Author Skypes Are Awesome!

My students talk about authors a lot. They know their names just as much as they know the books. Rick Riordan, C.A. London, Katherine Applegate, Jenni Holm, Sharon Creech, and Barbara O'Connor (among many others) are mentioned and discussed in my classroom as if they were classmates or citizens in the same town. In discussions, students will often make comparisons between writers and their styles.

It makes me glad to know they feel so familiar with authors. To me it is a sign that they connect with the authors' stories. I know my students feel like these authors understand them. These writers speak to them in ways other media cannot. They know how to make them laugh. They know what they fear. They know what they enjoy. They know what they care about. They know that how hard it is to be a kid, and they know how to reach them.

That's why author visits or Skype calls are such BIG events in my classroom. These authors that write books for them are IMPORTANT, and because they help my students become readers, they are important to me, and I am forever in their debt.

So you can see why our latest Skype call with author Christopher Healy meant so much to us. He wrote THE HERO'S GUIDE TO SAVING YOUR KINGDOM,  our current read-aloud. It's a hilarious and adventurous tale of four princes who are all trying to make their mark in their kingdoms. It's fast-paced, funny, and filled with great stories.

During the Skype, my students greeted Mr. Healy and thanked him for the visit.
"We love to Skype with authors!" said our class greeter.

Then my students asked questions, and Mr. Healy answered them all with the same voice and wit he uses in his books. He told them how he'd been a writer since he was 7 years old, and he told them how he gets his writing ideas. He kindly shared his story of perseverance in being published, and how he was encouraged to persist. He had their complete attention, and classes walking by wanted to know what we were doing. (A few students stopped to listen.)

It meant a lot to my students that an author would take time out of his day to share with them. But it meant so much more to their teacher (me). When my young readers become connected to authors, they see themselves as readers. The great experiences they have with these books will become the memories they turn to as adults--similar to how I see Laura Ingalls Wilder and Judy Blume as such an integral part of my childhood. These interactions with books, authors, and fellow readers become the strong bridges to someone else's reading life. I think Judy Blume had a lot to do with why my students are avid readers today. In fact, I'm sure of it. (On a side note: I cannot eve fathom how ECSTATIC I would have been to have met Judy Blume as a kid. I've since met her-- last year--and THAT was extremely awesome.))

I know I owe these authors a debt that I can truly never repay. All I can do is thank them and share their books with everyone I meet. I can only hope that is enough.