Another Successful World Read Aloud Day

I should go back and count and figure out how many years I've been volunteering to Skype with classes on World Read Aloud Day. At least five years, probably more than that.

Today was another wonderful morning talking to students all across America. One girl asked me who my favorite character is out of all my books. I told her it's really hard to choose because my characters become kind of like my children - I love them all! But, I said, Nora in My Secret Guide to Paris is a lot like me because she really wants to go to Paris and you know, I've never been there. When I wrote the book, I did a lot of research and used Google Earth to explore the city. But guess what - in May my dream is finally going to come true because I'm going to Paris!

When I told them that, the kids spontaneously cheered for me, and it was just the happiest thing I've seen in a while. I wish I could take them all with me. But since I can't, the good news is they can read the book and visit Paris that way, just like I did when I was writing it.

Happy World Read Aloud Day!

Today I Skyped with kids all across America for World Read Aloud Day. It's a fun day where we celebrate books and reading. I only had one cancellation due to a snow day, so not too bad! I was worried there might be more than that.

Here's a couple rows of one of the groups I talked with:

Wow, what a cool looking library, huh?

I will get to talk to kids in person the end of this month when I travel down to southern Oregon for some school visits.

Talking with kids about reading and writing is one of my favorite parts of the job.

But for now, it's time to get to the other part of my job - working on the next book! While eating chocolate, of course.

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!