by Kim Normanwww.coolschoolvisits.comand www.kimnormanbooks.com

PlanningYour

AuthorSchool Visit

with sample lesson plans, time breakdownsand suggestions for

age-appropriate activities

with sample lesson plans, time breakdownsand suggestions for

age-appropriate activities

Copyright © 2018 by Kimberly Norman

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For per-mission requests, write to the author at the email address below.

Published By: Kimberly Norman • www.CoolSchoolVisits.com • Contact: kimnorman@mac.com • Published in the USA

If you find this booklet helpful, I hope you’ll check out the whole book! This booklet is an excerpt from my recently published, 44,000 word book, available as ebook or paperback on Amacon. The book offers in-depth information on how children’s writers and illustrators market their books by doing paid author school visits. It answers such questions as:

• How do I set up an author visit?• How much should I charge?• How do I find schools that host authors?• Do I need a contract?• How do I arrange an advance book sale?• How do I hold a book signing?• What should I put on my author website?• How do I promote myself as a children’s book author who visits schools?

• Are self-published authors hired to do author visits? (Good news! Yes!)• Who arranges the visit?• Do I need a brochure?• What kind of equipment and technology do I need?• What goes into an author presentation?• Do I need different programs for different ages?• How long should the programs be?• How do I know what to say? How do I say it?• Do I need insurance? If so, where do I buy it?

Aside from practical insider information and action steps, the book shares the joys, pains, hilar-ity and strategy of author visits through interviews with more than a dozen authors who have visited thousands of schools over the years.

It’s a book! It’s a book!

Amazon Link here:

If the above link doesn’t work, just search for the book directly in Amazon:

Sell Books and get PAID doing Author School Visits

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H3CFZJ3

Deciding what shouldgo into your presentation

Before anyone invites you to GIVE a presentation, you have to CREATE one. I had only seen one author presentation before I became an author myself, so how did I know what to add put into my presentation? Here’s how I answered that question for myself: While I had little experience watching

author presentations, I had attended plenty of writing workshops. So that’s how I thought of my presentation: as a writer’s workshop for kids.

Author presentations are as different as the books they’re about. Some are more autobiographical, with Power-Point slides showing the author as a baby or book-loving middle schooler. A few are more like lessons – fun ones, I hope! Some involve reading from the book, or reading the whole book, if it’s a picture book. Some are akin to a keynote. Some are more like work-shops, with lots of audience participa-tion. Some are “how I got published”

chronologies. All of them take into account the age of the audience. (Kindergartners and keynotes do not mix!)

So where will yours fall in that spectrum?

First of all, an author visit is not the same as simply showing up at a school to read your book to the kids. That can be fun, but it’s not an author visit. Or, at least, it’s not an author PRESENTATION. There’s more showmanship to a presentation; there are more visuals (via PowerPoint or even just props passed around), and there’s more give and take between the author and the audience.

When devising your presentation, you’ll want to ask yourself:

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•What is my niche?Do you write funny fiction picture books? Nonfiction science books? It’s not that you can’t have se-rious moments in your program if you write funny fiction–for instance, sharing that you were bullied about wearing thick glasses as a child. And you can definitely inject humor into a session highlighting your mostly UN-funny science books, but it will help you to focus your presentation if you pay atten-tion to the genre of your books and your own natural style as a presenter. Everybody can’t be a come-dian. It’s fine if you’re not. You can still hold an audience’s attention with your passion for your topic.

Let’s look at a few niches and how you can match your presentation to one of them.

Fiction picture books: You’re most likely to be presenting to elementary schools, so a keynote-style presentation is out. A reading of one of your books may be in, depending on the age of your audience. (You will not be offering the same program to 1st graders as to 4th & 5th graders. More about that later.) After the reading – which should take about 8-10 minutes – you’ll want to offer fun facts and activities. Later in the chapter I’ll offer sample plans for a variety of presentations.

