Book of Thanks

What a wonderful surprise I received in the mail yesterday. A bound book of letters of appreciation from some of the students of Graebner Elementary here in San Antonio. It was my pleasure to do a school visit there last week. The students were such a good audience and asked excellent questions after the reading/presentation.

Part of my presentation included demonstrating the writing process from idea for story to final publication. I stressed the revision process of writing and showed them messy drafts of some of my writing and the final, clean copy that went out to publishers. When I asked, “who likes to draw?” all hands went up. That’s when I brought in how illustrator and writer collaborate on a book. Using Power Point, I showed them black and white illustrator sketches and then the final product.

It was a rewarding experience for me, and I hope for them, as well. They seemed really excited to have an author at their school. They told me they had never had one before. Needless to say, their enthusiasm made my day. But the letters in the bound book touched my heart. I hope to share some of their letters on this blog at some later date. In the meantime, I'll share with you the beautiful cover they made.   Muchas gracias, estudiantes y maestras/maestros de la escuela Graebner!