Monday, November 10, 2014

A Good Week

It was a good week. Emily and Bobby went to a father daughter sundae bar held by her American Heritage Girl troop, and they filled a Christmas shoebox for needy children. I had a book signing and reading at the Learning Rocks Expo in Columbus and held a children's writing workshop for kids in kindergarten to sixth grade after my signing and reading was done.


The handful of children who attended my workshop worked hard on their stories, about a mouse at a birthday party, using six picture prompts I created. And although they each wrote using the same six pictures, each story was unique and quite interesting. It was so much fun to see each child write their ideas down on the paper and then start to craft them into a story. We discussed what a rough draft was and how it didn't need to be perfect. We discussed how it was good to have another person proof read to help find mistakes. We discussed the importance of reading and writing.

 

 

One special family, really made my day. The Baumgardner family, who had purchased my first book, Fern Valley, three years ago when I was at a home school convention, heard I was going to be at the expo, they made a special trip to buy book two. Their oldest daughter Katie stayed for the writing workshop and shared with me her desire to one day be an author. Her writing was quite good and I have no doubt that she will one day see her dream come true.

A last but not least, I rounded out a wonderful week by reading two fun fall books for this review. The first was Cork & Fuzz which told a story of two best friends, a muskrat named Cork and a possum named Fuzz. Fuzz believes in the saying finders-keepers, but what he finds and keeps is his friends special green stone. The story tells of the lesson Fuzz learns about keeping something that doesn't belong to him. It is a great lesson story for children six to eight without being preachy.


The second book I read was the Lonely Scarecrow. I must say I was surprised and thrilled with the beautifully embossed pages that gave a delicious texture to the fabulous illustrations. The story was quite surprising too. The lonely scarecrow just wants to make friends, but all the animals are frightened of his appearance. How he finally makes friends is lovely and unexpected.

 
Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my sequel, Return To Fern Valley! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

12 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great week indeed! I love the idea of using picture prompts for the writing workshop. What a joy to have someone make a special trip to buy your book! I'm interested in how the scarecrow makes friends; what a clever idea to use a scarecrow to discuss friendship.

    Paul R. Hewlett

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    1. Thanks for stopping by and leaving some comment love Paul. Be sure to try and find the scarecrow book because it was a gem :0)

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  2. My daughter went through the Cork and Fuzz books for a long time :) and this one was a favorite. thanks for sharing the review on KidLitBlogHop Aileen!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by and leaving some comment love Miss Reshama :0)

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  3. Coming over from the Kid Lit Hop.
    What a wonderful week you had. I love seeing what kids will write sometimes!

    I am following you now.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to follow me Miss Naila. Hope you have a great week yourself!

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  4. Again, I enjoyed reading your journey. I love the fact that you are a mum that has incorporated your love or writing into your life so readily. Taking that step into author visits is daunting, and I am yet to do it, but it is those families that really get your book that encourage you to keep going. Thanks for sharing on the Kid Lit Blog Hop

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  5. Thanks Miss Julie. When it's your turn to do an author visit you will be fabulous!!!

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  6. Amazing! I think you are doing such a great service helping to develop children's writing skills or a least an appreciation for writing. The books you have reviewed sound amazing and definitely ones I will be checking out to share with my little ones. Thank you for sharing on #KidLitBlogHop

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  7. Thanks for stopping by, thanks for the comment love, and keep blooming :0)

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  8. Wonderful book selections for fall! Thank you for sharing these on the hop.

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    1. Thanks Miss Stacie. Hope your autumn was spectacular. Now onto Winter :0)

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