Author Visits

Virtual Presentations:

Reading to Sierra Elementary School students.

From Idea to Book: grades 2-8, 50 minutes

In this humorous PowerPoint presentation, I share the process and strategies I use to get and develop story ideas, write my first draft and finally, to revise. All of the strategies shared are kid-friendly and student-tested from my days as a writing teacher in both elementary and middle school.  I end by reading my book, JOHN MUIR WRESTLES A WATERFALL. (Please know that I am happy to go into more detail or emphasize certain stages of the writing process in order to support some of the skills and strategies that you are working on in your classroom.)

From Idea to Book: grades 1-2,

I do a shorter version of the above presentation for K-1 students.

Writing Workshop: grades 3-8, 50 minutes

I also enjoy doing in-school writing workshops with smaller groups of students, usually 1-2 classes at a time. Let me know what you want me to focus the lesson on. I have done workshops with students on finding and narrowing down an idea, showing vs telling, and nonfiction research.

Real Research: Teaching Nonfiction Reading and Writing: grades 4-5 and 6-8 and teachers, 50 minutes

A nonfiction writer has to be efficient, effective and engaged when doing research and later when sharing what was learned.  In this presentation I cover the research, reading and writing strategies I’ve used in the course of writing my nonfiction books.


I have also presented at book fairs, family literacy nights and conferences for teachers, worked as a writer-in-residence at a single school and taught Teachers As Writers classes. I am happy to work with teachers to create workshops or refine presentations to meet their students’ needs.

Feel free to email me with questions about the presentations and also for fees.