Read All Day is a celebration of books, literacy and reading. This year was extra special, as it was our 10th annual event. To kick off this special day, Dr. James Hoffman, Superintendent, read chapter one of Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements to the whole school on the morning news. Other guest readers included Chris Anderson, grade 7 Social Studies Teacher, Chris Foster, AP BOE President, Peter DeWitt, PES Principal and Cindy Dowd, Literacy Teacher, (retired). These readers volunteered their time to read to large groups in the auditorium. Mr. DeWitt spoke about his own experience as an author. During classes, students enjoyed listening to poems, picture books, biographies, magazines, short stories and novels, read by their teachers.
Authors Terry Trueman and Edward Averett were Algonquin’s special guest authors for Read All Day! Terry Trueman is the author of eight books and won a Printz Honor in 2001 for his first young adult book, Stuck in Neutral. This book tells a story from the perspective of Shawn, a boy with cerebral palsy who is a genius, but no one knows it because he cannot communicate. Stuck in Neutral hits close to home, as Terry Trueman has a son, Sheehan, who has cerebral palsy. Please see Mr. Trueman's official website for more information:
http://www.terrytrueman.com/
Edward Averett has written four books. The most recent, Cameron and the Girls, was just released on April 16th. This book has been garnering positive praise from Booklist and School Library Journal. Visit Mr. Averett's official website for further details:
http://www.edwardaverett.com/index.html
Both authors travelled from Washington State and also appeared at the Hudson Children's Book Festival on Saturday, May 4th. SL@AMS even provided a special cake to celebrate the author’s appearance.
Trueman and Averett presented to each grade and spoke about their books, including how books titles can change before they are published, the writing process and how their own friendship dates back 40 years. Terry Trueman spoke on a personal level about how he was inspired to write Stuck in Neutral because of his son Sheehan's condition. Trueman also spoke about why Stuck in Neutral ended how it did and why the sequel, Life Happens Next, was written 12 years later. Averett spoke about what inspires him as an author, and as a reader, as well a stories about his own experiences writing books.
The authors also gave a second presentation where they talked more about their books and answered additional questions from our curious students, such as: Do you have a special place where you write? What is your favorite book that was made into a movie? Which of your own books is your favorite?
One student said one of the best parts of Read All Day was, "You get to read all day and see cool authors." Another student said, “"I loved the assembly with the authors. I thought it was cool that we got to ask the questions and they answered." A third offered, "I think they were very creative and clever abut how they came up with ideas from their stories." Reflecting on Terry Trueman as an author, one student said, “I feel like Terry Trueman's personality was a lot less serious than how he wrote Stuck in Neutral, which was very serious. How he wrote the book made me want to know more about cerebral palsy.” Another student added, “It was interesting to have the authors come and talk to us. They told us about their lives, how they write books and talked about themselves.”
Another student appreciated the sense of humor Trueman brought to the presentation, "Terry Trueman was really funny. His story Stuck in Neutral was really good too. I think that he's been through a lot, but it's good that he wrote that book to express his feelings about his son." A second student said, "Read All Day was really inspiring and it was neat to meet the authors." One student commented on the authors’ apparent love of writing: "They were into it and they made the presentation fun. Edward Averett was a good speaker too. You could tell that they both liked their jobs." A future author said, "I liked meeting the authors because I like to write. I read Stuck in Neutral and I really liked it."
Students had an opportunity to meet both authors as they signed their books after school. They gave Algonquin students, faculty and staff a memorable day to remember!
AMS is very grateful to the Student Council for generously funding this event, to APO volunteers for their hard work and for administrative support.
