I love school visits!!

I've just returned from two days of school visits in Southern Oregon. I don't like the four hour drive much, but the students and teachers and the awesome librarians made up for that!

My first visits were at South Middle School, where I did four presentations on Monday and two presentations on Tuesday, and had lunch both days with a select group of students. The kids were amazing - so many of them came up to tell me super nice things about my books and writing. A lot of the kids bought books and had me sign them. One girl told me she saved her dog-walking money so she could buy four of my books. FOUR! It must be her favorite number, because when I asked her how many dogs she walks, the answer to that question was four as well.

One of the language arts teachers reads CHASING BROOKLYN to her 7th graders every year. When someone told me that, I was like, oh my gosh, doesn't she get sick of it? He replied, "She just really loves it. You can tell." As a result, I had lots of fans of that book there, both boys and girls, which is always awesome to see. Another language arts teacher was reading IT'S RAINING CUPCAKES to his 6th grade students. Really appreciate that teacher support, let me tell you.

We got one of the lunch groups to pose for a picture. Here we are, getting our jazz hands on.

Tuesday afternoon I hopped over to North Middle School (that totally makes me sound like the Easter bunny, doesn't it?) where I met with another great group of students. They were in the middle of this awesome contest the librarian puts on every year involving peeps and dioramas. SO cool! Check out this Harry Potter one:

I've always said I write my YA novels with middle school kids in mind. They are my core audience, and I love spending time with them!

So, I'm back home and back to work on the current work-in-progress. But not this morning. Author Cynthia Lord is in town, and presenting very near my house, so I'm going to go and listen to her presentation this morning!

These are the days I really love my job.

Update on Skype Visits

I love talking with students across the country about reading and writing. I've had so many wonderful experiences thanks to the wonder that is Skype, I can't imagine not offering these types of virtual visits as long as I'm doing this author thing.

However, because I've gone back to work part-time, I'm not able to do as many free, short Skype visits with classrooms as I once did. This is mostly because I'm just not going to be at home and available as much. (Please note: if you are interested in a longer, paid visit, please don't worry - I'll be able to work with you to find a date/time that works for you. As always, you may contact me using the email address on my contact page about scheduling an in-depth visit with your classroom, school, reading group, etc.)

What I've decided to do is devote one day every month that will specifically be for free Skype visits for students who have read one or more of my books. Every couple of months, I'll try to remember to put the information about my availability on my blog, so if you're interested, you can check your calendar and see if there's a date that works for you. These free visits are for educational groups only -- I'm not able to do one-on-one Skype visits with individuals, sorry.

Currently I'm scheduling 20 minute Q&A Skype visits for the following days:

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Wednesday, March 4, 2015 (this is World Read Aloud Day, and I've already begun getting requests, so if you're interested, get in touch ASAP)

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Thanks, as always, for your support of me and my books - it's so appreciated!

Lisa

Scheduling Skype visits for World Read Aloud Day

World Read Aloud day is March 5, 2014 and Kate Messner has put together a list of authors who are willing to Skype for free that day, in twenty-minute increments, and I am one of those authors!!

You can check out the complete list HERE.

I have two visits scheduled so far, and have room for probably four or five more, so if you are a teacher or librarian and are interested in having me Skype with your school that day to celebrate World Read Aloud Day, please get in touch via e-mail at lisaschroederbooks(at)gmail(dot)com.

What do you need to Skype, you ask? A computer, the Skype software, which you can download for free, and usually a projector, so everyone in the room can see the author on the big screen!

It's easy and it's fun, I promise. I've literally Skyped with probably a hundred schools by now, and have participated in at least two WRADs, maybe three. I had to skip last year because of my writing schedule, so I'm happy to be participating again this year.

Here's basically how the visit will go - I talk for a few minutes and introduce myself, making sure to encourage kids to read for fun because as a writer, I believe there is nothing that will help your writing more than READING. I choose one of my books that is age-appropriate for the group I'm speaking with and read aloud for a few minutes, and then I open it up to questions.

If World Read Aloud Day doesn't work for your schedule, but you are interested in learning more about Skyping with me, please see my page over at the Skype an Author Network.

Have a great week!