Heroes of History: George Washington Carver – Review
literature
Taking Book Club to the Treetops with Go Ape USA
I had a hard time finding books for book club (at least initially) when I was planning last summer. I had expected to use lots of classics, but I found that My Little Man had read every single one I pulled off the library shelf! After pestering our friendly librarian for lots of book topics, she suggested the Stranded series by Jeff Probst as a great survival story – and I’m glad she did.
The trilogy is about four kids, new siblings in a blended family, who get stranded on an island in the South Pacific and need to find a way to work together – and to survive. They’re fairly short, easy reads, and each book has cliffhanger endings until the third, which is why I asked the book clubbers to read all three.
In the third book, there’s an incident with a cliff and three of the kids. When I read that scene, I knew we needed to do some climbing – and the idea for our treetop adventure with Go Ape USA was born.
I worked primarily with a man named Jon at Go Ape’s headquarters, who gave our group a discount, patiently explained the details and rules to me, and helped us get set up. There’s a lot to know, because the rules and pricing vary for different age groups, and I wanted to make sure that our adventure went smoothly. Go Ape also requires one adult for every two kids, and so it was important to stay on top of the numbers – and for good reason. More on that soon ….
We got everyone together for a group picture before we headed off for our training session. Most of us were really excited, but a few people were pretty nervous, and, again, for understandable reasons: we were headed 50 feet up into the treetops and would tackle ziplines up to 500 feet long.
After getting outfitted with our harnesses, our Go Ape instructor walked us through a mini training course on the ground so that we could encounter the different scenarios we would face in the air. This was critical because no instructor would be in the air with us. We’d be in charge of hooking ourselves in and out of the safety gear.
Soon we were headed up ladders and into the trees. We were each decked out with a harness that stayed on us the entire time, and we used double lines and carabiners to attach the safety lines to our harnesses at each station. We went through five courses, with each one starting with a ladder and spiraling higher and higher into the treetops.
We encountered lots of these obstacles in the air. We were always supported by safety lines and our harnesses, of course, but we walked over wires, free-fell into nets, walked across swaying, wooden bridges, and much more. A few times there were even options for different paths with varying difficulties.
The sky was a beautiful blue on the day of our trip but the temperatures remained in the 40s, and oddly enough, we had several inches of snow the day before. Our landings from the ziplines were often a bit muddy, but since the trees hadn’t budded out yet, we could see pretty far, and the views were incredible.
It was fun to see everyone trying new things – only about three of us had done anything like this before – and we all worked together well.
Many of the obstacles were harder than they appeared, and they really tested your physical strength – and your bravery, too.
I dreaded this type of obstacle. They’re really hard for people like me with short legs, but even though I’m not any taller than I was the last time I did a course like this, it was easier. Maybe because I could depend on my harness to help me, or maybe because I was completely responsible for two girls and had to keep up with them – maybe both! – but while it was challenging, it was doable.
Even though I planned this outing and knew the benefits of it, I’m rather glad I wasn’t able to see my kids zipping. While I checked my Big Helper’s gear to be sure that she was hooked in properly before she stepped off the platform, she was quickly out of sight amidst the trees, and my Little Man was zipping around with DH, so I couldn’t see it. Even when you know it’s safe, it’s still hard to see your people jump out of a tree.
I’m thankful that a friend took such amazing pictures of them, though, so that we can remember our adventures – and that I couldn’t see them until we were all safely on the ground. Thanks, Lynn!
Sticking landings were hard and quickly became everyone’s goal, though most of the time we just landed on our bottoms in the mulch.
Did I mention that we were up really high?
I loved hearing and seeing the teamwork that happened during this event. Although I about half expected complaints, tears, or even a refusal to go up, everyone bravely strapped on their gear and climbed the ladders – even the people I knew were scared. I heard people cheering each other on, encouraging comments being yelled from one obstacle to another, and cheering when someone completed a hard obstacle. It was great!
