The school visit thread...

I've never done a school visit as an author, but as a teacher I've seen quite a few. The most successful ones had things for kids to do and talk about -- at elementary level kids got to make bookmarks, etc., sing songs, play a game.

At a higher level, I saw one bomb once when the author expected that the kids would ask him questions about his book, writing, etc. They didn't, because many hadn't read the book, and at the high school level were reluctant to chance asking questions. I saw the reverse happen where an author asked the *kids* about writing, reading, and got them engaged in a lively conversation about story telling (he asked them to share the stories they heard from family members -- which Uncle tells the same story every Christmas, etc.). He also dressed up (he was retelling Native African Folklore) and performed the stories, having the kids provide sound effects. They felt goofy about it for a while, but he laughed it off with them, got them engaged, and by the end they were having a ball.

In my opinion, the best ones I've seen were about the length of a class, and the author hooked the students with an opportunity for them to express themselves or participate in some way. The "promotional" aspect was cleverly hidden behind the author engaging the students in literature and storytelling.

There's an article on school visits in the new issue of Kid Magazine Writers eMagazine at http://www.kidmagwriters.com in the "Consider This" section. There are links to the websites of three authors who do school visits (and began doing them even before getting a book published). They tell a lot about what happens at their visits and things they've learned.

gran