Most of my school author visits this fall have involved airplanes and multiple days away from my family, so it was lovely to visit a school closer to home today. When I pulled into the parking lot at AuSable Valley Elementary School, I saw this trailer…
…and thought, “Oh, dear.” I’ve been told that I give a pretty entertaining presentation, but there’s no way I can compete with miniature donkeys. But it turns out the donkeys were here for their own event, a special presentation arranged for one of the third grade classrooms that had been reading about therapy dogs. These are therapy donkeys, and I got to visit them to say hello.
After the donkeys went home, the third graders headed to the gym for our author visit. Both groups I worked with today — the K-2 students and the 3rd-6th grade crew — were just fantastic. I can always tell when kids are enthusiastic readers and writers because of the great questions they ask. After my first presentation to the younger group, one of the boys came running back to the gym a few minutes later. “This is for you,” he said.
I asked him to tell me about his picture. “That’s you,” he said, pointing. “You’re the pink one, and you’re walking in the woods. And those are animal tracks.” They were from a desert animal, he told me, maybe a frog or a prairie dog. This is one of the reasons I love school visits so much!
Thanks, Kobe, for your illustration, and thanks to everyone at AuSable Valley Elementary for a magical, story-filled morning!
That picture is the sweetest. What a lovely and detailed little writing present for you.