My Little Man was one of those not wanting to go, and, really, Go Ape was bigger than anything any of us had done before. We watched the videos, we talked about harnesses and zipping and what to do if you were scared, but he wasn’t sure about the whole thing; when we got there, however, he was all in, and he wanted to take the hardest route every time there was a choice. He absolutely loved it and has asked several times to go back.
We definitely made memories during our treetop adventure for the Stranded trilogy with Go Ape.
Have you ever done a treetop adventure course?
Studying Cultures with Carole P. Roman Books – Review
My Little Man loves geography and culture. He loves learning about how other people live, what they eat, what their day-to-day lives look like. That’s why he jumped at the chance to check out three books from the Carole P. Roman books and collections. Carole P. Roman writes books about kids between the ages of 8 and 15, often from the point of view of a child that age living in another country or another time.
My Little Man couldn’t wait to read If You Were Me and Lived In … Australia. He’s fascinated with life down under and has been practicing his Aussie accent for weeks. We appreciated the broad range of information – from money to food to local animals.
We recently studied India. I really loved the way that If You Were Me and Lived In … India highlighted the differences between American and Indian culture. From the spices used in cooking to the way that popular holidays are celebrated, this book describes the aspects of life that are most familiar to them and shows what they might look like in India.
We’re going to be studying Ancient Greece next fall, and If You Were Me and Lived In … Ancient Greece is the perfect introduction for a new unit. We’re going to be studying the culture, geography, and myths of Greece, and this book discusses them all. It also compares the differences in food and home structures, both of which fascinated my son.
We enjoyed reading these books. There is much to be learned in each one. They provide great overviews for life in their respective countries, and I appreciate the way that each one discusses the aspects of life that are most relevant to kids.
The books that we read are all targeted for kids ages 8-15. I think that’s a bit of a stretch; while the books are fun and contain great information, they definitely mimic the typical picture book – which makes them fabulous for younger kids, but maybe less thorough for older ones. We enjoyed reading them, and each book was a perfect jumping-off point for a study, but we also would have appreciated more depth. As lovers of geography and culture, and with great readers, perhaps we’re a bit picky; when my kids were younger, they would have asked me to read them over and over.
The pictures of the books are clear and colorful. They illustrate the words well and are fun to study. The text is often very large, which would be great for emergent readers trying to follow along with their fingers. The pages themselves are thick and glossy, great for small fingers working to turn them.
I love the way that Roman compared life in each country to American life. It would be fun to try the activities in the book – to try playing cricket in the yard, for example, or to sample the foods in the books – or even to try using new vocabulary words in everyday life. While my older kids don’t get quite so excited about those things anymore, they would’ve giggled and giggled about them a few years ago – and we all would have enjoyed learning and making memories together with these books.
If you have young children, consider grabbing some books from the Carole P. Roman collection and snuggle in for an around-the-world adventure.
Book Club: Hiking the Mountain-to-Sea Trail with “Nature Girl”
We’ve been doing this book club thing with my daughter for six years now. She was a good reader before we started, but my goals have changed a bit along the way. I want more than just fun with books and friends now – I want to be able to dig in to the books and bring them to life. I’m looking for springboards for good discussions about life and faith and choices. I want to see thoughts and experiences that my book clubbers can take with them into the future.
That’s why I chose Nature Girl by Jane Kelley for our February book choice. It was an unusual choice for me as the main character Megan was annoyingly selfish in the beginning, but what makes the book so great is the way that she grows throughout the story. Her transformation – and the determination it takes her to complete the quest she’s given herself along a piece of the Appalachian Trail – is quite discussion worthy.
That’s how we found ourselves talking about Megan over lunch at Chick Fil-A in Durham. We all expressed our irritation with her selfish ways in the beginning of the book and whether we felt there was redemption for her by the end. We talked about what it must take to hike the full length of the Appalachian Trail and how we would personally handle moving to another region of the country for the summer like Megan’s family did.
Then we set off.
