How you can move to the head of the class: Tips for KidLit School Visits – Part 2

Feeling the excitement yet?  A bit more confident?  You can do it! 

In this second of a four-part series about author visits in schools, writers and teachers share their top tips for acing YOUR classroom experience.

Tips for Kid Lit Author School Visits:
Kid Lit Pros Share Their Secrets 

PART 1:   The A to Zs of Classroom Visits
PART 2:  Kid Lit Pros Share Their Secrets
PART 3:   Five Tips for Taking Better Photos of Kids in the Classroom
PART 4:   School Visit Giveaways on a Shoestring 

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Lise Chase's Wally & Warren tote and stuffies

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Lise Chase
Author, Illustrator
The Adventures of Wally and Warren Series
Website | Pinterest

I take a tote bag to the classroom that is screen-printed on the front with Wally and Warren’s emblem. It looks professional and has lots of pockets, so everything I need is handy!

I also produced Wally and Warren plush toys to match characters from The Adventures of Wally and Warren Series to make the book come alive for children.

Nancy Kunhardt Lodge
Artist, Author of The Crystal Navigator Series
Website

• Googles "author visits" on YouTube to watch and learn from established writers, like Kate Dicamillo and Emily Gravett, as they interact with children
• Gets amazing feedback by passing around a tablet for kids to add comments or ask questions
•  Posts kids' feedback and letters on social media sites

Kentrell Williams engages kids by teaching American Sign Language from his book series

Kentrell Martin
Author, Shelly’s Adventure Series
Website

• Sends pre-order forms with book information and prices to the school in advance (at least a week early)
• Finds out who the media specialist or librarian is before calling, because s/he is typically the one who makes the visits happen
  

Karen Emma Hall
Illustrator, Author, founder of the online Kid Literature Community
Twitter | Facebook

• Uses Welcoming Posters
  Bring welcoming posters and engage children in groups, where they make their own poster for the book or book character. This gets them to bond with the character more and endears them to the book, so it becomes more familiar with your story

• Includes Dress Up and Role Play
  Dress up in a character role or bring dressing up for children to recreate a character from the book. Role play in this way, where they act out the role like a part in a play, familiarizes them with your book. Role play is also an active, social activity and a key component in play learning.  Children reflect on and develop their knowledge of a subject.  Perfect for prompting discussions and making learning so much fun.
  

Carmela Dutra
Illustrator, Photographer, and Author of Lorenzo the Bear Series
Website | Twitter

• Meets with teachers to customize the visit and learn what works best for each class

• Uses activities to encourage creativity, like coloring pages with a partly completed story, to encourage students to use their imagination and creativity to complete the story

• Checks with schools about  policies for photographing children: 

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Click up your camera skills with Carmela's tips for taking classroom photos -- see part 3 this blog series.

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Tracey M. Cox Author
Author, Picture Book Reviewer
Website | Blog Series, School Visit

• Is authentic 
  Children can see straight through someone being fake.  Be honest and sincere with them and you will both walk away a winner

• Has something to offer
  Be it with presentations or freebies, have something for everyone, like coloring pages, bookmarks, flyers with author pictures and information. Plus, be flexible with your presentation.  It doesn’t always go as planned. So have a back up even for your back up.

• Smiles!

Tracey M.Cox sets up for a school visit.

Rhonda Paglia
Former Teacher, KidLit Non-fiction and Picture Book Author
Email | Website 

• Holds a book signing
  Book signing is really important!  Kids LOVE to have their books signed by a REAL author! Meeting a REAL LIVE author is a big deal in the life of a kid and encourages kids to read even more - especially if the author is one they love!!
  
  Make sure you have plenty of books and schedule one-on-one time with your readers to sign and personalize your books. Your reader audience, the kids, will never forget you, and your visit will be one of those school highlights they will always remember.

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2.    Educators' Advice to Authors

Jill Cofsky
First-grade Teacher, Professional Voice Actor
Website | Twitter | Facebook

• Provide copies of your book
  Get your book into the hands of as many classroom teachers, literacy teachers, and/or librarians as you can before your visit.  Get the school staff excited, so they can talk it up with students.  Have printable teacher resources on your website or have them sent to the school to be shared. 
  
  If the school allows, send out an order form in advance, so you can take orders and have autographed copies to hand out on the day of your visit. Also have additional forms ready to send home after your visit ... for others who realized how much they would love a copy of your book, too! 

• Keep them engaged.   Keep them excited.  Leave them longing for another visit from one of their new favorite children's book authors!
  Consider the age of your audience and plan interactive activities to keep students involved and excited. You might choose students to come up to the front with you and act out parts of your story. You might hand out paper and pencils to the students and have your illustrator give them a step-by-step tutorial on how to draw your main character.
  
  Maybe you could teach students that catchy, repetitive phrase from your story that they can chant every time it appears in your book as you are reading it. They'll keep chanting it for weeks.

Former teacher and Kid Lit author Rhonda Paglia reads to children

Rhonda Paglia 
Former Teacher, Author of KidLit Non-fiction and Picture Books 
Email | Website

• Help teachers prepare for your visit ahead of time 
  Children need to know about your works ahead of time. Teachers can read your story to their students, or older students should read the stories themselves before you visit.
  
  Ask teachers to have students write questions to ask you during at the interview/assembly:
  * How did you come up with the idea for this book?
  * Where do you get your characters?
  * What’s the backstory for this book?  
  * How do you feel when you finish a book?
  

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Feeling better about your foray into schools and libraries? 

Part Three in this four-part series on school visits is up next with more tips to boost your skills and zip you to the head of the class. 

Tips for Kid Lit Author School Visits:
PART 3:
Five Tips for Taking Better Photos of Kids in the Classroom

Professional photographer and children’s author, illustrator Carmela Dutra offers five tips to click up your skills and snap professional-looking photos of kids at school.

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How do these school visit tips work for you?
What additional suggestions  can you offer?
Join the conversation in the comment section.

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