I love to visit schools, camps, libraries and homeschooling groups to talk about books! I worked as a school librarian for 15 years and my very best times in the library were when I was reading to kids, talking about books, and doing super, kid-centered projects with them.

I am very flexible when it comes to school visits. The programs below are simply suggestions; from my years as working as a librarian (a.k.a. school library media specialist) I understand the value of collaboration and why teachers need classroom visitors to compliment what they’re teaching in class. If you want me to come and visit your classroom, school, group, or library, please don’t hesitate to let me know the concepts, vocabulary, or specific topics you’ve been working on. It makes so much more sense to kids when we can help them make connections between themselves, literature, what they’re learning in class, and what an author might also be telling them. Let’s be in touch! E-mail: adrienne@drtpress.com or phone: (919)360-7073.

My programs are suitable for all age groups – pre-k (LOVE pre-k!) to high school.

Want to see what kids and teachers have said about my visits? Go to my TESTIMONIALS page to find out!

General information:

• I can do one day presentations or week-long workshops. One-day presentations can be combined with week-long workshops so that as many kids in the school can interact with me as possible; but a “day” for me is no more than 3 sessions of any of my presentations and workshops, plus an open question and answer/booksigning session.
• All presentations can be geared towards various grade levels. Please let me know ahead of time which grade levels I’ll be working with so I can tailor what I’ll say to match the curriculum goals as well as the interest levels of the kids.
• All presentations can be tweaked for parent groups or teacher groups, as well.
• If doing a basic presentation, I do not speak to more than 2 classes at one time. It’s very important for me to make eye-contact with kids, to be able to answer questions as they arise, and to maintain control of the group.  If I’m presenting to more than 1 class, please don’t mix classes of varying grade levels (k-2 can go together, for example, or 3-5, but not 1+5)
• I bring my own equipment to the presentation (lcd projector and laptop computer), but I will need a space to project my slideshow as well as space to set up the equipment.
• Teachers must be present with their classes at the time of the presentation. Teachers must treat me the same way they expect the children to treat me: they should not grade papers during my presentation, talk to colleagues, or work on their laptops.
• I live in North Carolina, so under the program descriptions I’ve linked to the curriculum areas in the NC Standard Course of Study. I started to list specific goals and objectives in the SCOS, but since my presentations connect to so many of the goals and objectives across the Standard Course of Study,I stopped! Suffice it to say that if I visit, there will be a curricular connection to Art, English Language Arts, Information Skills and probably Guidance and Social Studies, too. I’ve found that curricula are similar across the country, however – so if you are not in NC and want me to visit check your own curricula for the appropriate goals and objectives.
• I always give children a little something at the end of every presentation or workshop: a bookmark, a fun coloring sheet or activities packet, or something else of that nature. I will also present the classroom teacher or school library with one of my books. I never require kids or schools to buy my books, but it’s always nice when they do! My books are available through amazon.com and bn.com, or I can bring books to the session with me if they’re ordered ahead of time.
• Once we figure out the dates of my visit I will send you my Author Visit Agreement form. Please fill it out, sign it, and send it back to me. This is our contract. If I need to fill out something from your school or group, please send it to me in a timely fashion.

Programs:

1-day visits

Each of these presentations takes 45 minute-1 hour, including question and answer sessions. I am happy to do up to 3 of these presentations a day, plus 1 45 minute booksigning/open question and answer session.

The Story of a Story

This presentation covers the story of how my second picture book, Mishka: An Adoption Tale, came to be, from initial idea to the writing process to the publication of the book.

The Story of a Book

From the author to the illustrator to the publisher and finally, the printer, this workshop focuses on how a picture book is made from how an author writes and revises a story, submits her work for publication, then, once the book is accepted, how an illustrator works, what the various people at a publishing company do (editor, art director, book designer, etc.) and finally, how a book is manufactured.

What is Adoption?

Best suited for younger children, this workshop helps children understand how adoption forms families. I will use my own books as well as wonderful picture books by other authors to talk about adoption and different kinds of families.  This is a great workshop if you have children from adoptive families in your classroom (and I guarantee that you do). If you are interested in this workshop I suggest you send a note home to parents, as some adoptive parents may want to attend or to talk to their children before/after my presentation.

Week-long workshops:

These workshops are designed to take an hour/day for 5 days. I can accommodate up to 3 1-hour classes per day.

Let’s make a book!

In this workshop, we’ll mimic the activities of professional authors, illustrators, and publishing companies. For best results, students should start the week with something they’ve already written. We will edit, design, illustrate, and “publish” student work. Each student will end the week with a complete, bound book.

Writing Workshop

How do professional writers get ideas for the stories they write? How do they work? And how can we use the way professionals write to understand how the writing process works for kids? We’ll start this week’s workshop talking about how authors work – from my own experiences to those of the kids’ favorite authors. We’l l then go through the writing process ourselves using activities to generate ideas, starting a piece of writing, revising, then polishing off the final copy.

Fees

First, please see my page, How to pay for Author Visits, to get ideas of how to pay for my visit! When I was a school librarian I had many authors visit and I never had a school-supplied budget for them. I paid for all of their visits through grants, PTA funds, or fundraisers.

I live in Pittsboro, North Carolina, which is about 20 minutes south of Chapel Hill. I am happy to travel to schools within an hour of my home for no extra fee. This includes schools in Chatham, Wake, Orange, Lee, Durham, and Randolph counties.

For 1-day visits, I charge $300.

For week-long workshops I charge $1200

If you’re outside my 1-hour radius, please contact me and I’ll let you know how much extra I’ll charge to visit your school. I prefer not to drive more than 2 hours to/from a presentation unless I’m staying overnight. If that’s the case then I’ll need for you to pay for a hotel stay, although I don’t require that my food be paid for. If I’m traveling for a visit I encourage schools to talk to each other to make my stay more economical for all involved.

If you’re outside of North Carolina, northern South Carolina, or southern Virginia, I’m also happy to visit, but we’ll need to talk planes, trains, and automobiles.

I will need to be paid the day of the visit. If I’m traveling a ways I’ll need to have a deposit ahead of time to cover travel and hotel stay.