Science and other nonfiction books: Naturally, you’ll want to focus on the topic of your book(s.) If you have more than one book in print, you may want to concentrate on just one sub-ject. Or your the whole program could be about how you gather your facts, sharing intriguing things you learned along the way. Again, your programs will differ, by age. Younger students will need more concrete facts; older ones can handle more complex concepts. It’s likely your book is aimed at only one of these age groups, but that’s okay. If it’s a book about weather for 5 to 7 year olds, the book is too young for 3rd and up. Rather than being read to, older students are more likely to enjoy learning about how you compiled your research. Older kids love to hear about the stuff that didn’t make it into the book. Or you can really switch it up, and do an older pro-gram about “how to get published” and save the simple science program for younger stu-dents.

Books for older readers(middle school and up):If you write for this age, you’re more likely to find yourself on stage at a lectern than authors who present to younger readers. If you’re not comfortable there, feel free to tell your hosts you’d rather be down on the same level as your audience.

•What is the age of my audience?You’ll need to design different presentations for various grades. Your sessions can be variations on the same program, but they do need to be different. Regardless of the age (as a picture book writer, I have presented up to 8th grade), you’ll probably want to break your programs into segments.

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I used to write out “lesson plans” of a sort, tim-ing out each segment. Here’s a sample lesson plan for a combined kindergarten and 1st grade assembly. Items labeled “low tech” mean I’m simply holding up physical objects.

K & 1 9 a.m. to 9:303 min. Opening/intro10 min. Sharing my writing

tools: (low tech)8 min. Reading of

Crocodaddy (projected on PowerPoint)5 min. “Five Little Crocs” chant (something I teach on the spot)

This is a combination of PowerPoint and movement.3 min. “Storytime Boogie” closing song: 3 min.

(I do a Karaoke version of this song which I wrote myself.)

These numbers are approximate, totaling approximately 30 minutes. For Ks & 1s, I don’t tend to take questions because, as adorable as they are, kids in this age group just wanna tell ya stuff. (“I have a dog, too!”) By 2nd grade, they’ve learned how to ask a proper question, so you may want to allow 5 to 10 minutes Q&A time at the end of each session for students 2nd grade and up.

Important tip: Remember the rule about the ideal number of children’s birthday party guests? The rule is: the honoree invites one guest for each year he/she will be celebrating. A 5-year-old is allowed to invite five guests, a 10-year-old invites ten, etc. We’re going to apply that same rule to the time (in minutes) of your talking segments. Five-year-olds can handle 5-minute segments. Eight-year-olds can handle 8-minute segments.

You’ll note, in my lesson plan above, that I have some eight- and 10-minute segments for children who are younger than that, but these segments involve props and visuals. With enhancements, you can stretch the minutes-per-year rule. But if you’re just talking, with no props or visuals? Trust me, no matter how hilarious you are, kindergartners will start to wiggle by the end of minute six. I have not only seen it, I have asked teachers to time it for me. So plan for plenty of variety.

•What do I want to accomplish?

Here are some worthy goals for an author program:• To inspire your audience.• To entertain.• To show that “authors are people, too.”

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• To talk about your writing/illustrating process.• To celebrate books. You’ll be focusing on your own books, of course, but it can also be

about celebrating books in general.• To share knowledge and skills that students can practice in their own work or apply to

tests. (I call these “takeaways.”)• To demonstrate actual writing (and even revising) during the presentation.• If you write nonfiction, to share more about the subject of your book, including how

you did your research.• To talk about the parts that didn’t make it into the final draft. You can share the pas-

sage you loved but your editor talked you into cutting!

Other takeaways for the students:• To learn how to became a writer.• To learn how YOU became a writer.• To learn about the publishing process.• To learn about editing and revising. Students are relieved to hear that professional

writers struggle with first drafts, too.

•What if my book is for older readers and I’m asked to present to kindergartners?

Trust me. You will.

An author visit is a big expense for a school. They like to get the most they can out of a day with an author, so – regardless of the target age of your book – you’ll likely be asked to present to all ages in the school, sometimes as low as preschoolers. I always try to get out of preschool presentations, if I can. Sorry, but I don’t think preschoolers really get it, since they don’t know what an author is or does.

Still, a librarian once made me laugh when she defended the inclusion of preschoolers. “If we don’t include them, they’ll pitch a fit,” she said, adding, “I mean the teachers, not the kids.”

I guess preschool teachers deserve a break from class, too.

