I’ve been encouraging/recommending/telling/pleading/endorsing/raving/pleading/cajoling/begging students since September…READ THE VISITING AUTHOR BOOKS!

It was easy with Todd Parr; we could get through a few each lesson, they could finish them themselves in minutes, even in first grade, and turnover was fast. With Kwame Alexander, also pretty smooth, as apart from Acoustic Rooster, we really only had The Crossover; which was a two bus ride read for many of our students; Booked hadn’t come out, and we didn’t yet have Surf’s Up.

However with Laurie Halse Anderson and Margaret Peterson Haddix visit, the kids had a lot more choice, and a lot more reading to do. We have most of the authors books appropriate for 3-5 grade on; wait for it…

*60 kindles

*60 ipods

*11 ipads

…as well as multiple paperback copies…and they’ve known for months…no excuse! However now that their visit is days away, we’ve had a MAD RUSH on just about everything; kids acting like they didn’t know, they weren’t told…”Authors? What Authors?” It’s true that with such a fast turn around between Todd and Kwame and Margaret and Laurie, kids have difficulty processing the urgency of the situation (that’s why I gave them months of notice” OK-I’ll stop now…Rant Over.