Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini

Happy Earth Day! I spent the day talking with students at Gables Elementary, in Columbus, OH. It was super fun. There was a delicious catered lunch, and it gave me the opportunity to visit with the teachers, who were all very friendly. In addition to the 4 presentations I gave during the day, I also came back (after my wonderful host teachers took me out for dinner) to visit with a small group this evening. Two students, who interviewed me in the afternoon, dragged their whole families back to the school for the evening talk so they could ask me more questions. I am sure they will be writers someday. Check out this awesome poster that Mr. Miller’s class made to welcome me to their school! Yay! Thank you, Gables!

I can’t believe it! I have been doing school visits for about 13 years, and this is my first time speaking at a school in New York. I had a great time working with the students at Montebello School. I was greeted by members of the student council when I arrived at the school on the morning of 18 April. They gave me a bunch of flowers, and made sure I had some water after my presentations. What excellent hosts! The teachers provided a nice breakfast for me in the library, and I had lunch with some specially selected students. They asked me so many questions that I hardly had time to eat! I could tell that these kids were well on their way to becoming writers or artists. I gave 4 presentations in the library, and the kids were marvelous. I was supposed to visit two different schools in Suffern, but the second one didn’t work out, so that meant I got to spend a little extra time today (19 April) with the older students at Montebello. Keep up the good work!

What a wonderful treat! I got to stay with my sister Katie on this school visit trip! She is doing graduate work at Northwestern University – and happens to live about 10 miles from the school I visited today. Yay! South School seems like a great place to go to school. There were lots of helpful parents at school today, and the teachers seemed very friendly. The walls are covered with beautiful murals, and the whole building is just for K-2. It’s fun to talk to the really little ones, since I wrote my very first book for my mom’s kindergarten class. This is a picture of me with some of my new little K-1 friends. I gave 3 talks, first a K-1 mix, then all the 2nd graders, and then another K-1 bunch. The 2nd graders asked some especially insightful questions. One student wanted to know exactly what my editing process was like. Impressive! And I must compliment the afternoon group – they had the best manners I’ve seen in a long time. I hardly heard a peep out of them when they came into the auditorium. After all the talks, I even got to autograph the Author Chair, which had already been signed by all the other authors who have ever visited this school. (Being a children’s book author has its perks – you get to write in books and draw on furniture!) Thank you, South School! Keep writing & drawing!

After visiting with the Patricksburg students in the morning, I was whisked away, and soon found myself at Spencer Elementary. This school is about twice as big as Patricksburg. Over 700 students! Again I spoke with the younger students first and then the older ones. The older kids seemed especially attentive. I noticed a few who didn’t move a muscle during the entire presentation. I suspect there are some really good writers at this school. It was such a beautiful day, however, that I wanted to march all 700 of them outside for a journaling field trip! Well, maybe next time. Thank you, Spencer!

Hello again from Indiana! (This time I am visiting a different part of the state.) I spoke with the marvelous kids at Patricksburg Elementary this morning. They seemed really interested to hear about the Children’s Eternal Rainforest in Monteverde, Costa Rica. I donate to this rainforest when I can, and with the help of lots of other kids, we’ve been able to protect over 54,000 acres so far. I found out that this school has a program where they sell t-shirts to raise money for rainforest preservation. First I spoke to the K-2 students, and then I talked with grades 3-5. My morning visit to this school was just part of their Young Authors’ Day celebration. These students seemed very excited about writing and making books. Thank you Patricksburg Elementary & keep up the good work!