Among the current generation of teachers, many spent their childhoods seeing authors as out of reach鈥攐therworldly even. Sending a fan letter was often a symbolic gesture more than anything, since responses were unexpected and rare.
But now, some of those educators, particularly at the elementary and middle school levels, are trying to change that dynamic by connecting students and writers鈥攁nd they鈥檙e using technology tools like Twitter, Skype, and even Google Docs to do so.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of changing the way we bring literacy to kids,鈥� said Stacey Riedmiller, a 4th grade English/language arts teacher in Reading, Ohio. When these students grow up, 鈥淚鈥檇 not be surprised if we saw a huge influx of authors and illustrators.鈥�
Teachers often say they use social media as an entry point for making those connections. They might reach out to a writer who has an active Twitter handle and let him or her know their students enjoyed the book. Many authors respond to those sorts of messages, and at times, a conversation begins online.
These days, more authors are also doing virtual school visits鈥攗sing Skype, Google Hangout, or Facetime. While in-person visits can cost a school as much as a couple thousand dollars in author fees and travel costs, these short video-chat sessions are generally free if the students have read the author鈥檚 book.
鈥淢y kids don鈥檛 look at the classroom anymore as having four walls,鈥� said Rayna Freedman, a 5th grade teacher and instructional-technology specialist in Mansfield, Mass., 鈥渂ecause they can now reach out to anybody.鈥�
Such virtual interactions, many say, can be beneficial for students, educators, and writers alike. For students, they offer a behind-the-curtain look at the writing, revising, and publishing processes and convey that authors are real people. For teachers, they give insight into the kinds of questions students have about being a writer.
And for authors, these conversations are both a boon for marketing and a source of authentic feedback from the students they鈥檙e writing for.
鈥淚 find that when I get too caught up stressing about the business aspect of children鈥檚 books, talking to these young readers helps ground me, reminding me of the joy and why I do this,鈥� Debbie Ridpath Ohi, the Toronto-based author and illustrator of Where Are My Books?, wrote in an email.
鈥楴ot How It Works鈥�
Author Julie Falatko last month kicked off a Skype call with 5th graders at Oxford Elementary School in Oxford, Maine, by introducing her pet dog to break the ice.
She then gave the class a preview of the second book in her Snappsy the Alligator series, which doesn鈥檛 come out until this fall. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a little bit of a secret in the book, so you need to keep the secret,鈥� Falatko, Skyping from her home about an hour away, told the group.
After reading the book鈥攑ausing every so often to point out the illustrator Tim Miller鈥檚 good work (鈥淟ook at all that pizza, you guys!鈥�)鈥攖he writer took student questions.
Students were curious about her inspirations and narrative choices (鈥淲hy is Snappsy so grumpy?鈥� one asked). With steering from the teacher, the conversation turned to revision.
鈥淲hen I was your age, I thought authors sat down and wrote the words and they were done, and illustrators would sit down and draw the pictures and they were done,鈥� Falatko said. 鈥淭hat is so totally not how it works.鈥�
She waved an early draft of the original Snappsy for the students to see. 鈥淰ersion 18鈥攖hat鈥檚 a low version number for me. Generally, it takes me about 30 drafts on average to get the story right,鈥� said Falatko.
The book continued to change, she said, up until it was published鈥攎ore than three years after she had started writing it.
鈥淒o you work on more than one piece of writing at a time?鈥� asked the teacher, Melissa Guerrette.
鈥淚 do. 鈥� I find I鈥檓 much better at revising if I forget about it for a bit,鈥� Falatko said. 鈥淚 can look at it with fresh eyes almost as if I didn鈥檛 write it.鈥�
Guerrette reiterated that point for her students. 鈥淒o any of you sometimes need to take a break from what you鈥檙e working on?鈥� Yeses were heard all around.
The discussions students have about revision can be illuminating, Guerrette, who has been Skyping with writers for about five years, said. At times, students open up to authors in ways they don鈥檛 with their teachers.
