AUTHOR VISIT AT JEFFERSON SCHOOL, Glendale, CA

Thomas Jefferson Elementary, an award winning school, Glendale, CA.

On Monday, Nov 18th, I had a good day at Jefferson Elementary School in Glendale, California. The day was sponsored by the Glendale Assistance League, who not only brought in the authors for the day and gave each teacher a copy of one of our books, but also gave a generous check to the school for the purchase of books for the library. I was one of six authors visiting classrooms--Larissa Theule, Tao Nyeu, Benson Shum, Joe Cepeda and Tracy Holczer were the others. I gave presentations to first and second grade students.

I was pleased by the good response to my presentation by the students and teachers. They especially liked my new book My Friend From Outer Space, enthusiastically helping to count down from 10 before shouting, BLAST OFF!

Special thanks go to Linelle Vicenti and Kathy Blyth for coordinating everything and making sure the day ran smoothly! I also thank all the Glendale Assistance League volunteers who helped--introducing me in the classrooms, helping out with the book signing, and bringing the delicious snacks and lunch. Many thanks to the Glendale Assistance League for another successful Authors and Illustrators Day! 

Entrance to Jefferson School on Authors and Illustrators Day, with the Assistance League banner.

 

AUTHOR VISIT AT COLUMBUS SCHOOL, Glendale, CA

Signing books at Columbus School, Glendale, CA

On Tuesday, May 28th, I had a good day at Columbus Elementary School in Glendale, California. The day was sponsored by the Glendale Assistance League, who not only brought in the authors for the day and gave each teacher a copy of one of our books, but also gave a generous check to the school for the purchase of books for the library. I was one of four authors--Larissa Theule, Oliver Chin and Leslie Margolis were the others. We visited classrooms (I gave presentations to the TK and Kindergarten students) and signed books at the after-school book sale in the auditorium.

I was pleased by the enthusiastic response to my presentation by the students and teachers. They especially liked my new book My Friend From Outer Space. At the end of my last session, the boy in the front row, who had been paying attention to every word I said, pronounced that when he grew up, he wanted to be an author too.

Special thanks go to Linelle Vicenti for coordinating everything and making sure the day ran smoothly! I also thank all the Glendale Assistance League volunteers who introduced me, helped out at the book sale, and brought the delicious snacks and lunch. Many thanks to the Glendale Assistance League for another successful Authors and Illustrators Day! 

Columbus School, Glendale, CA. The eagle is the school mascot.

AUTHOR VISIT at MOUNTAIN AVENUE SCHOOL, Glendale, CA

Mountain Avenue School, Glendale, California

On Tuesday, October 17th, I had a wonderful day at Mountain Avenue school in Glendale, California. The day was sponsored by the Glendale Assistance League, who not only brought in the authors for the day and gave each teacher a copy of one of our books, but also gave a generous check to the school for the purchase of books for the library. I was one of four authors--Frans Vischer, Larissa Theule, and Tracy Holczer. We visited classrooms (I gave presentations to the first and second graders) and signed books at the after-school book sale in the auditorium.

It was so nice to be back in the classroom in person (after several years on Zoom), and I was pleased by the enthusiastic response to my presentation by the students and teachers. They especially liked my new book My Friend From Outer Space. Several of the classrooms had already planted seeds in the school garden--inspired in part by my book Planting a Garden in Room 6.

School garden, with planting boxes covered with screens to keep out pests.

Special thanks go to Linelle Vicenti for coordinating everything and making sure the day ran smoothly! I also thank Kathy Blyth and all the Glendale Assistance League volunteers who introduced me, helped out at the book sale, and brought the delicious snacks and lunch. Many thanks to the Glendale Assistance League for another successful Authors and Illustrators Day!.

ZOOM AUTHOR VISIT AT LINCOLN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, GLENDALE, CA

Zoom presentation to the Lincoln Lions, Glendale, CA

On Monday, March 27, 2023, I had an excellent Zoom author visit at Lincoln Elementary School in Glendale, California. The school mascot is the lion. The visit was part of the Authors and Illustrators in the Schools program sponsored and organized by the Glendale Assistance League. I especially thank Linelle Vincenti and Kathy Blyth for all their support and making sure that everything ran smoothly. I was one of four authors visiting classrooms at Lincoln School. I met with four groups of first and second graders, each class for about thirty minutes, sharing my books and my life as an author and answering questions from the students. I enjoyed it immensely. And I could tell that the teachers and kids enjoyed it too.

We talked about birds and I shared my collection of eggs—from tiny zebra finch eggs to my giant ostrich egg and related them to the story in my book HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6. We also discussed feathers and bird flight, measuring wingspans from a hummingbird to a bald eagle.

Ostrich egg.

