Author! Author!

Barnwell Primary School in Barnwell, South Carolina, had never had an author come to their school, so there was no way that second-grader Bentley could have ever expected he would get to meet his all-time favorite author, Jerry Pallotta. For weeks in advance, the literacy coach at Barnwell leaked clues to the students so they could try and guess which famous author was coming. Bentley, a huge fan of the Who Would Win?® series, was the first and only student to guess correctly.

Not only did Bentley get to shake hands and chit chat with Jerry before the show, all 700 Barnwell students saw Jerry’s presentation about his life as an author and his fascination with facts about the natural world (Seaweed is an ingredient in chocolate milk! Ants hear through their feet!). For the finale, a few daring students were called from the audience to come on stage and stand facing the crowd. Students were then told to keep their feet in place but “start swimming.” To the surprise and delight of their classmates, Jerry then projected a vicious watercolor shark illustration that appeared to (almost) devour the swimmers from behind, to uproarious applause.

A week earlier, in Revere, Massachusetts, thanks to the advocacy of Representative Jessica Giannino and support across the Commonwealth, author Pam Muñoz Ryan made an author visit to the A.C. Whelan Elementary School. Pam shared her beloved picture book, Mice and Beans with the youngest kiddos in the building and then talked about her novels, including the modern-day classic, Esperanza Rising, with the third to fifth grade students.

In a truly wonderful coincidence, the Susan B. Anthony Middle School drama club, that shares a building with the elementary school, was performing a version of Esperanza Rising to compete in the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild Middle School Drama Festival that very week. Can you imagine how inspired the students and drama club coordinator Celina Burgueño were that the author of the iconic, multi-award winning story had a chance to see the students perform the play—the day before they were off to their competition in Lynnfield, MA?! AND the Susan B. Anthony Middle School WON a Gold Medal!

Magic happens when students meet the authors of their favorite books.

Neither Barnwell Primary nor A.C. Whelan has ever had a published author come to visit. These literacy events—called Author! Author!—are part of the work we do at Impact Reading and are deeply memorable for students. They motivate and uplift teachers, and families get connected to literacy when kids bring home stories from school about the author they got to meet. And with the United States of Readers program, it doesn’t end there. Along with firsthand descriptions about the day the author came to school, every student gets a copy of the visiting author’s book to share at home—with their families.

According to The National Literacy Trust, students whose school had an author visit reported notably higher reading enjoyment than those who did not—68% vs. 47%.

In literacy circles, we talk a lot—too often only to ourselves—about the “school-to-home connection.” But being able to go home to tell your grown-ups that you met an author and you have a book of theirs (often signed) to prove it, makes that connection relatable and memorable far beyond elementary school. The United States of Readers brings world-class authors to schools that participate in the program: Jerry Pallotta and Pam Muńoz Ryan, Tanya Wright, author of the Hairiette of Harlem series, Lauren Tarshis, author of the I Survived series, and Jamar Nicholas, author and illustrator of the Leon series.

While reading is so often quiet and solitary for kids, an author visit is the opposite—a whole school in one room, loud and electric, with books at the center. Author! Author! days are a show, high-value and high-energy, and an integral component of the literacy-rich world readers dream of.

–Judy

Judy Newman, Chief Impact Officer Emeritus, Scholastic