Something that made a book extra special for me was a virtual tour after the book was released. The author answered fan questions and shared her experience of writing the book. The fact that I had waited so long for this book and that I was getting to be on the virtual live makes the book very special to me.
Thank you for sharing this, Ava! I agree, I love learning about an author's experience writing a book too. I've really appreciated virtual events too--I've been able to listen to so many more authors talk about their books than I would have otherwise.
Back in my days as a homeschooled kid, I was part of a book club. I chose a Magic Tree House book, Summer of the Sea Serpent, and my mother got a giant square of shiny green fabric so we could pretend to be selkies. It was super fun.
Love this! Costumes and pretend play is a great extension of reading. When I was a kid, I used to love bringing a book to life in some way by doing this very thing with friends.
Oh, mo my comment was lost. As a school librarian, we had a science committee of parents and teachers with a PTA budget. We always invited an author to present as a kickoff to the Scholastic Book Fair in November. Subjects we highlighted were math and science. Inviting Twig George, Jerry Pallotta, Priscill Cummins, and Lynn Cherry was inspirational. What made them special and memorable? They shared what was important in their life when they were writing! Jerry Pallotta brought his picture book dummy and opened all the pages on the library floor. One author called her illustrator so the children could ask her questions. Twig swam with sharks, photographed jellyfish and told her husband's stories about a baby dolphin at his Baltimore Aquarium. She later wrote about all these animals, became a librarian and is keeping her naturalist mother and author of over 100 books alive! I remember these presentations and I'll bet my students and their parents do also. Alan Gratz has a fun YouTube video of his writing studio which shows all his interests! Thanks for asking!
So many great examples here! The author visits sound like wonderful, memorable experiences for everyone involved. And I love seeing writer's and illustrator's workspaces, too. I'll have to check out Alan Gratz's video! Maybe I'll make one of my own, too--but after I'm done with my revisions because it's currently a bit of a disaster zone. Thank you for sharing here, Beth.
My grandmother took me to Scituate Harbor in Massachusetts the summer after fourth grade because I read a book that took place there that year. I've loved drawing things out of books ever since, so when we decided to homeschool our kids, we started a book club for each of them. Each month during the school year we meet to talk about a book and do related activities. We've cooked, baked, gone kayaking, camping, to the ballet, to baseball games, played games, played dress up, had tea parties, held competitions, gone hiking, hunted Bigfoot, etc. We did Book Scavenger years ago, and all the kids brought books to share. They dressed up, solved puzzles, then made puzzles and hid the books in our neighborhood. They listed all of the books on your book website.
I love this! What wonderful experiences you've created through the book club. And I love that it was prompted from a meaningful experience in your own childhood. Very cool!
Hi Birdie! I know we chatted via email, but I wanted to share my response here too, in case others have the same question. Unfortunately, I had to put the game on pause for now so there aren’t books currently being hidden and found through the website. But you could reach out to your local library about starting a Book Scavenger club within your community and members could hide different books for each other! Or if there is a bookstore near you, or maybe a recreation center, they might be interested in helping you start a club too. I'm also planning to put together a downloadable kit to help people get their own club started, but haven't been able to work on that yet.
Something that made a book extra special for me was a virtual tour after the book was released. The author answered fan questions and shared her experience of writing the book. The fact that I had waited so long for this book and that I was getting to be on the virtual live makes the book very special to me.
Thank you for sharing this, Ava! I agree, I love learning about an author's experience writing a book too. I've really appreciated virtual events too--I've been able to listen to so many more authors talk about their books than I would have otherwise.
Back in my days as a homeschooled kid, I was part of a book club. I chose a Magic Tree House book, Summer of the Sea Serpent, and my mother got a giant square of shiny green fabric so we could pretend to be selkies. It was super fun.
Love this! Costumes and pretend play is a great extension of reading. When I was a kid, I used to love bringing a book to life in some way by doing this very thing with friends.
Awesome job Crestwood Intermediate!
So impressive, right? Wish I could have attended in person!
Oh, mo my comment was lost. As a school librarian, we had a science committee of parents and teachers with a PTA budget. We always invited an author to present as a kickoff to the Scholastic Book Fair in November. Subjects we highlighted were math and science. Inviting Twig George, Jerry Pallotta, Priscill Cummins, and Lynn Cherry was inspirational. What made them special and memorable? They shared what was important in their life when they were writing! Jerry Pallotta brought his picture book dummy and opened all the pages on the library floor. One author called her illustrator so the children could ask her questions. Twig swam with sharks, photographed jellyfish and told her husband's stories about a baby dolphin at his Baltimore Aquarium. She later wrote about all these animals, became a librarian and is keeping her naturalist mother and author of over 100 books alive! I remember these presentations and I'll bet my students and their parents do also. Alan Gratz has a fun YouTube video of his writing studio which shows all his interests! Thanks for asking!
So many great examples here! The author visits sound like wonderful, memorable experiences for everyone involved. And I love seeing writer's and illustrator's workspaces, too. I'll have to check out Alan Gratz's video! Maybe I'll make one of my own, too--but after I'm done with my revisions because it's currently a bit of a disaster zone. Thank you for sharing here, Beth.
My grandmother took me to Scituate Harbor in Massachusetts the summer after fourth grade because I read a book that took place there that year. I've loved drawing things out of books ever since, so when we decided to homeschool our kids, we started a book club for each of them. Each month during the school year we meet to talk about a book and do related activities. We've cooked, baked, gone kayaking, camping, to the ballet, to baseball games, played games, played dress up, had tea parties, held competitions, gone hiking, hunted Bigfoot, etc. We did Book Scavenger years ago, and all the kids brought books to share. They dressed up, solved puzzles, then made puzzles and hid the books in our neighborhood. They listed all of the books on your book website.
I love this! What wonderful experiences you've created through the book club. And I love that it was prompted from a meaningful experience in your own childhood. Very cool!
I love ur books and how do I hide a book on the website?
Hi Birdie! I know we chatted via email, but I wanted to share my response here too, in case others have the same question. Unfortunately, I had to put the game on pause for now so there aren’t books currently being hidden and found through the website. But you could reach out to your local library about starting a Book Scavenger club within your community and members could hide different books for each other! Or if there is a bookstore near you, or maybe a recreation center, they might be interested in helping you start a club too. I'm also planning to put together a downloadable kit to help people get their own club started, but haven't been able to work on that yet.