Not on the Appalachian Trail. As much as I wanted us to go and hike a part of that, it’s closest point to us is a few hours away, and that wasn’t really feasible. Instead, we headed out to hike a part of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, a path still in creation here in North Carolina that does just want it’s name declares: it starts on Clingman’s Dome in the mountains and finds it’s way to Jockey’s Ridge in the Outer Banks along the Atlantic, a journey of 1,175 miles. We chose to hike a six-mile portion along the Eno River in Durham, the same distance that Megan hiked each day of her journey.
We started at the Cole Mill access point to the trail. The temperature was in the low-to-mid 60s and the sun was out in full force, making it a beautiful day to hike.
The first part of the trail was the roughest, as we climbed down to the river and then walked along a narrow dirt path along the bank. We were happy to discover many trees fallen into the water, however, that were lined with turtles sunning themselves. This photo op – and the happy turtle above – kept us observing them for a little while before resuming our hike. We continued to see turtles all along our six-mile trek – nearly 80 of them altogether! Turtles are thriving in the Eno River.
The next part of our trek took us up stairs built into a hill, across a road, along a bridge, and down the other bank to the other side of the river. Road construction on the bridge kept the traffic to a minimum, making this part of our hike safer for us, and then we were back on the trail and moving along. The next few miles of the trail were the roughest, with an abundance of rocks and roots, making the hike not difficult, but making it important to watch your foot placement carefully.
There was a lot to see along the way, though. A neat feature of this stretch of trail are the historical ‘ruins’ we encountered along the way. There are remnants of an old pump station, and there are stone foundations, stone walls, earthen ridges, and more stretched out along a half-mile. The girls loved climbing all over these!
Besides turtles, there were lots of neat natural elements to see, too. The kids spotted a small brown snake along the trail at one point, along with lots of beaver slides and trees that beavers had cut down. We saw birds flying and spotted a woodpecker going to town on a tree. The trillium was just about to burst into bloom all along the trail, and the grasses were a brilliant green.
Just before we crossed the river for the last time, we began to encounter the remnants of houses. This one featured a sturdy stone chimney still standing, and the kids enjoying trying to climb it to sit on the mantle. The foundation was still visible, too, and we found pieces of a stove, bedsprings, and old pump all nearby. It was interesting to try to piece together what we found and guess about who might have lived there and what their lives were like.
After another two miles, we crossed our last creek and headed for the homestretch. Because we were so close, we stopped to play at the river’s edge, which for most of the kids meant throwing in rocks or crossing a small dam to a peninsula-like piece of land a few feet across the water. Unfortunately, several kids fell in at this point, but at least it was near the end of the hike, and they came up wet but laughing. I imagine it wasn’t any colder than what Megan experienced when she fell in that river in Massachusetts!
My Big Helper and I secretly laughed at two of these girls along our hike, because they kept saying that instead of ending our hike at the six-mile point, they wanted to turn around and hike back to the beginning. After falling in the river, however, and finishing our trip, they changed their minds and were happy to sit down and rest.
They didn’t rest for long, however! The girls were soon up and climbing around on trees and playing tag while we waited for our rides to pick us up. They’re full of energy!
Nature Girl was a great book for our club and has sparked lots of conversations in our family about the importance of discipline, hiking, and nature conservation. We’re hoping to do more long hikes in the future.
What about you? Are you a hiker?
NEW! “A Wrinkle in Time” Learning Packets
My family is super excited for the new movie based on Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time to release next week. The trailer looks fantastic – you can see it here – and we enjoyed reading and discussing the book together.
It’s not the easiest book to understand, however. L’Engle never intended it to be a children’s book; she didn’t target any audience in particular; instead, she wrote the story from her heart and gave her pen freedom. As a result, the finished product is a fascinating scientific story with themes of love, forgiveness, and with lots of science, historical quotations, and big vocabulary words.
To make it easier to understand, I’ve created learning packets to address each of these, and I’d love to share them with you! You can find them at my Teachers Pay Teachers store or by clicking on the individual titles below.
Are you planning to see the movie?
