Reading at the 2014 Book'em Read Me Day

Last month I was invited to read Beyond The Grave during Book'em's Read Me Day at Cockrill Elementary, in conjunction with the Nashville Rotary Club. Book'em is an organization that promotes literacy through big and small efforts such as giving books to kids, schools and libraries as well as organizing readers to visit lower income schools to share their love of reading.

It was the first time I've ever been part of an event like that and, wow, was it a fancy affair. I had a great time. It was Book'em's 25th anniversary and the Rotary Club's 100th Anniversary so there were over 70 different readers on hand to spend the morning sharing books with Cockrill's 500 students. Plus I actually got to meet a REAL ballerina, the ONLY female marine in the state of Tennessee and even the mayor! (though note, when I told the Fry and Sprout about this they were only impressed with the fact that there was also birthday cake.)

Before we got down to the nitty gritty of reading there was a big assembly in the gym. I managed to snag a seat almost directly behind the podium and thus had a terrific view of the kid's responses to all the speakers. One of the things I love about kids, and one of the reasons I create books for them, is that they are so often not impressed with grown-ups that they are supposed to be impressed by. So it was quite amusing to watch the front row scrabble over a paper Cat in the Hat hat instead of applaud admiringly at The First Lady of Tennessee's speech. As a whole though, the kids at Cockrill Elementary were a very well behaved audience and my particular classroom was politely riveted as I read some scary parts of Beyond The Grave and explained how it was illustrated.

Here's a few pictures from my day:

After I read Beyond the Grave, I showed the kids how I did the illustrations.
They thought it was funny how each piece can be upside down or sideways
on my paper depending on how I put it on the scanner.

My fantastic audience, Ms. Wheeler's second grade class.
They made us penguin themed thank you cards!

I was very happy to see my good friend Jessica Young's
picture book, My Blue Is Happy, as one of the chosen ones!

The real ballerina from the Nashville Ballet.
Notice the famous birthday cake in the background;)

Oh just chillin' with Mayor Dean
waiting for the program to start.