous as they provide stories that give the students insight to important principles of life. There would be some basic threads that went through all levels such as: it’s important to take the time to communicate in a meaningful way with those we love and who love us to keep the relationship healthy and growing. This could be visually shown by using examples.
Another thread would be the importance of the words we think, speak, and write and how that can build or break relationships. Again, appropriate examples can be provided for each grade level.
The third thread would be the importance of maintaining relationships as compared to gathering things in our life and personal world.
I am a connector with people. I live people and love providing them with good things, like wisdom that is biblically based and practical in application.
What a wonderful suggestion for endless opportunities you have planted in my brain Rachel. Thank you so much.
I don’t write children’s books but I have talk to third through fifth grade classes about the experience of being an author. I showed my books but didn’t read from them. I talk to them about basic plot structure and how the who, what, when, where, how forms the skeleton and then you have the fun of dressing it up using all five senses. The kids were each working on their own books so they had a lot of questions. Fun experience.
I like how you mention spending time talking with kids, even though your books aren’t marketed at them. It’s nice to just give them a good experience and show them more about what it means to be a writer. This year I ran the story telling contest at the school where I work. It was such a fun experience running workshops and helping the kids get prepared.
(Also, I just looked at your webpage and, can I just say, I love your layout and your post about second chances)
I speak with hundreds of kids every year about my 4th grade historical novel. Many of the schols have used my book as part of CA history, some are just excited to have an author come and talk with the students. I have writen for adults and also have a picture book I wrote for 3-5 year olds, I can cover a lot of topics. MOSTLY I talk about being a storyteller, and share a fun story that uses only a piece of paper. I talk about how editing a manuscript is alot like putting rocks in a rock tumbler. I share about the importance of staying curious and being respectful of other people’s stories.
At the end of my classroom visit or school assembly, I read an excerpt from my book. It has been life changing for not only the students, but me as well. As an added bonus, I have sold hundreds of books at the schools I have visited.
How do you know what to say to 3-5 year olds? They get bored real easily so how do you keep them interested and entertained at the same time and not drag it out? Thanks.
I’ve done some school visits to talk about my book Running with Roselle, usually with other writers as part of an Authors Day. The nice thing about doing a school visit with other authors was that it allowed us to cover every age group. We had a picture book author, one who’d written a historical book for 4th graders, my book (for 8-12-year-olds)… so I think every class got a visit from one of us. We each created a talk that kids could relate to so it wouldn’t be all about our books — one year I spoke on overcoming challenges (because Running with Roselle is about a blind 9/11 survivor and his guide dog and I am visually impaired) and the next time I did a mini workshop on writing someone else’s story.
The school treated us like rock stars, especially the first time! We did an assembly with all of us then broke up into class visits (each of us went to two or three classes) and had a book signing at the end of the day. It was so much fun! But a lot of what made it work was the focus on keeping it age appropriate and speaking on topics that teachers and kids could relate to and maybe discuss later.
My WIP is for an older audience, but I have spoken at schools about writing in general. I talked about how I became a writer, jobs writers can do, and then I broken them up into groups. I had some age-appropriate topics they could collaborate on to create a story. Another time, I came is as surprise reader for a 3rd grade class. I read a story (not mine) that I knew would prompt some conversation or thinking about what would happen next. It was a story about a girl and a unicorn who believed the other was out there and real. So I planned in advance with the teacher — I read the story and then the kids wrote about how the girl and the unicorn would meet. They had so much fun with this and they came up with some really creative stories. I was invited back a few months later when a sequel to the book came out. After I read, the kids asked if they could do another writing project, and they wrote about adventures the girl and the unicorn would have together, now that they were friends. I’ve been invited back to do this with the new class. I love seeing the kids’ enthusiasm for books, storytelling, and writing!
I’ve been part of “author” days for both elementary and high school students. It’s fun to answer their questions and describe what it’s like to be an author. I mainly write for girls (and women), but now I can say that I have a book for boys as well. 🙂 I don’t remember authors speaking at my school when I was a child. I know I would’ve loved it!
I have taught writing classes to elementary ages and middle school kids. It was so fun, my favorite teaching was on plotting and creating tension. Another favorite was on fractured fairytales – teaching them the basics of say Red Ridinghood but giving it a whole new twist. I love hearing their thoughts and uninhibited creativity. It’s very energizing.
I speak in front of school aged kids all the time. It used to make me super nervous, but it doesn’t bother me anymore. Adults are something I still need to get used to. My work in progress is aimed at helping those who work with special needs kids. The purpose is to get parents, teachers, and paraprofessionals headed in the right direction, armed with relevant information that will help them overcome the behavior challenges they are facing. As an Autism-mom, a special education teacher, and a behavior analyst, the content I am putting in is all stuff that has saved me at home and in the classroom. It answers common questions that I find most parents of special needs kids have, and it runs through the basic behavior modification training that I give all of my paraprofessionals on their first day.
I wouldn’t talk about this book in front of students at a school, but I think that school districts would be interested in the content for teacher training and paraprofessional training. More importantly, I think that parents would be interested in a talk about the book.
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