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D I R E C T O R Y
Marsha Diane Arnold
"Principals, teachers, and students are raving about your visit. You reached our students and got them excited about writing their own stories." That's Mary Giani writing to award-winning author Marsha Diane Arnold, whose books include Heart of a Tiger, The Pumpkin Runner, Roar of a Snore, and Quick, Quack, Quick. Among Marsha's many honors are Smithsonian Notable, IRA Distinguished Book, and Children's Choice. She is published by PenguinPutnam, Random House, and Abrams and has presented to students and educators in twenty states as well as Germany and Puerto Rico. Educators say her presentations are "right on target with student age levels". Her storytelling ability, demonstration of the writing/revision process and lively PowerPoint display weave into one entertaining, informational, and inspirational event.
Pamela Bauer Mueller
"The students are still glowing from the warmth of your visit! "Ms. Mueller is an enthralling storyteller." "Your books allow students to relate, compare and overcome." "You have the unusual gift of communicating the emotions of both humans and animals in a unique loving way."
Kids learn how cats write books, discover the process of raising a guide puppy, and applaud in wonder listening to the true story of antebellum slave Neptune Small. Bi-lingual, multi-cultural award-winner Pamela Bauer Mueller weaves storytelling, historical events and educational research throughout her presentations, entertaining and educating through the magic of her books — The Bumpedy Road; Rain City Cats; Eight Paws to Georgia; Hello, Goodbye, I Love You; Neptune's Honor; An Angry Drum Echoed.
Mark S. Bernthal
Treat your students to two exciting worlds of writing through one speaker! Mark Bernthal is an Emmy-nominated screenwriter for children's television and author of over forty books for numerous licensed characters. Television credits range from the preschoolers' PBS series, Barney & Friends — to Wishbone, the PBS series that introduced classic literature to grade-schoolers. Books for major publishers run a similar gamut from playful educational preschool tales to fantasy-adventure chapter books. Mark weaves frequent audience participation with video clips, text samples, and a liberal dash of humor to guide attendees through the process of story creation — from concept brainstorming through final draft. The goal? Stimulate exceptional creativity within all attendees — regardless of age!
Shennen Bersani
Great Kids' Books Don't Grow On Trees. Illustrator Shennen Bersani will show your class just how it's done. Illustrator of five books written by award-winning author Jerry Pallotta, including — Icky Bug Shapes, Ocean Counting: Odd Numbers, Sharks! Big, Bigger, Biggest, and Snakes! Long, Longer, Longest — Shennen incorporates her love of drawing and nature into a fun and educational multimedia presentation. Her presentations bring children along with her often humorous quests to research and hunt down her "models" on beaches, boats, city streets, even in the dusty private collections of eccentric professors. Children will learn valuable observational and research skills with her fun and interactive presentation and become young authors and illustrators themselves.
Mel Boring
"You sure ain't boring!" said Shelby Schmidt, a 5th-Grader at Harrison School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa after a visit by Mel Boring. Mel is the author of Clowns: The Fun Makers, Incredible Constructions, Caterpillars, Bugs and Butterflies, Birds, Nests and Eggs, Rabbits, Squirrels and Chipmunks, The Rainmaker, and two Native American biographies. His latest are Guinea Pig Scientists (about self-experiments, such as with laughing gas), and Flamingos, Loons and Pelicans.
Lisa Funari Willever
Funny, interactive, and memorable, former teacher, Lisa Funari Willever's presentations hold the attention of students and staff members. She is the author of Chumpkin, a favorite of First Lady Laura Bush and displayed at the White House, 32 Dandelion Court, 2007-2008 New Jersey Battle of the Book List, and Garden State Adventure, 2005-06 New Jersey Battle of the Book List. Schools all over the country agree that Lisa's presentations are inspirational and her storytelling ability is superb (even though she never considers herself a storyteller!). Her titles include chapter books and picture books, as well as Exciting Writing and On Your Mark, Get Set, Teach! New titles include Nicky Fifth for Hire (2007) and Duck, Duck, Moose (2008).
David Greenberg
Author of Slugs, Bugs!, Skunks!, Snakes!, Your Dog Might Be a Werewolf, Your Toes Could All Explode, The Great School Lunch Rebellion, sequels to the Mother Goose poems: Whatever Happened to Humpty Dumpty?, The Book of Boys for Girls — The Book of Girls for Boys, and Don't Forget Your Etiquette! The Essential Guide to Misbehavior. His first novel — How Many Bubbles in a Bar of Soap? — about Martin Luther King's Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March, is scheduled for release by Dutton Publishers in 2008.
Gerald Hausman
Gerald Hausman is a multi-cultural storyteller, sound-effects expert and author. As a presenter for the History Channel he tells ghost stories from his American Folklore Society award winning book Duppy Talk: West Indian Tales of Mystery and Magic. Each of his children's books has received national awards and honors. Some of his 51 books include Escape From Botany Bay: The True Story of Mary Bryant, the Tom Cringle books and Dogs of Myth. His lively presentations are a theater of unique sounds that leave listeners wondering how he does it.
Meredith Johnson
Funny and engaging, illustrator Meredith Johnson has brought 25 years of children's creative media experience into classrooms all the over the US, and internationally. Presentations are designed to be age appropriate, highly interactive, and fun! As an award-winning art director, Meredith has written jingles and art-directed Barbie commercials from Toronto to Cancun. As an illustrator of over 130 children's books, her books include Scholastic's well-loved All Tutus Should be Pink, 16 years in print. Other much-read titles include Bill Myer's Secret Agent Dingledorff and the Case of the Flying Toenails, P.J. Peterson's The Sub, and Jerry Spinelli's The Bathwater Gang.
