James Preller Came to AMS for Read All Day!

Read All Day is a celebration of books, literacy and reading. Guest readers, (including substitute teachers, AP administrators and even a librarian from the Albany Public Library), volunteered their time to read to homerooms and large groups in the auditorium. Students enjoyed listening to poems, picture books, biographies, magazines, short stories and novels during Read All Day. Students in the auditorium even heard The Strange Case of Origami Yoda complete with an origami Yoda finger puppet!

Author James Preller was Algonquin’s special guest for Read All Day. Mr. Preller lives in Delmar and is the author of forty books, including Bystander, (which deals with bullying in a middle school) and Six Innings. Generous support for this author visit was provided by Student Council and the Algonquin Parent Organization. Before his arrival, Mr. Preller was already blogging about his visit to our school. Before he arived, he was blogging about the cake we made made in his honor. Check out his blog for more about this.

Mr. Preller presented to each grade and spoke about his books, including Bystander, which is about bullying. This author visit ties in with the many anti-bullying initiatives that have been undertaken at AMS, such as our Zip It! campaign where students pledged not to bully others. Mr. Preller also gave a special presentation called “The Life of an Author”. He spoke about how he gets his ideas, the writing process and the first book he ever wrote. Mr. Preller answered many questions from our curious students.

One student said one of the best parts of Read All Day was being able to see James Preller and hearing guest readers. Other students said during RAD, “You get to read books and have fun. It’s a lot of fun to be able to have time to read.” Another student commented, “I like hearing guest readers and seeing the different styles of reading.” After hearing the author read from his new young adult book, Before You Go, as well as Bystander, a student said, “Today takes me back to when I was little and my parents would read me stories before bed. I enjoyed being read to by the author.” One student said, “It’s nice to have a well known author come to our school and hear what they’re done in their life.” Another student added, “It’s a good opportunity to hear what an author has to say about their books. You can get ‘on the inside’. Sometimes you read a book and you wonder what the author is thinking.” Students had an opportunity to meet Mr. Preller and talk with him as he signed their books after school. He gave Algonquin students, faculty and staff a memorable day they won't forget!