Book Club with the Boys: “The Way of the Warrior”
I was intrigued when I first saw The Way of the Warrior on the new-book shelf at the library.
I was hesitant when I saw the simple line drawings dotting the page – because I was looking for a middle-school book club pick and wanted something real and fun but meaty. Worthy of the time I’d put into reading it and planning the event.
I kept going, though, because of the synopsis – a kids’ book written by a former SEAL, to teach you to be tough?
I’m so glad I did.
In this first book of an illustrated middle grade series by a #1 New York Times-bestselling author, Marc learns to become a Warrior Kid after his uncle Jake, a Navy SEAL, comes to stay for the summer.
Fifth grade was the worst year of Marc’s life. He stunk at gym class, math was too hard for him, the school lunch was horrible, and his class field trip was ruined because he couldn’t swim. And the most awful thing about fifth grade? Kenny Williamson, the class bully, who calls himself the King of the Jungle Gym.
When Marc’s mother tells him that his uncle Jake is coming to stay for the whole summer, Marc can’t wait. Uncle Jake is a for-real, super-cool Navy SEAL. And Uncle Jake has a plan.He’s going to turn Marc into a warrior.
When Marc’s mother tells him that his uncle Jake is coming to stay for the whole summer, Marc can’t wait. Uncle Jake is a for-real, super-cool Navy SEAL. And Uncle Jake has a plan.He’s going to turn Marc into a warrior.
Becoming a warrior isn’t easy. It involves a lot of pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups, squats, swimming, eating right, and studying harder than ever before! Can Marc transform himself into a warrior before school starts in the fall – and finally stand up to the King of the Jungle Gym?
Find out in Jocko Willink’s Way of the Warrior Kid.
I loved this book initially because of the anti-bullying stance that it takes because I’ve seen that issue among the kids I work with, and I hate to see people excluding others. I love the way that author Willink handles it in Way of the Warrior Kid, and I had high hopes that it could help quell any uncertainty we might have in this group. It’s great on so many other levels, though, and I knew just the guy who could stand in for Willink: local martial arts master Earl Fuller.
Mr. Fuller worked with a group of my kids in the past, and he was fantastic. He was even more impressive this time.
Mr. Fuller began by sitting down and talking with the boys about his story. He shared his testimony, his personal experiences with stuttering and being bullied, and with his reasons for turning to martial arts – as well as the incredible success he found down that path.
He didn’t stop there, though. I don’t know if Mr. Fuller read the book, but he nailed every theme Willink write into the story: healthy eating, personal discipline, respect for authority, goal setting, etc. He spoke slowly, kindly, and you could tell he really cared about these boys.
Then they got to work. After doing some basic calisthenics and talking about the importance of being strong and physically fit, he taught them basic self-defense moves. They were the kind of thing to remember if you’re being mugged or attacked by a bully and can’t get away: the sort of thing that you can use to protect yourself.
He showed them how to put their arms up to protect their heads, and then how to use that position to block blows to the head. He had them practice blocking – isn’t My Little Man into this in the picture above?
Mr. Fuller taught them several other kinds of blocks, get-away moves, or ways to distract an attacker long enough to get away. They practiced a few holds and getting out of them, as well as hot spots to target if they were able to get a blow in themselves – all not to engage someone in a fight, but to get out of one.
After Mr. Fuller left, we picnicked while talking about Way of the Warrior Kid. The group agreed that it was their favorite book pick of the year!
Then we moved on to other aspects of the book. Inside, Uncle Jake asks Marc to write his own warrior code, and so I asked the kids to split into groups and do the same. They were excited to do so and listed some really good ideas.
Last, we watched a video I found online of a reporter challenging Willink to a grappling match so the kids could see what sort of results discipline could lead to – and then we tried the baseline tests that Uncle Jake gave to Marc at the beginning of the summer. We timed how many push-ups and sit-ups each kid could do in two minutes. Then we tried out the other exercises that Marc did daily – like burpees, diamond push-ups, star jumps, etc. They were really hard!