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Kindergarteners from a school in Hong Kong perform the hand motions of my “Five Little Crocodiles” chant after a Skype reading of my Crocodaddy picture book.

•Grade-By-Grade Breakdown of activities you might include...

The following is a breakdown of audience ages, based on grade level.The data I share is:

1. The number of minutes before students that age begin to fidget (wiggle.)2. My recommended maximum program length for that age.3. Whether I routinely take questions from that age group. (In other words, you’re wel-

come to, if you like. You may have better luck than I do squelching the “Me, too!” non-questions.)

As you can see below, there’s some overlap in the things I offer each group. This is good, because it’s these intersecting items you’ll want to use in programs that combine more than one grade level. If the level is TOO wide, (say, K thru 3 combined) I always warn the coordinator that I’m going to shoot for a middle ground: meaning some of the stuff will be a bit over the heads of the kindergartners and (may-be) a teensy below the level of the 3rd graders… although, I’ll generally lean more towards the latter than the former. I’d rather the program be more useful and informative for 3rd graders, who might be able to apply some concepts to their tests, than for kindergartners, who don’t have to worry about that yet.

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Tip for addressing a wide age span: If I have a wider than optimal age span in an assembly, I’ll often give the youngest group members a “job.” This makes them feel special and keeps older students from feeling insulted by “baby stuff.” By this I mean, if you have a certain spot in the reading of your book where it would be natural for kindergartners and 1st graders to chime in, give them the “job” of doing this. It’s possible older students will join in, too, once they relax. But this way they won’t feel as though you’re treating them like babies.

Okay, on to the age breakdowns...

Preschool:Minutes until they begin to wiggle: 3 minutesMaximum program length: 30 minutes (20 is even better)Take questions? Absolutely not!Activities you might include:• Reading your book, if it’s a picture book

Small group (15-20 or fewer) reading from the actual book Large group (More than 20) projected onto a screen

• Songs & chants. It’s possible they won’t join in, which is fine. This doesn’t mean they’re not enjoying it.

• Props and/or puppets.• Call and response (see page 11), songs and/or chants

Be firm that preschool means AT LEAST age 2.5 and up (preferably 3 to 4!) I once found myself

surrounded by children as young as 18 months. They didn’t understand about staying seated nor did they know they shouldn’t all rush up to grab the props. My usual “I’ll choose the QUIEST person with their hand in the air” didn’t work for children this young.

Unless they’re included with kindergartners, groups this age are usually quite small, so no need to bother with projecting your book on PowerPoint, if there are fewer than 15 or 20 students. If your book’s language level is too high for them to understand, you might focus on the book’s subject matter, instead. For instance, if it’s about monkeys, maybe you can bring a stuffed monkey and talk about that, simply showing the cover of your book. You can also explain what an author does, describing the difference between an author and illustrator. Word to the wise: Do NOT ask them for questions. Kids this age just want to tell you stuff. (“I have a kitty, too!”) Instead, you might ask them questions, but make your queries “raise your hand” sorts of ques-tions: “Raise your hand if you have ever seen a lion.” Then tell them they can put their hands down. Sometimes they just leave them in the air, forgetting to put them down.

Kindergarten:Minutes until they begin to wiggle: 5Maximum program length: 30Take questions? Not usuallyActivities you might include:• Stories about your childhood• Reading your book, if it’s a picture book

Small group (15-20 or fewer) reading from the actual book Large group (More than 20) projected onto a screen

• Songs & chants. It’s possible they won’t join in, which is fine. This doesn’t mean they’re not enjoying it.

• Props and/or puppets.• Call and response (see page 11), songs and/or chants

This is a group that changes vastly from the fall to the spring semester. They’ve learned a lot about reading and books and behavior from September to, say, April. So, while I listed 30 min-utes up there as the maximum program length, I have found I can keep kindergartners engaged for 45 minutes by the springtime… which is helpful, since schools often want to combine their kindergartners and 1st graders into a single assembly.

This is also an age where they will make statements rather than ask questions when you call on them, so I avoid Q&A with this age, as well.

