Author Visit in Red Bluff, CA, at the Historic State Theater

Inside the State Theater, Red Bluff, CA

Last week I spoke to four large groups of children in Tehama County as part of an author visit sponsored by the Tehama County Department of Education and the Tehama County Reading Council.  For the event, children came from schools all across Tehama County to the historic State Theater in downtown Red Bluff.  Built in 1942 in an art-deco style, the theater has recently been restored and is used as a community resource. Each morning of the two day visit more than 600 kindergarten through third graders came to the theater, and in the afternoon I had two groups of 400 plus fourth through eighth graders.  It was a new experience for me to be on stage facing such large audiences.  But the students were an enthusiastic and appreciative audience and the large slides on the screen at the back of the stage guaranteed that everyone could see my visuals.  And at the end of the second afternoon, students and their families came for the Writing Celebration where students who had entered a writing contest received their awards.  I gave a short talk to the students and parents promoting the importance of reading and writing.

State Theater, Red Bluff, CA

I had never been to this part of California, so I enjoyed the chance to visit. Red Bluff is at the north end of the San Joaquin Valley, about 100 miles from Sacramento.  From the main street of this charming Victorian town I could see across the Sacramento River to the snow capped top of Mount Lassen to the west.  And one afternoon, I drove north 30 miles to Redding to see the famous Sundial bridge and to take a walk along the river. 

Sundial Bridge, Redding, CA

I thank Nancy Veatch, the ESS/ELA Coordinator for the Tehama County Office of Education and her staff  for inviting me to Red Bluff and for coordinating all the activities of my visit.  I also thank Karla Stroman, President of the Reading Council for all her help and Estelle for her help in selling books and getting them ready for autographing. And I really appreciated the tech support at the theater for all their help. I enjoyed my visit very much and was pleased with the good response I got from all the students and teachers and parents that I met.