Another theme of my presentation was gardens–featuring my recent book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad, as well as my fiction book WIGGLE AND WAGGLE (reading the first story and singing the gardening song with my Wiggle and Waggle sock puppets), and sharing my miniature model garden inspired by Mr. McGregor’s garden in PETER RABBIT by Beatrix Potter. I was pleased to discover that each class had been given a copy of PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 by the Glendale Assistance League.

I also talked about how authors get ideas for books, sharing that the inspiration for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT came out of a visit to Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. And I showed how I create the cut-paper illustrations for my books, using A ZEBRA’S WORLD as an example. We packed a lot into the thirty-plus minutes of each presentation. Altogether it was a fun and successful day. 

VIRTUAL AUTHOR VISIT AT R.D. WHITE SCHOOL, Glendale, CA

 

Authors and Illustrators Day at R.D. White School, Glendale, CA, sponsored by the Glendale Assistance League

On November 4, 2022, I had an excellent Zoom author visit at R.D. White Elementary School in Glendale, California, as part of the Authors and Illustrators in the Schools program sponsored and organized by the Glendale Assistance League. I especially thank Linelle Vincenti and Kathy Blyth for all their support and making sure that everything ran smoothly. I was one of six authors at R.D. White on Friday. I met with four groups of first and second graders, each class for about forty minutes, sharing my books and my life as an author and answering questions from the students. I enjoyed it immensely. And I could tell that the teachers and kids enjoyed it too.

Zoom visit with two classrooms at R.D. White School

The theme of my presentation was gardens–featuring my new book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad, as well as my fiction book WIGGLE AND WAGGLE (reading the first story and singing the gardening song with my Wiggle and Waggle sock puppets), and sharing my miniature garden inspired by Mr. McGregor’s garden in PETER RABBIT by Beatrix Potter. 

In my home office.

I also talked about how authors get ideas for books, sharing that the inspiration for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT came out of a visit to Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. And I showed how I create the cut-paper illustrations for my books, using A ZEBRA’S WORLD as an example.

 

VIRTUAL AUTHOR VISIT AT FRANKLIN MAGNET SCHOOL, Glendale, CA

On Tuesday, May 31, 2022, I had an excellent author visit at Franklin Magnet School in Glendale, California, as part of the Authors and Illustrators in the Schools program sponsored and organized by the Glendale Assistance League. I especially thank Linelle Vincenti and Kathy Blyth for all their support and making sure that everything ran smoothly. I was one of five authors at the school. I met with four groups of first graders, each class for about thirty minutes, sharing my books and my life as an author and answering questions from the students.

Franklin is a language immersion school with students learning Spanish, French, German and Italian. I managed to begin each presentation by greeting the students with Buenos Dias, Bonjour, Guten Tag or Buono Giorno, but otherwise gave my presentation in English. In the Spanish immersion class I shared two of my books that have been translated into Spanish, A Zebra’s World (El Munde de las Cebras )and Your Skeletal System (El Sistema Oseo.)

In the German class I shared several of the many books available on Amazon as Kindle books in German, including Giant Shark (Megahai). 

In the French class I showed a translation of A Platypus’ World (Le Monde de l'ornithorynque) that had been made for me on a visit to Ecole Bilingue in Berkeley when my granddaughter was a student there. Unfortunately, none of my books have been translated into Italian.

I talked about gardens–featuring my new book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad, as well as my fiction book WIGGLE AND WAGGLE (reading the first story and singing the gardening song with my Wiggle and Waggle sock puppets), and sharing my miniature garden inspired by Mr. McGregor’s garden in PETER RABBIT by Beatrix Potter.

The mascot of Franklin School is the owl, and that prompted a discussion of my books about birds, including A BALD EAGLE’S WORLD, HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6 and A Day and Night in the Forest (which has an owl on the cover.) I also showed the children my collection of feathers and my ostrich egg. 

Altogether, it was a full and satisfying day!
 

VIRTUAL AUTHOR VISIT AT VALLEY VIEW SCHOOL, Glendale, CA

Zoom author visit at Valley View School, Glendale, CA, with Ms. Jenks, her umbrella cockatoo, and her second grade students.

On February 28, 2022, I had an excellent author visit at Valley View Elementary School in Glendale, California, as part of the Authors and Illustrators in the Schools program sponsored and organized by the Glendale Assistance League. I especially thank Linelle Vincenti and Kathy Blyth for all their support and making sure that everything ran smoothly. I was one of four authors at Valley View on Monday. I met with four groups of first and second graders, each class for about forty minutes, sharing my books and my life as an author and answering questions from the students. I enjoyed it immensely. And I could tell that the teachers and kids enjoyed it too. One teacher wrote me at the end of the day: “Thank you so much for sharing! You were wonderful. The kids talked about you all day!”

The theme of my presentation was gardens–featuring my new book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad, as well as my fiction book WIGGLE AND WAGGLE (reading the first story and singing the gardening song with my Wiggle and Waggle sock puppets), and sharing my miniature garden inspired by Mr. McGregor’s garden in PETER RABBIT by Beatrix Potter. 

