ShortHand Publishing - The Senior Publisher -Alexis Park Author Visit

ALEXIS PARK ELEMENTARY

AUTHOR VISIT

OCTOBER 3/03

Well, what a way to end a week. This was going to be our last early morning author visit. We arrived at the school with time to spare for setting up. We also arrived just in time to hear the last bit of the morning announcements over the PA system.

We would be looking for Mrs. Maguire, the librarian. As we entered the office it was her voice we heard on the PA system, telling a joke. I’m not sure if any of the children in their classrooms were laughing as hard as she was. When the other lady standing in the office said, “She laughs at her own jokes.” I thought to myself, “Ah good, I like someone with a sense of honored.”

This was just the beginning of a wonderful visit. We were shown to the library and left to set up our display. It was a busy morning at the school, what with their book fair on. But everybody was organized and knew what they were doing.

Mom came back with several girls from Grade six or seven who were carrying the rocking chair for her. We’re getting to be old pros at setting up, it took us no time at all and we were ready for the first group.

We were honored to have Michelle Smyth bring in her kindergarten class and LaDawn Petrone with her grade one and two class. After these first two classes were brought in, I was given the go ahead to start my presentation. The third graders were led in quietly by Sandi Sasges just as I was finishing up. We quickly gave them an overview of what they had missed and then it was time to hear The Rocking Chair Rescue.

Mrs. Maguire said she would be honored to sit in the rocking chair as she read. We’ve heard many teachers/librarians read the story, but today I was in tears. Everyone that has read the story has read it with such inflection that I marvel at what a great story it is. I don’t mean that as bragging, but as many times as I’ve read it I know the story backwards and forwards. I have wondered, “Is this really a good story?”

If there was ever any doubt, it was erased today. Mrs. Maguire read the story in such a way that neither Mom nor I could help but laugh. In fact, I laughed so hard, I cried. It was a little embarrassing having to reach for a tissue to wipe my eyes. After the story was over I asked Mrs. Maguire if she’d come home with me and read to me. When she said she would, I think she was only kidding. I won’t soon forget today’s reading.

At a couple of places in the story she paused and said to the children, “Now, if you were in your classroom your teacher would be talking to you about this.” One of these places was, when Davey and Kathy were leaving the yard and Kathy said that they couldn’t just take the rocking chair because it would be stealing.

Throughout the entire series of The Adventures of Davey & Kathy it is my goal to share a lesson learned in each episode. However, I didn’t plan on one of those lessons being whether or not the children stole the rocking chair because of where it was. As my Mom says, “You learn something new every day.” I suppose that’s what makes each day interesting.

Our whole “publishing” experience has been a learning process. Between the two sessions Sharon, a Certified Educational Assistant, CEA for short, came to speak with me. She had a few questions about the publishing process. It’s always nice to be able to share a bit of what we’ve learned and hopefully save someone else our mistakes. As it turned out, we found that we had things in common other than writing. I look forward to seeing you again Sharon.

Soon the next group started to file in. In this session we had teachers, Darlene Loland with her grade two class and Cindy Favali with her grade three and four class.

Mrs. Maguire gave such a great introduction for me that there was really nothing left for me to say, so we got right to the story. Mom and I kind of looked at each other and wondered, “Are we ready for another round?” Answer?

“You bettchya.”

After Mrs. Maguire gave another wonderful reading, it was time for the questions, my favorite part. One interesting question was, “Which did you do first, rescue the rocking chair or write the story?”

After explaining how many years there had been between rescuing the chair and the writing of the story we moved on to more questions. Many of the questions were ones we had heard before, the one I hadn’t heard before came after the session had ended.

A young man came up to me while he was waiting in line to follow his class out of the room, he asked me, “Are you going to remember where the chair goes when you get home?” I assured him I would remember.

Before I knew it I was getting the signal that our time had run out. These sessions are just too short!

I would like to thank Alexis Park Elementary School for their very generous support. I would also like to give a special thank you to Mrs. Maguire, all the teachers and of course the wonderful students, you are all special to us. You will never know how much we enjoy these visits.

So until we see you again, be well. J