Teacher - Author Skype

At a recent district literacy conference, my fellow librarians and I presented to elementary classroom teachers. Under the leadership of my fabulous district librarian, we talked about our databases, how to use and access e-books, and ways to collaborate with their own school librarian. The experience was very rewarding, and I enjoyed connecting with these dedicated educators. I especially enjoyed working with my fellow librarians!

I presented two portions of the presentation. In one (working with a fellow librarian), I recommended some nonfiction picture books. (See previous post.) I tried to pick some titles that I knew their library already would have, while also giving a few new recommendations. 

In the second part of my presentation, I talked about using Twitter and Skype to connect readers with authors and bring the world into your library. I've used both many times to connect my library with the kidlit community, so this was not hard for me at all! 

My district librarian had the wonderful idea to Skype with an actual author DURING our presentation. And she immediately thought of one of our state's wonderful authors, Chris Barton. Chris is the author of Shark vs Train and his latest book is  The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch -- two books I highly recommend.

We were so grateful to Chris for being willing to join us that day! Although we had a bit of technical difficulty at first,  the experience was absolutely wonderful. Chris talked to teachers about his books, his research, and his process.  It was a short but very powerful experience. The teachers enjoyed listening to Christ talk about his work, and his talk couldn't have been more perfect. 

Prior to the Skype, we had brought out copies of Shark vs. Train, and even made hats. We all had to choose a side! (This was, again, my district librarian's idea and I thought it was a wonderful one!)  We surprised Chris by wearing the hats during our Skype.

We also had a wonderful discussion about who actually won: Shark OR Train.

On a side note, I mentioned to the teachers that Chris's next book (set for release on Sept. 1, 2015) is called THE NUTCRACKER COMES TO AMERICA. I am fortunate to have an early copy and I will be blogging about it soon:

Barton, C. Nutcracker comes to america: How three ballet -loving brothers created a holiday tradition. Illus. by Cathy Gendron. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press, 2015. Print. 

Check out Chris's other books here.