Literacy Night at Brick Elementary School was pure joy

March 26, 2024 — I was so happy to receive a “real” email through the contact link on my author website. It was from Michelle Cox, a Title I teacher at Brick Elementary School, inviting me to participate in their Literacy Night. We emailed back and forth several times, figuring out details. Her enthusiasm radiated off the computer screen and it was contagious. We were both excited to be in touch and that I was able to attend. 

We decided that I would read my book, How Happy Is a Lark, twice over the course of the evening, which ran from 5 - 6:30 p.m. And that I’d lead the activity from the back of my book with the children. Initially, I was in a small classroom just inside the main school entrance. I had a number of parents, grandparents and students stop in. 

It wasn’t yet time for my first reading so I started out with the activity: 

1. Think of a simile like “You’re as silly as a goose” or “She’s as cute as a button” (with help, if needed)
2. Turn the simile into a question “How silly is a goose?” “How cute is a button?”
3. Brainstorm and answer the question in a fun way 
4. Draw a picture to illustrate your answer 

A number of children completed the little project and I’m happy to share some here with permission. All their creativity is wonderful and some are really clever, especially given the short amount of time they had to work on it because there were many other activities for them on Literacy Night.

One girl, Bella (above), polished off two so quickly and would have done a third if she’d had more time. Her third idea was “How elegant is a swan?” I would have loved to see that one! She illustrated her answers and simply wrote “This Clever!” and “This Silly!” Hey Bella, if you see this, you can send it to me through my website’s contact page. That goes for any other students who want to send me theirs. 

A fifth grader, Lucas, came up with the sayings, “let the cat out of the bag” and someone who has their “head in the clouds,” both great sayings and while they’re actually metaphors rather than similes, I’m all about flexibility and creativity, so he decided to draw the cat coming out of the bag.

For my first reading, I had about eight to ten people, children, adults and sadly, one crying toddler, who was carried out by his parents. I always feel such empathy for emotional little ones, as I’m guessing many of us do. I know it can be difficult to be the parent in these situations, too. I remember! 

I try to read with emphasis and emotion and occasionally ask the children questions about something in the book. Some of the things I engaged the children with were: having them laugh along with the hyenas and yell “BUZZ OFF” with me for the angry wasp. (One child said “that’s scary!” about the wasp’s angry face.) I ask if they can find the black cat in the drawing on a dark night, and how many of them have cats or dogs, when I’m reading the pages about cats or dogs. Lots! 

One girl commented that the hungry hippo in the book was like the game Hungry Hungry Hippos, and then again for how fun is a barrel of monkeys, she said it is like the game. It’s so much fun for me to hear what children connect to, think and observe about the book. 

After my first reading, Lucas told me he really liked my book. This made my night, especially since he is older. It’s nice to know that children of different ages enjoy the book. 

A few more children and their families stopped in and worked on the activity after the reading. Just as the room cleared out, a couple of teachers stopped in to ask if I wanted to move to the cafeteria, where many activities were happening. 

In the cafeteria, there was a tent set up with a paper bonfire out front and lots of pillows inside. I chatted with a couple nice people from the Ypsilanti Library who were there for the event and told them how much I love their library, for several reasons, including that they carry my book. They seemed familiar with my book. The Book Mobile person said she usually sets it out (it has a thin, white unmarked spine so it is otherwise easily lost or hidden) and she said that it gets checked out often. That’s encouraging. Sometimes, I do quick library searches to see if Lark is checked out or on the shelf. Of course, I love to see that they’re checked out. When it was new to the Ann Arbor Library, it was checked out with several people waiting for the book! I’m happy to be in four Michigan libraries so far: Ann Arbor, Plymouth, Troy and Ypsilanti, with plans to approach more.

My second reading of the night was inside the large tent in the cafeteria. I thought it would be fun to read inside. That seemed to be a popular draw for the kids, who kept on climbing in, to my delight. I think there were eight or so children in the tent by the end of the book. By the time I got my shoes back on and up off the floor, I was the last one to leave the tent. One of the children was just peering back in, probably wondering what had happened to me!

During my readings, I loved to hear laughter, see smiles, and one little girl kind of shrieked and threw herself down on the ground about the hungry hippo eating a whole elephant. 

When I inquired, Michelle said she found me through an online search for local Michigan authors. It’s great to know that I appeared! It got me thinking and so I did a similar search to see what sort of sources come up. This led me to a new marketing endeavor, seeking to have my book added to various other major libraries across the state, and the Library of Michigan itself, which was one of my top search results. There are university libraries that carry children’s books, the Detroit Public Library, Grand Rapids, and so on. If you’re a self-published author looking to increase awareness of your book, take note. Some have online submission forms for suggesting books to them. It’s fine if it’s your own book. 

I was surprised (and flattered) when Michelle asked me how much my fee is during our initial email exchanges. No fee! I think that events like these are what it’s all about for authors, introducing more children to our books. If they/their parents like the book enough, they just might purchase one. But that’s sort of a side benefit, a nice one for sure, but not the main point, at least for me. 

Michelle was so kind and appreciative from the beginning — ours was a mutual appreciation club. I donated and signed a book to the Brick Elementary students. She said she was going to put that in the morning announcements and that the librarian was going to be excited. They’re a Title I school, meaning they are a low income school and much of the population is considered “at risk” of failing to meet educational standards. This made the experience extra rewarding, just knowing that I was connecting with children who aren’t as advantaged, in some ways, as the average kid, introducing my creativity to them and maybe sparking a little something new in them. Throughout the evening, I met many sweet children and their parents or grandparents and dedicated teachers. They’re currently looking to raise funds to buy new books.

It’s a little unreal being referred to as “our author” as they did and definitely humbling. The evening made me so grateful for being alive to have this experience. If you’re reading this and don’t know, I had a very close call in 2022 related to heart valve surgery complications, being on life support and in a medically induced coma for about two-and-a-half weeks. It’s still hard to believe this really happened, especially since I was unconscious for that part!

Michelle invited me to read at two more upcoming events, Reading in the Park and their STEM Career Day, which sounds like a major event that she is inviting Governor Whitmer to attend. Even though I’m not directly in a STEM field, she said that she has a much broader view of STEM because all teaching incorporates the four Cs: communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creative thinking. I guess at least for this year, I’m one of their adopted authors and they’re my adopted elementary school. It’s surprisingly close to us, less than a 15 minute drive. 

Michelle’s email after the event read, in part: “ … It was a privilege to have you in our school! … I can’t wait to share your book with my students tomorrow!” The following day she told me she’d read my book about 20 times (she’s probably tiring of it by now!) to her reading groups and that the kids love it. Absolutely priceless.

A shorter version of this post was featured in the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ The Mitten blog, April 19, 2024

Another marketing idea that came from this experience is that I’ll figure out who to contact at the local school district, in my case I’d contact Ann Arbor, about their literacy night events and offer myself to read and run the activity. Even though we have a Saline mailing address, we are in the Ann Arbor Public School District. This was by design, we wanted A2 Schools, knowing their excellent reputation and the diversity of the population, which was just as important to us. 

Images: At Brick Elementary School, credit Brick Elementary teachers. Art shared with permission.