Author Visit, Sunrise Drive Elementary School, Tucson, AZ

Sunrise Elementary School, Tucson, Arizona

A week ago I had an excellent author visit at Sunrise Drive Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona. I spoke to four groups of children from kindergarten through fifth grade and was pleased with the enthusiastic response to my presentation and the good questions at the end. At my last presentation of the day the students shared some wonderful art created after reading the books in my Day and Night series. 

Collared Lizard, from A Day and Night in the Desert

During one of my breaks I had a chance to tour the school and visit the huge school garden–perfect for Wiggle and Waggle!-- and to see some of the permanent art work decorating the walls of the building. Each graduating fifth grade class creates a legacy work as a permanent record of their years at the school. One of my favorites was a mural made of ceramic tiles depicting birds of the desert. During my program I measured the wingspans of the students as I always do, and, as always, everyone is amazed that it takes two students to be the wingspan of a bald eagle or two and a half to be a California condor. One place to see condors in the wild is in Arizona, in the Grand Canyon, where they have been introduced and have been successfully reproducing.

Ceramic Mural, Birds of the Desert

I thank Monica del Rincon for arranging my visit to Sunrise and Principal Andrea Davidson for introducing me at each of my programs and spending the day with me. And I especially thank the FFO of Sunrise for sponsoring my visit. I also thank the author visit coordinator of the Tucson Festival of Books, Cheryl Schrader-Gerken, for helping me make my connection with Sunrise. It was a very successful day!