writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
Ms Slapnik of Batesburg-Leesville Middle School North Carolina had scheduled a slot with me for her students, but forces beyond her control foiled our plans. Her students were assigned unexpected mandatory testing and weren’t available. She had a list of questions from the students, so I agreed have the Q&A zoom session recorded.
Eleven of my twelve World-Read-Aloud-Day donated virtual visits were claimed by American schools, but one I gave to Melita School in Manitoba, and it came about when two grade 8 students, Chaz and Zander, were doing a project on one of my books and asked to meet with me virtually. Normally, I would have had to say no, but World Read Aloud Day was coming up, so I suggested we meet on that day, with their whole class. It was a wonderful visit with Ms Anderson and her students! Here are some pics.
WRAD is always a very nifty day. It’s like running a race, hoping that no technical barriers or complications arise at the last moment. The wonderful Kate Messner posts author availability early each New Year and educators rush in to nab their brief free virtual sessions. It’s a great way for schools who could otherwise never afford an author visit to let their students interact with a live author.
On the other side of the screen, it can be a challenge for authors. I’ve heard stories of authors being booked for a full day and then when WRAD approaches, being faced with a string of cancelations when educators opt for a “better” author — how humiliating. Also, this can leave an author with an uneven day. I’ve heard of authors generously setting aside a 12 hour span to cover a wide number of time zones, carefully planning the day with brief intervals in between, but then when the day arrives, being confronted with no shows or last minute cancellations. This leaves the author in limbo, still needing to be on the ready, but having big gaps between presentations. Not a respectful way to treat authors who’ve kindly donated their time.
One way that I get around this is to not give a slot to any educator who sends a mass message to authors or who sends a canned message to me. In order for me to volunteer my time to speak to a school the educator must demonstrate that they’re familiar with me and my work and that their students want to hear from me. Also, I book short sessions — just 15 minutes each — and book them back to back with no downtime in between. This year I booked 12 in three hours. All of my slots were filled within 48 hours of them being posted. Today I did 11 of them. One educator had unresolvable zoom problems. But I was thrilled to speak with students for three hours straight and still have the rest of the day to concentrate on writing. A win-win all around.
Here are some students from today:
On World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) I’m donating 12 back to back 15 minute readings / quick chats with 12 schools. Many thanks to Kate Messner who helps distribute a listing of authors willing to volunteer their time on WRAD so that students who might otherwise never hear an author read, get to do so! My schedule filled up within a day or so of being posted. The final slot was an add-on because two Manitoba students (Zander and Chaz) wanted to interview me, so I offered them this instead. Their whole class is joining in.
10:15-10:28: Sterling Grade School
10:30 – 10:43: Colchester Middle School
10:45-10:58am: Tucker Creek Middle School, NC
11am to 11:13am: Batesburg-Leesville Middle School NC
11:15-11:28am: 6th grade Mamaroneck UFSD
11:30 – 11:43: Seneca East Local Schools, Attica Ohio
11:45 – 11: 58: S. C. Lee Junior High ccisd.com
12-12:13: grades 5/6 Gideon Welles School, Glastonbury, CT
12:15 – 12:28: 6th grade, Polly Ryon Middle School in Rosenberg, Texas
12:30 (9:30 pacific) – 12:43: 8th grade, Paakuma’ San Bernardino City, California
12:45 (9:45 pacific) – 12:58: Orland California, CK Price MS
1pm – 1:15: 8th grade, Melita School, Manitoba
Eleven schools on WRAD23. The 2 in Texas were snowed out (stay safe and warm my friends) and one school was late, but by luck that coincided with a snowed out school, so all good. In addition to Winterkill I talked about Sylvia McNicoll’s What the Dog Knows and Adrian Lysenko’ s Five Stalks of Grain, and then showed the best nonfiction written about the Holodomor, Anne Applebalm’s Red Famine.
Educator feedback:
“Thank you for reading aloud to my fifth and sixth graders today. It was fabulous. We now have a waiting list for Making Bombs for Hitler and for Winterkill.“
“Thank you so much for Zooming with us this morning. The excerpt you read was powerful and I anticipate Winterkill being checked out for the foreseeable future! Thank you for shining a light on this lesser known piece of history.”
“We enjoyed hearing you read from Winterkill and learning so much about your writing process.”
Thanks again for visiting with us! Every single one of your books that I have are checked out to students now! Success!
It was a fun couple of days presenting to all of the 5th grade students from Riverside Elementary in Evans GA over the course of two sessions, and then catching up with two schools who had been scheduled for quick drop-ins for World Read-Aloud Day but who got ice-stormed out.
It was a small but mighty group in St. Louis MO made up of avid readers who asked GREAT questions. Their teacher emailed later to let me know that one of her students left the meeting completely in AWE and said “my year has been made!” Isn’t that the kind of feedback that melts an author’s heart?
During one of the sessions with Riverside, a student who is writing a big fat fantasy novel with a friend came up to the screen and we had a GREAT discussion about what to do when you write yourself into a corner. At St. Pat’s in MI, we had a great conversation about how those things that challenge us also become our gifts.
I miss seeing readers in person, so it’s great to meet with kids through the ether this way.
It was a fun day celebrating World Read Aloud Day with seven schools and multiple classes within those schools. Many thanks to librarians and educators who scrambled amidst family emergencies, covid quarantines, and snow storms to still make the sessions happen. Mostly, I read the opening pages of my newest novel, Traitors Among Us, but Sara Lema of Allendale Michigan asked if I could read Chapter 16, The Blue Room, because she had been reading the book aloud to her class and that’s where they were! It was such fun for me to read in the middle of my book like that!Here’s a pic from Knowlton School in NJ and Weiner Elementary in AZ.
In honor of World Read Aloud Day, a reading!