The mascot of Valley View School is the Bald Eagle, and that prompted a discussion of my books about birds (including A BALD EAGLE’S WORLD and HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6) and showing the children my collection of feathers and my ostrich egg. As a special treat, one of the teachers, who was Zooming from home, showed us her beautiful Umbrella Cockatoo, who erected her handsome crest and demonstrated how she can talk.
I also shared my illustration process, showing them how I do my cut-paper art for my book A ZEBRA’S WORLD.
Altogether, it was a full and satisfying day!
.

THANK YOU CARDS from CERRITOS SCHOOL

In response to my virtual author visit on November 17 at Cerritos Elementary School in Glendale, California, I recently received thank you notes from each classroom that I visited. I am so pleased to discover how teachers and students have adapted to using a virtual format and interested to see how each class did their thank you notes in a different way. Some created their cards on screen, while other students drew pictures on paper and then took a screen shot to record it. Other students wrote a class letter. I loved finding out which parts of my presentation the students liked the most.
Many, many thanks again to the ALG for providing this experience for both authors and students. And many, many thanks to the teachers who do such a great job helping their students learn, and to Principal Perla Chavez Fritz for all her support.

Read a report of the visit here: https://carolinearnoldart.blogspot.com/2020/11/zoom-author-visit-at-cerritos-school.html
 

Glendale Assistance League Author Visit at Balboa Elementary, Glendale, CA

Six authors visiting Balboa Elementary School, Glendale, CA

Last Wednesday I was one of six authors visiting classrooms at Balboa Elementary School in Glendale, California. The day was sponsored and organized by the wonderful hard working volunteers of the Glendale Assistance League, a service organization that arranges four such events in the Glendale schools every year. My fellow authors at Balboa were Carter Higgins, Tim Egan, Alexis O’Neill, Oliver Chin, and Julie Berry, each of us assigned to a different grade.

I spoke to students in kindergarten, going to four classrooms during the day. During my visit with the children we talked about what authors and illustrators do and how I get my ideas. I asked the children in each class to tell me their favorite animals and I got a wide variety of answers ranging from spiders and crocodiles to lions and gorillas. I shared Hatching Chicks in Room 6 and we also talked about other kinds of birds. I showed them my feather collection and I measured their wingspans. I also read part of my book Wiggle and Waggle and we all sang the Wiggle and Waggle song together. At the end of the day I joined all of the authors in the auditorium for the book sale and signing. It was a most enjoyable day!

With my author sign at the after school book signing

I thank all the members of the Glendale Assistance League that make this program possible for the children of Glendale. I especially thank Linelle Vincenti for organizing the schedule of the day, all the volunteers who guided us around the school, helped with the book sale, and provided a delicious lunch, as well as our special student council representatives who took us to our classrooms. I also thank Maureen Palacios of Once Upon a Time bookstore in Glendale, for providing the books for the book sale.
I do many author days, but usually speak to large groups of children. It was a treat to be in the classroom with smaller groups and have the opportunity for a more personal interaction with the children. Thank you Glendale Assistance League for a wonderful Authors and Illustrators Day.

Balboa Elementary School, Glendale, CA

Glendale Assistance League Author Visit at Keppel Elementary, Glendale, CA

Keppel Elementary School, Glendale, CA

Last Friday I was one of six authors visiting classrooms at Keppel Elementary School in Glendale, California. The day was sponsored and organized by the wonderful hard working volunteers of the Glendale Assistance League, a service organization that arranges four such events in the Glendale schools every year. My fellow authors at Keppel were Carter Higgins, Tim Egan, Alexis O’Neill, Joe Cepeda, and Julie Berry, each of us assigned to a different grades.
I spoke to students in kindergarten and first grade, going to four classrooms during the day. The week before our visit, the librarian had read my book Hatching Chicks in Room 6 to the classes I visited. During my visit the children were eager to share with me what they had learned and to ask questions. We also talked about other kinds of birds and I measured their wingspans. I also read part of my book Wiggle and Waggle and we all sang the Wiggle and Waggle song together. I also shared my book A Day and Night in the Desert and demonstrated how I create my cut paper art illustrations. At the end of the day I joined all of the authors in the cafeteria for the book sale and signing. It was a most enjoyable day!
I thank all the members of the Glendale Assistance League that make this program possible for the children of Glendale. I especially thank Karen Saunders for inviting me to be part of the visit to Keppel, to Linelle Vincenti for organizing the schedule of the day, to Margery, my partner for the day and who guided me around the school, to Debby Dow, the school librarian for her help, and to Maureen Palacios of Once Upon a Time bookstore in Glendale, for providing the books for the book sale.
I do many author days, but usually speak to large groups of children. It was a treat to be in the classroom with smaller groups and have the opportunity for a more personal interaction with the children. Thank you Glendale Assistance League for a wonderful Authors and Illustrators Day.

My books available for purchase and autographing