My Little Man came home with a new appreciation for discipline and ideas for ways that he could add some of these exercises into his daily routine. I love that Willink wanted to inspire kids to set goals and improve themselves, and Mr. Fuller did a great job of bringing that message home in person.
If you’re looking for a book for your book club, class, or young reader, give Way of the Warrior a read. It’s definitely worth it.
What are your kids reading this week?
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Hunting for Bigfoot with “Lemons”
I love that our local library gets lots of new books – and many of those are books by debut authors. One of those books turned out to be a fantastic book club pick with loads of possibilities. It’s called Lemons by Melissa Savage.
Savage’s book is a wonderful story of grief, healing, friendship centered around the search for Bigfoot. It’s sad and funny and poignant all at once, and the possibilities for learning with this book are endless.
In the story, main characters Lem and Tobin take several overnight wilderness expeditions to search for Bigfoot, and when I read this story, I knew our book clubbers needed to do the same.
We made arrangements to rent a cabin in a local park. The girls came for the first night, and the boys for the second. We had t-shirts made especially for this event to match, as much as possible, Tobin’s Bigfoot Detective Agency, LLC’s, shirts. We also wore sturdy clothes and adventure hats.
After settling into the cabin and setting up camp, the girls found sticks for cooking and whittled the ends. Since Lemonade and her grandfather ate hot dogs and tater tots every night, we chose to do the same, campfire style. We also cooked baked beans and made s’mores.
When our cooking preparations were complete, we headed off to the lake.
Boating doesn’t actually feature in Lemons at all, but since we were camping within sight of the water, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. We rented canoes and kayaks and spent some time exploring the nearby shoreline. After a while, several of the girls choose to tie their boats together and just bob around in the cove, talking and laughing. It was sweet!
Then we headed back to shore to begin our Bigfoot exams. Just like Tobin required Lemonade to take an oath before joining the Bigfoot Detective Agency, LLC, the kids showed off their Bigfoot knowledge. First, we talked about the ways that Bigfoot varies from humans – the stride, physiological differences, etc.
Next, we did the Yeti Spaghetti test. The kids had to dig through a basin filled with cold, oily spaghetti noodles to pick up the Gummi worms. Each book clubber had to find 3.
Then, they did the Toe Jam test. Each book clubber had to find five Gummi bears in tubs of cold oatmeal, blindfolded. They found this quite easy to do, but the gross factor was high, and the rest of us were in stitches the whole time.
After passing all three parts, the book clubbers took the same oath that Tobin required of Lem in order to join the Bigfoot Detective, LLC.
After that, we built the fire and talked about the book while the fire grew. When the coals were ready, we cooked our dinner. We had mixed success with that – while the kids downed the hot dogs and beans, our experiment of spearing Tater tots to cook was less than successful. The second night, the group just wrapped them in foil and threw them in the fire. That worked much better, although it wasn’t as fun.
All told, the entire experience was quite the trip, and everyone got plenty to eat.
After dinner, when it was dark (and pictures weren’t easy to take), we gathered our flashlights and our Bigfoot detective kits. We got magnifying glasses, bags full of plaster of Paris, water bottles and the like, and we headed off into the woods.
We took a trail around a peninsula-like piece of land and looked for footprints. With the temperature dropping and the dark of night full-on, it wasn’t easy – and neither group was able to find any. The girls were more excited about this than the boys, and neither one found anything worthy of breaking out the plaster – but it was a fun hike, nonetheless.
The next morning, after a breakfast of muffins and fruit, we headed off into the woods to play “Capture the Flag” like Lem and her new friends.
All too soon, it was time for parents to come and get their kids.
We had a great time talking about the themes of this book and enjoying the great outdoors, just like Lem and Tobin. Although we didn’t find Bigfoot, we made lots of memories.
What are your kids reading this month?
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Encouraging Hearts & Home
Book Club: “All Four Stars” by Tara Dairman
I’ve had trouble keeping up with our book club sharing, but we’ve been having loads of fun with books this year! All Four Stars was one of those books.
