School Visits

Goodbye to Poetry Workshops (for now)

Posted by Sarah L. Thomson on Dec 7, 2018 in Book: BROWN IS WARM, Race, School Visits, SERIES: Imagine | 0 comments

I posted a while back about the fact that the Imagine series has no people of color in the illustrations–not a single one in three books. And about the fact that I didn’t notice this until my daughter pointed it out.

(I’m still pretty embarrassed about that.)

After thinking it over, I’ve decided that I won’t be offering school visits or poetry workshops using these books anymore. I can’t change the artwork or the fact that the books are on the shelves, but I can decide not to actively promote them.

I’ll be sorry to take these poetry workshops out of my repertoire. I’ve always had such a good time encouraging kids to look deeply at and react to Rob Gonsalves’s innovative, intricate art. I’ve had teachers actually blown away by the poetry their students produced. But I just don’t feel right about using books that offer such a narrow vision of the world.

I do hope that my new book, Brown Is Warm, Black is Bright, will be the basis for some excellent poetry workshops when it comes out from Little, Brown. I’ll just have to wait until then.

Artists at Eldredge

Posted by Sarah L. Thomson on May 18, 2018 in American History, Educators & Librarians, Events, School Visits, Secrets of the Seven, SERIES: Secrets of the Seven | 2 comments

Last week I was visiting schools in East Greenwich, RI. At Eldredge Elementary some very talented artists had created posters for me based on the first three books of the Secrets of the Seven series. Marvelous! I love seeing books inspire creativity.

The Eureka Key

The Eagle’s Quill. Note very faithful representation of the three main characters–Marty with her glasses, Sam in a cool tye-dyed sweatshirt, and Theo (very tall!)

The Ring of Honor. In this poster, Alexander Hamilton has joined our three heroes in a search through Manhattan for his grave. Cool and slightly creepy!

Visiting Fredonia, NY

Posted by Sarah L. Thomson on Apr 27, 2018 in Book: Deadly Flowers, Book: Deadly Wish, Educators & Librarians, Ninjas, Politics, School Visits | 0 comments

I really enjoyed visiting Fredonia, New York, this week–both the elementary school and the University of New York! It’s fun to talk to third graders and college kids in the same day. Loved a question from my college audience, from a thoughtful young man who wanted to know how I approach gender dynamics in my work without scaring off or overwhelming young readers. “Scaring them off?” I asked. “They’re living this stuff!”

Listen in on a preschool classroom. Boys are yucky, girls can’t play here, boys can’t play with dolls, girls don’t like football. Kids are investigating gender dynamics every day of their lives. Trust me, a little thing like considering how a female ninja fits into the society of feudal Japan is no big deal.

Talking about The Eureka Key at Victor Intermediate

Posted by Sarah L. Thomson on Nov 16, 2017 in Author Visits, Book: The Eureka Key, Educators & Librarians, School Visits, Secrets of the Seven, SERIES: Secrets of the Seven | 0 comments

This week I visited Victor Intermediate School in Victor, NY, a lovely little hamlet near Rochester. What made it super exciting to me was that this school had picked The Eureka Key for a community read. It was my first time (as far as I know) to be read by an entire school (of 1100 kids, no less).

Now normally I’m in a favor of a LOT of choice when it comes to reading. We’re not all the same as readers; let’s let the nonfiction kids read about dinosaurs and the fantasy kids read about dragons and the sensitive kids read tearjerkers. It’s all reading! It’s all good!

But I have to admit to a certain thrill in having a shared experience of reading every now and then. It was part of what made the Harry Potter phenomenon so fun. It wasn’t that they were the best books in the world (not the worst, either). It was the joy of sharing Hogwarts with so many other people. With your friends and classmates and strangers you met on the bus. It brought the fictional world into real life, joined us together into a community who shared our imaginary lives. It was lovely.

I felt a little bit of that in the school today. The kids were so excited to see me and so eager to take in what I had to share about writing and so excited to do some writing themselves. And sharing the book with the whole school, kids and teachers and families and all, was what built that excitement.