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1st grade:Minutes until they begin to wiggle: 5 to 7Maximum program length: 30 in the fall;

45 in the spring (maybe!)Take questions? Probably not, especially since they’re

often paired with kindergartners in one large assembly.

Activities you might include:• Call and response (see page 11), songs and chants• Stories about your childhood• Your challenges & triumphs writing your book(s)• Extra little facts about your book or its subject• Reading your book on PowerPoint for a large group• Props* Songs and chants

2nd grade:Minutes until they begin to wiggle: 7 to 8Maximum program length: 45 to 50Take questions? Yes.Activities you might include:• Stories about your childhood• Your challenges & triumphs writing your book(s)• Extra facts about your book or its subject• Reading your book on PowerPoint (for a large group)• Props• Songs (You might be able to get away with songs for this age group, especially

if they’re combined with younger students. But try to gauge how sophisticated they are. There can be a great variance in sophistication from one school to an-other. City kids tend to be more sophisticated than kids from small, rural towns. Sorry to generalize, but that has been my observation.)

Second graders are my “peeps.” I just adore them. They’re young enough to have “unjaded,” childlike enthusiasm, but old enough to understand more complex concepts. This is also true of third and some fourth grade groups, depending on your location, but 2nd graders: I just love ‘em! You’ll find that you settle into an age group with which you’re most comfortable, too. This isn’t to say you can’t establish a connection with all age groups. Each age has its merits, but you’ll definitely begin to have a preference, which is fine. That’s the group you’ll look forward to all day. When you’re at work, it’s nice to have something to look forward to!

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3rd grade:Minutes until they begin to wiggle: around 10Maximum program length: 45 to 60Take questions? Yes.Activities you might include:• Stories about your childhood• Your challenges & triumphs writing your book(s)• Extra facts about your book or its subject• Reading your book on PowerPoint (for a large group)• Props (more sophisticated than the props you shared with younger groups, unless

they’re things like dinosaur droppings, which are cool no matter HOW old you are!)• Writing activities... though you may want to save writing for smaller group workshops.

Third graders are a lot of fun, too. By this age, they’re generally able to grasp any sort of activi-ty you have planned for 4th, 5th, even 6th graders.

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4th grade:Pretty much the same list as 3rd grade, although in some schools, they will have already adopted the kind of reserve you don’t usually see until 5th grade, so you’ll have to guage the “temperature” of the room, depending on the age mix.

5th – 7th grade:Minutes until they begin to wiggle: 12-15Maximum program length: 45 to 60Take questions? Yes.Activities you might include:• Stories about your childhood• Your challenges & triumphs writing your book(s)• Extra facts about your book or its subject• Reading your book on PowerPoint for a large group• Props (more sophisticated than the props you shared with younger

groups, unless they’re things like dinosaur droppings, which are cool no matter HOW old you are!)

• Writing activities (Although you may want to save writing for smaller group workshops.)

Middle schoolers (and I include 5th grade into this category, even if

they’re housed in the elementary school) have reached “the age of not believing,” to quote a song from Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks. They can be won over, but they might make you work harder than the 2nd and 3rd graders do.

With the exception of more “innocent” middle-schoolers in tiny, rural towns, most middle school-ers will need warming up before you get them participating eagerly. Usually, you’ll have one or two eager readers/writers in this group who are so excited about your visit that they won’t be shy about raising their hands to answer or ask questions. But, until you really warm them up, the number of hands in the air will be far lower than offered by their little brothers and sisters.

8th – 12th grade:Minutes until they begin to wiggle: If you do your job right, (and with a

little luck) they won’t!Maximum program length: 45 to 60Take questions? Yes.Activities you might include:• Stories about your childhood• Your challenges & triumphs writing your book(s)• Extra facts about your book or its subject• Reading selected passages from your book, if it’s for older readers.• Writing activities (Although you may want to save writing for smaller

group workshops.)

Tips for warming the crowd:1. Be sincere and talk about your struggles. Don’t make yourself look like a buffoon, but do re-count a story or two about your conflicts as a writer, recently or as a youngster. Keep the stories light and humorous, but not so goofy that students begin to think you’re too silly to respect.