Meet Gladys Gatsby: New York’s toughest restaurant critic. (Just don’t tell anyone that she’s in sixth grade.)
Gladys Gatsby has been cooking gourmet dishes since the age of seven, only her fast-food-loving parents have no idea! Now she’s eleven, and after a crème brulee accident (just a small fire), Gladys is cut off from the kitchen (and her allowance). She’s devastated but soon finds just the right opportunity to pay her parents back when she’s mistakenly contacted to write a restaurant review for one of the largest newspapers in the world. But in order to meet her deadline and keep her dream job, Gladys must cook her way into the heart of her sixth-grade archenemy and sneak into New York City – all while keeping her identity a secret! Easy as pie, right?
There are so many things that I wanted to do with my book clubbers for this book! The possibilities are endless, and they’re so very fun, but …. I couldn’t decide, so this one became a multi-day event!
On the first day of our All Four Stars book club event, we headed to Durham to the India Gate, a family-owned restaurant with a lunch buffet. This seemed like a great way for our kids, none of whom had ever tasted Indian food before, to sample some of the things that made up Gladys’ best meal ever.
The people at the India Gate couldn’t have been kinder, even though we took up fully half of their tables during their busy lunch rush. If you’re in the Triangle area of North Carolina, the India Gate is definitely worth a visit.
One reason I chose the India Gate over other local Indian restaurants is that they feature Gazar al Halwa on their menu. The orange-y dish in the front is this one. Several of the book clubbers were also excited to try goat, as they’d never eaten it before, and so one family ordered goat biryani and shared it with the group.
Following our delicious lunch, we headed to a Chick Fil-A down the street – not because we were still hungry, but because we wanted a quiet place to sit and write a review, Gladys-style, of the food we had just eaten without being overheard by the India Gate staff. The kids got in groups and wrote their reviews, trying hard to use foodie phrases and colorful, descriptive words just like Gladys.
The next day we continued our Indian foodie theme. A former missionary to India came to visit us, and she was wonderful! She brought photos of her life in India, told stories about cultural differences, and even brought a sari that she wore to a wedding during her time there. She helped each female put on the main piece of the sari to get a feel for what the traditional clothing was like. It was a beautiful sari!
She also brought money from India for us to pass around and compare to our American money. She brought storybooks, snacks, and more, too. It was truly a wonderful and informative visit.
After that, we baked Gladys’ green tea cupcakes with sesame icing. I love that Dairman has some of Gladys’ recipes on her website! We really had no idea what these would taste like, but we were all pleasantly surprised. Rather than tasting strongly of a new flavor (which would have been okay, just new), they were mild, with the icing tasting like peanut butter. Several of the kids had seconds!
For our last All Four Stars project, we Skyped with Tara Dairman herself! She was very nice and told great stories. I loved hearing the kids ask about her writing journey and her world travels. (I was so focused on the conversation that I forgot to take pictures!) I’m so glad that she was willing to speak with us. Why is it so important to meet friendly authors like Dairman? Find out here.
All in all, I loved our experiences with All Four Stars. We tried new things right along with Gladys, we learned about other cultures, and we tried our hand at writing restaurant reviews. If you have a fellow foodie or are looking for a fun, foodie read, definitely check out All Four Stars.
For even more learning fun, check out these projects:
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NEW! “All Four Stars” Writing and Novel Study Packs
I love when we find a book that’s exciting to read but full of springboards for learning, too, and that’s exactly what Tara Dairman’s All Four Stars is.
It’s the wonderful story of Gladys, a young girl who dreams of writing restaurant and foodie reviews for a major New York newspaper. We read this book in our book clubs (more about that soon!) and I created a unit study and a vocabulary/writing pack with All Four Stars in mind.
Throughout the story, Gladys takes trips into New York City, where she visits landmarks and navigates the city. She also eats food from around the world and is a great writer, and all of these make great springboards to study things like the anatomy of the brain, idioms, and the architecture of Penn Station. This novel study is 45 pages of creative learning activities. Want to know more? Check it out here.