Christine Petrell Kallevig
Kids love origami, but they need stories to touch their hearts and feed their minds, stories to peel away layers of resistance and false sophistication, stories to reveal roots of intelligence and creativity. Christine Kallevig is an Ohio novelist and professional storyteller who provides those stories. She's also the "Storigami Lady" who figured out how to illustrate short stories with the progressive steps of simple origami models. Originally intended as a fun and quirky curiosity, Storigami instead evolved into an enticing experience that captivates audiences and sends them hurtling back and forth across an enchanted bridge that connects language with art, a bridge where you definitely want to let your fingers do the walking.
Amy MacDonald
An internationally known author, Amy MacDonald has given workshops and presentations in elementary and middle schools from Washington, to Paris, to Capetown. The author of fourteen books, including Little Beaver and the Echo, Rachel Fister's Blister, her workshops are not only entertaining but have a serious educational component. "Our school has invested a great deal of time developing an effective writing program," says the principal of the American School of Johannesberg (South Africa). "But one of the single most powerful days was Amy's visit in terms of generating student enthusiasm for writing and for empowering teachers. I wholeheartedly recommend her workshops as a complement, supplement, and all-round pick-me-up to any writing program."
Betsy and Giulio Maestro
Celebrate NONFICTION with a visit from author and illustrator Betsy and Giulio Maestro. Take a lively trip through research, writing, editing, illustrating, printing and binding with lots of visuals. The Maestros enthusiasm for their work will inspire and motivate audiences K-8. Their many books, including the American Story Series, will delight and captivate students of all ages. They promise a memorable and educational experience for all!
Bob Marstall
Award-winning nonfiction children's book illustrator Bob Marstall (An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly; The Lady and the Spider) combined his passion for painting, a deep interest in nature and years of experience as a K-12 classroom art teacher to create a multi-disciplinary, inquiry-based program that emphasizes observation as the foundation of SCIENCE and ART and teaches the key skills of organized observation as a gateway to both. The program follows National Science and National Art Standards, is tailored to the given audience and is fascinating to all ages.
Taylor Morrison
Non-fiction author and illustrator of eight books including, Civil War Artist, The Great Unknown, The Buffalo Nickel, and The Coast Mappers. Morrison's new book titled Wildfire is due out in Spring 2006 by Houghton Mifflin. Taylor's programs are about engaging students in the process of making factual stories interesting and beautiful. Taylor's books have been praised and covered by national newspapers, television, as well as art and science organizations like the Smithsonian.
Herman Parish
Author Herman Parish carries on the misadventures of Amelia Bedelia, everyone's favorite mixed-up housekeeper, created by his Aunt Peggy Parish. Herman has added thirteen books to the series, including the N.Y. Times bestseller Amelia Bedelia, Bookworm. His latest books are Amelia Bedelia's Masterpiece, in which her day at an art museum is a bust (literally) and Amelia Bedelia and the Cat, in which a kitten adopts Amelia Bedelia for a day.
Laurence Pringle
"Warm, wise, and funny" are words educators often use to describe Laurence Pringle's programs about the writing process and the creation of both nonfiction and fiction books. His highly-praised titles — now totalling 105 — include Penguins! Strange and Wonderful, Sharks! Strange and Wonderful, One Room School, Naming the Cat, An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly, and American Slave, American Hero: York of the Lewis and Clark Expedtion.
Joe Reese
"A heartwarming story of one maturing year in a young girl's life," writes The School Library Journal. "The students and staff of the AWTY International School (Houston, Texas) cannot stop talking about the visit of Joe Reese." Joe Reese, author of the acclaimed "Katie Dee" novels, is a writer/singer/storyteller who has visited over a hundred elementary schools from the Rio Grande Valley (he loves singing and telling stories in Spanish) to northern Michigan. His favorite recommendation? "Your talents are many, storytelling, singing, and playing the guitar, But we all agree that as an author, you are a shining star!" Sincerely, Your third, fourth, and fifth grade friends at Beverly Elementary (Plano, Texas)
Peter Roop
"Peter's programs were MAGIC!" Light the Writing Lights with Peter Roop, award-winning author and educator. Peter has written 100 fiction and nonfiction books for grades K-8. Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie is a Reading Rainbow Feature Book. Other titles are: Buttons For General Washington; Buffalo Jump; Sacagawea; Whales and Dolphins; and Let's Dream, Martin Luther King! Peter is published by Scholastic, Atheneum, Lerner, Simon and Schuster, and Hyperion. Peter Roop, Wisconsin State Teacher of the Year, has presented to schools in 30 states as well Indonesia, China, and England. "Peter's programs fit our curriculum perfectly!" "An affordable, positive, spellbinding experience!" "The best use of PTA funds ever!" Invite Peter Roop, The Pied Piper of Writing" to your school this year!
Chris Rumble
"Motivating and inspiring!... one of those kind, gentle people that attracts everyone... amazingly FUN and UPLIFTING... your genuine love for inspiring children to read is so evident... Your books are true favorites...You are touching kids' lives." Author-Illustrator-Musician, Chris Rumble, offers a READING PEP RALLY using art, music, audience participation and lots of laughter that will have your students FIRED UP to read! Kids love his highly-illustrated Adventures of Uncle Stinky series (designed for the reluctant reader). As The Reading Guitar Man, Chris performs sing-alongs to tunes your students will recognize. I'm a Believer becomes I'm a Big Reader. Twist and Shout becomes Read and Shout!, etc. Chris has visited 250 schools since 2001!
Contact Authors and Illustrators Who Visit Schools