2. Devise an activity that gets them working together, or even working in competition. I have one workshop that involves pairs of students working together to pop a balloon. Once I’ve called on

the first group, others are eager to demonstrate their balloon-popping skills, too. Another of my PowerPoint presentations offers a selection of verbs. Once I’ve called on one or two to select a verb, more and more hands shoot into the air from eager participants.

3. Allow time for a Q&A at the end, but–earlier in the program–ask them questions. Not just questions you know they’ll know the answer to, but opened-ended questions as well. For instance, ask them for suggestions of how to get your protagonist out of a predicament. You can also ask questions for which they need only raise their hands, as a group. “Has anyone here ever seen a bald eagle?” This begins the back-and-forth that will warm them to your message.

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•But I’ve never been a teacher. How do I know what is appropriate for each age group?

If you’re a parent, you can use your experience with your own kids. This applies not only to the mate-rial you present, but to how you interact with them. There’s a newscaster in our region who drives me crazy when he talks to kids on a local news program. It’s clear he either has no kids of his own, or he doesn’t spend much time with them, because he talks to his young guests as though they’re toddlers, using an artificially booming voice, calling everyone “buddy.” That stuff is for two-year-olds.

When you’re talking to children, just TALK to them. Don’t put on an affected Romper Room voice. Sure, you’ll limit your vocabulary a bit for preschoolers, and you’ll steer clear of using words like “via-bility” with second graders. Other than that, don’t change your manner of speech just because they’re kids. Yes, try to inject enthusiasm into your voice. Use interest-grabbing speaking techniques like var-ied pitch, speed and volume. But these are techniques you’d employ with adults, too. Kids are entitled to the same degree of respect.

As for what they’re ready to absorb, I would direct you to the Common Core Standards, but those are pretty jargon-heavy, and the website is dense to navigate. You’ll have better luck if you Google terms like “Things a 2nd grader should know,” (3rd, 4th, etc.) This will lead you to easier-to-absorb informa-tion. Don’t feel as though you need to be an expert on the various grades to present to them. If you follow the general guidelines I’ve listed here, for each grade, you’ll be fine.

After a while, you’ll begin to know, from your own material, what works best for each grade. I’ve also learned which age group will laugh at which jokes. Bag on my head: guaranteed laugh from kinder-gartners and first graders. Third graders would just think I’m a dope.

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What is call-and-response?It’s a variation of “When I say (A-B), you say (C!)” and younger kids love it. As a child, you played call-and-response in the pool, remember? “Marco!” “Polo!” It’s also a great atten-tion-grabbing, audience-focusing activity. Some examples might be:

Leader: Crocodaddy, Crocodaddy! Leader: This is the way we…Audience: Whatcha gonna do! Audience: Read a book!

You can devise any sort of call-and-response combo to go with the sub-ject of your book. You can also use it as way to quiet the group, such as:

Leader: Purple, yellow, orange, brown.Audience: Now we’re going to quiet down!

To set up a call-and-response, you simply demonstrate it to youraudience, then have them practice it with you a few times.A good call-and-response tends to have a strong rhythm andperhaps a bit of rhyme. Google the term “Call and response for kids” and you’ll discover lots of fun suggestions.

Now get out there and have fun visiting schools!

About the author,Kim Norman

www.kimnorman.comKim Norman is the author of more than a dozen chil-dren’s books published by Sterling, Scholastic and two Penguin imprints. Ten On The Sled, (Sterling, illustrated by Liza Woodruff) spent weeks on Barnes and Noble’s Top Ten bestseller list and has been released in Korean and German editions as well as appearing in Scholastic Book Fairs in schools around North America.

Among her books is I Know a Wee Piggy (2012, Dial Books for Young Readers, illustrated by Henry Cole), which was reviewed in the New York Times, and is listed on the Texas “2x2 Reading List,” as well being selected for distribution by Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The Bot that Scott Built (Sterling, 2016) was a Kohl’s Cares selection in the summer of 2016. Kim is represented by the Andrea Brown Literary Agency in San Diego. Kim has traveled to more than 200 schools in 24 states, spreading the “gospel” of bedtime reading. Kim and her husband, who have two grown sons. live in Virginia, in a little house shaded by giant pecan trees.

COMING IN 2019!