For instance, they might tell an author that they struggle with revision because they 鈥渄on鈥檛 want to feel like they did all that writing for nothing,鈥� Guerrette said.
Hearing the questions students ask can also be a method of formative assessment. Through Skype sessions, Guerrette said she鈥檚 learned 鈥渨hat [students] knew about being a reader, the way they value books, what some of their preferences were, what they thought of themselves as writers, and their interpretation of what writers do.鈥�
Authors do these chats for various reasons鈥攖o promote books, to help with the creative process, to stay connected to the age range they鈥檙e writing for, to make a sometimes-isolating profession a bit less so.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to write for kids, you have to be around kids,鈥� said Barbara O鈥機onnor, an Asheville, N.C.-based author, who does about four or five free Skype sessions per month. 鈥淢y son is all grown up, and I don鈥檛 have access unless I make the effort to travel. But I can Skype with kids in Georgia or Hawaii.鈥�
Rapid Response
Recently, Freedman, the Massachusetts teacher, reached out to O鈥機onnor on Twitter with a link to a shared document. Freedman鈥檚 class had read O鈥機onnor鈥檚 book Wish, and each student had written comments for the author.
鈥淚 tweeted out around 12:55, and by 1 p.m., she鈥檇 already responded on Twitter,鈥� Freedman said. 鈥淢ind you, I鈥檝e never met her.鈥�
O鈥機onnor asked for access to edit the Google Doc, so that she could respond to each individual student鈥攚hich she did within the hour. 鈥淭he look on their faces when they were like, 鈥楾he author actually responded to my comment 鈥� ,鈥� 鈥� Freedman recalled. 鈥淭his was amazing.鈥�
Social-media interactions can be effective forms of advertisement, said Tracy van Straaten, the vice president for publicity and education/library marketing at Scholastic, 鈥渓ike word-of-mouth amplified.鈥� But it鈥檚 not something her company pushes on writers. 鈥淪ome of the authors are super engaged on social media and some aren鈥檛, and that鈥檚 OK,鈥� she said.
Tracey Baptiste, the author of The Jumbies, who spent her early career as a teacher, tends to use her personal Facebook page to connect with teachers and librarians. 鈥淲ith Facebook, I can come back three hours later and participate in the conversation, and somebody else can pick it up two weeks from now,鈥� she said.
As the technology has improved, more authors have been interested in doing virtual visits, according to van Straaten.
Erin Downing, the author of The Quirks, is a big fan of classroom Skype visits鈥攕he does about 30 to 40 a year. 鈥淚 hear from teachers sometimes that they think they鈥檙e bothering you to reach out,鈥� said the Minneapolis-based writer. 鈥淚f I was overwhelmed, I鈥檇 stop. 鈥� This is an industry that鈥檚 filled with so much self-doubt and worry. To get that positive affirmation every once in a while is really lovely.鈥�
With a day job as a software engineer, Josh Funk, author of Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast, can鈥檛 actually go to schools often, so he spends his Friday lunch breaks Skyping with classes. For World Read Aloud Day in February, he took the day off and did 21 virtual visits.
While reaching out to authors can be intimidating, a single interaction can snowball quickly, teachers say. The online children鈥檚 literature sphere is active, engaged, and supportive of one another.
鈥淚 think the kid-lit community, it feels large until you鈥檙e kind of in it,鈥� said Riedmiller, the Ohio teacher. 鈥淏ut everyone knows everyone.鈥� Authors introduce teachers to other authors. Teachers pass on the names of authors who Skype.
Several online hubs for children鈥檚 book aficionados have fed those relationships. The Nerdy Book Club, a website devoted to discussing children鈥檚 and young adult titles, was started by four teachers in 2011 and now has more than 60,000 people on its RSS feed.
Delving into these online communities has another benefit, some teachers and authors say: the formation of close friendships across the professions.
鈥淭o get to know these people who like the same kinds of books that I do and care about kids the way I do, you have a ton in common,鈥� said Downing. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the best part of both of our jobs.鈥�
