Authors who visit awesome schools!

I have had the good fortune to visit many hundreds of schools over the last years. Being able to meet so many of my readers is one of the best things about being an author.

This past Wednesday’s visit to Ramer Wood Public School was awesome. The night before the visit, teacher-librarian extraordinaire Deborah Jestin, emailed me detailed driving directions to her school, and she gave me emergency contact phone numbers.

As soon as I pulled up, I knew exactly which door to enter because it was decorated with a giant door-sized welcome sign. When I got in, there was big display about my books outside of the library, and a banner above the speaker’s pit inside the library.

Deb invited a local journalist who took photos and sat in on my talks, and everything that I had asked for — a table, chair, globe and bottle of water — was in place.

Deb also borrowed a bunch of my books from the Markham Public Library so I could autograph them. What a great idea! She also gathered up as many books of mine as she could from her own school, and I signed those as well.

When the students filed in for the first session, I was immediately impressed because their teacher and Deb had obviously familiarized them with my writing and also my biography. The students were attentive and enthusiastic and their questions were well thought out. The teachers sat in on the talks and they listened as attentively as their students. That in itself is such great patterning!

After the last session, Deb asked me to sit in the audience. I did, and a group of students gathered in the presentation pit. They each had a letter from my name and they arranged themselves to spell it out. And then they each read what their letter stood for. It was lovely!

Deb had forgotten to bring in the invoice I had emailed the night before, and I hadn’t brought a paper copy of it, but this wasn’t enough to stop her from paying me before I left. We tallied it up anew and she had the office cut the cheque.

It’s the small attentive details that all add up to a wonderful visit. And the people who benefit the most are the students themselves. Thank you, Deborah!

Author: Marsha

I write historical fiction, mostly from the perspective of young people who are thrust in the midst of war. View all posts by Marsha