On Friday the six authors and illustrators participating in ‘March Into Reading’ split up and visited eighteen area schools. This feat required amazing coordination, and the librarians in charge of this incredible event pulled it off without a hitch. Many thanks to Jennifer Long, escort extraordinaire, who made sure I was where I needed to be at every moment. And more thanks to the organizations who sponsored this wonderful event; Newport’s youngest citizens are an intelligent and inquisitive bunch and I *know* these visits were meaningful for them.
Photo by Jennifer Long
My day started at Underwood School, where Jennifer is the librarian. Her third-through fifth graders were a keen bunch, very attentive and full of questions at the end of the morning. I was pleased to see all those arms waving in the air, and even more pleased to hear from Jennifer that some of her shyest students had found something to say. Hooray for Underwood School!
My next visit was to Coggeshall School, where I spoke to one class of third-graders and two classes each of fourth and fifth-graders. We didn’t have as much time for Q&A after the presentation, but groups of students hovered as I took down my equipment and we talked about trash and oceans and trying to live without plastic. Before leaving, I was invited into a fifth-grade classroom and asked to autograph book cards. This sort of thing still thrills me; one kid told me he was putting my autograph with his prized possession: the autograph of Slash. (You know Slash, don’t you? Guitarist. Guns N’ Roses. Wow!)
The final visit of the day was after lunch (more on lunch tomorrow) at Cranston-Calvert School. I have to tell you that visiting a large group of elementary students after lunch on a Friday afternoon is a daunting idea. But the kids at Cranston-Calvert were awesome. They were so attentive during my talk that I worried I had put them to sleep … but when the Q&A session went on for twenty minutes, finally put to a stop by a teacher who worried the kids would miss busses home, I let go of these fears. Thank you Cranston-Calvert!