All Four Stars is smoothly and well written. It takes place entirely in New York, but it is very culturally diverse, and so there are words from a variety of languages throughout the book. There are also ethical dilemmas, dreams for the future, and quite a lot of the main character’s writing throughout the story. This pack is full of vocabulary activities and writing/discussion prompts that come directly from these story elements. Want to know more? Check it out here.
These All Four Stars packs are designed to keep your students learning from the first page of the book until the last. If your students love to read – or don’t, but you’d like them to – these studies are the perfect way to combine their learning with their reading.
Find these and other fun learning projects at my Teachers Pay Teachers store here.
10 Reasons Why Should Kids Meet Authors
Many people see the benefit of kids being good readers, or, at the very least, of reading good books while in school.
Fewer people see the benefit, it would seem, of meeting the people who write the fantastic books that we believe should be a part of our kids’ education.
Of course, in many cases that’s difficult, or even impossible. Meeting J.K. Rowling would surely be an amazing experience, but since she lives in Europe, that’s not possible for us. Meeting Melissa Savage, who’s new book Lemons we devoured as our October book club pick, would be awesome – but she lives in the Midwest somewhere – closer, but still not in our current range of possibility. My Little Man is currently reading Journey to the Center of the Earth and I know he’d love to speak with Jules Verne, but since he’s long dead – again, not possible.
But sometimes it’s more possible than you think to speak with authors. Many have active websites, where you can get background information about them and their work. Others have YouTube channels or active Facebook pages, where you can spend virtual time with the, learning about their journey. Chris Grabenstein says that kids tend to ask him the same questions, so he periodically records a video of his answers. It’s a fantastic way to gain information!
None of those are actually meeting them, though, and that might require a little bit more work – but only a little bit. Many authors go on book tours when releasing a new work. Others are willing to Skype with classes or book clubs who have read one or more of their books.
That does require work on your part. You might have to drive to a distant bookstore, wait in line for pictures or autographs, or arrange for Skype visits in advance. You might fight technology, traffic, or a busy schedule.
Why should you?
I think it’s important. I think it’s worth the time and effort we, as parents and teachers, put in to meet these amazingly creative people. I think our kids are worth that time and effort.
Why? What benefit comes from it?
Here are ten reasons why I think we should make meeting authors, either in person or virtually, a priority.
- They become real people. The authors that write our favorite books are usually people we look up to. We admire their creativity and ability to create new worlds, share wisdom, and paint pictures in our heads with mere words – and we tend to put them on pedestals. Meeting them in person or via Skype lets us see that they are real people, just like us. It helps us to view them more realistically.
- It makes dreams of writing attainable. Kids often want to pen books just like their favorite authors do, and while not all of them are meant to do that, some are. Yet we often hear about how difficult an author’s life is, how hard it can be to make a living as a writer, and those things are discouraging. The truth is that while it’s not an easy career, it is possible – and our kids need to hear stories of writers whose dreams have come true. Authors are also the perfect people to provide encouragement to future writers. Jenny L. Cote has been a huge source of inspiration and encouragement to My Big Helper. Since meeting her, Jenny’s kind words, fierce hugs, and sincere discussions of book plots, characters, and life in general have opened up new possibilities for My Big Helper’s future dreams.
- It helps to bring the stories to life. I love hearing authors talk about their books. I love that Chris Grabenstein chose Mr. Lemoncello’s name because of his close connection with his grandparents and their Greek ancestry. I love knowing that Jennifer Chambliss Bertman based part of Emily’s character on her own book nerdiness. I love hearing Jenny L. Cote’s stories of deep faith and about the adventures that writing the Epic Order of the Seven series bring her. It adds to the background of the story, and the more that background is fleshed out, the more real it feels.
- It teaches them perseverance. While Skyping with Bertman yesterday, we learned that she loves to write picture books, and she’s tried to sell 37 of them – and hasn’t had a single sale yet! How discouraging that must have been, and yet she didn’t give up. She switched genres and sold Book Scavenger very quickly – after spending 10 years writing it. She’s found success, her dream has come true, and yet it took time – and she had to stick with it. Incidentally, she’s planning to write more picture books – she’s keeping that particular dream alive.
- It teaches the value of hard work. Bertman, the New York Times-bestselling author of Book Scavenger? She didn’t just hang in there – she worked really hard, too. She rewrote Book Scavenger 8 times, and she studied the craft of mystery writing to improve her work. She didn’t just expect her dream to swoop in and land on her desk – she worked really hard to make it happen. Our kids need to learn that there is value in a job well done – in doing your best, and then working some more.
- We learn that there’s more than one way to become an author. When we Skyped with Beth Fantaskey, author of Isabel Feeney, Star Reporter, we learned that this book grew out of her research to attain her master’s degree (from Penn State – WE ARE!). I never would have imagined that as the background for this book – but she’s done a masterful job of turning women’s rights, murder, and the mayhem of Chicago in the 1920s into an exciting and yet appropriate middle grade book. Chris Grabenstein worked in advertising with James Patterson before he began writing novels. Tara Dairman’s foodie knowledge for her All Four Stars series comes, in part, from her experience during her world-traveling honeymoon. To write, we must know what we’re writing about, but that doesn’t mean that the basis for stories all come while sitting at a table with pen and paper. It’s a journey, and hearing those stories are not only exciting in and of themselves, but it helps kids to see open doors in their lives. And really, isn’t it true that there’s more than one way to become an X no matter what your dream is?
- In meeting great authors, our kids meet heroes. No, I don’t mean that authors should be put on pedestals any more than professional football players or movie stars; no human should live on a pedestal. But I do think that we can recognize greatness in each other, and we can appreciate that amidst our humanness. We can do that same thing with authors. I met Jennifer Chambliss Bertman yesterday via Skype, and I’d definitely consider her a great human – she’s creative and amazingly persistent! Chris Grabenstein is funny, kind, generous, and humble. I’ve met and Skyped with him several times now, and over time I’ve heard him reference tutoring at his church, giving books away, and the value he places on family. He doesn’t draw attention to it, but these are things that he seems to value, and they’re quietly there to find if you’re looking. I appreciate those values in him, and the way that he shares them, and I think it’s important for our kids to see that there are people out there who are famous who have great qualities.
- Meeting authors helps to learn about the life of an author. My Big Helper thinks this is important. At times, she thinks she wants to be an author when she grows up, and so learning about how publication works, the editing and revision process, the way that publishing houses work – it’s all important career information to her. Not every kid dreams of writing as a career, but, hey, we teach them about firefighters and police officers and doctors – why not writers, too?
- It can encourage kids to read more and a wider variety of books. Sometimes we’ve gone to hear an author because s/he wrote a really great book, but we don’t know too much else about him. When he gives a great presentation, that usually means that we’re all inspired to go home and find other books that he’s written and give them a read. We’ve found lots of great books that way. Also, invariably some kid asks the author what his/her favorite books are, and the answer is usually that “there are so many, but I’d have to say that X and Y and Z are way up there on the list.” That means that we end up leaving with ideas for books we want to read that were not written by that particular author, but inspired him because of the style/genre/word choice/setting/characterization/something else, and we leave with lists of other great books to read, too.
- It encourages kids to speak up and speak properly to adults. I’ve seen kids hesitate to speak to adults, but especially adults they view as important (I’m still working on this, personally – I’m completely tongue-tied every time I meet an author whose work I love: Chris Grabenstein, Jenny L. Cote, etc.) I’ve watched my kids interact with authors over time, however, and their speaking skills have improved. They’re becoming more comfortable in these situations, and, sure, we could set them up with public speaking gigs or sign them up for a debate class, but this is a lot more fun – and we get to become friends with some cool people, too.
So there you go – ten reasons why I think it’s super important to make the time and effort to meet authors. What do you think? Have you met any authors?
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