Author+and+Illustrator+Visits

===Due to the generosity of the Red Oak PTA and the District 112 Education Foundation, Red Oak School has been so fortunate to have enjoyed presentations from many authors and illustrators over the years. These visits are so for the students. ===

Author/Illustrator Visits for 2012/2013
[|Candace Fleming]March 1, 2012

media type="youtube" key="cY82VSmZIUA" height="258" width="460" [|Margaret Peterson Haddix]  Haddix explained to children that she finds her ideas for her books from real life. Then she thinks of the most unlikely thing imaginable and then tap dances around it to create a great story.

[|Mary Amato]  Visited Red Oak on October 10, 2012 and engaged students in on the spot writing exercises using her WOW writing formula. W: the main character WANTS something O: there is an OBSTACLE in the way W: The main character WINS in the end

[|Matthew Cordell] on February 15, 2013 

media type="youtube" key="xiME91TRjcs" height="315" width="560"

**Author/Illustrator Visits for 2011/2012**
 [|Keir Graff]: October 18, 2011, sponsored by The Book Stall, presented his new book //The Other Felix//, to Red Oak's fourth grade students. Graff explained to students: "Good writing involves rewriting".

[|Lisa Graff]: Presented to Red Oak's third, fourth, and fifth graders on November 16, 2011. She explained to students that an author's number one job is to make you want to keep reading the book. Her number one rule: don't be boring! She helped students learn to make their writing more interesting by using imagery, such as similes and metaphors. Miss Graff also explained that re-writing is a huge part of being an author.

[|Tammy Bronson]: Presented to all Red Oak students on February 10, 2012. Bronsom explained that her stories revolve around a hero with a problem. She also pointed out the importance of doing research and becoming an expert on whatever you are writing about.

Author Tami Lewis Brown visited Red Oak on2, 2012 while she was in Chicago for a writers' convention! She discussed her book: //Soar, Elinor//, a biography about Elinor Smith, a young woman who followed her dream of becoming a pilot in the early 1900s when women did not do such things. Brown explained how she conducted her research at The Library of Congress, and in old airplane hangers and at the Aronautics Museum in Washington D. C.

[|Sarah Weeks]: March, 2012 Sarah Weeks impressed upon students the importance of a "story arc" with a strong beginning that pulls the reader in to the middle, and ending of a book. media type="youtube" key="eVM-NKkbyzA" height="315" width="420"

media type="youtube" key="8FCfm8yPhlE" height="315" width="420"

media type="youtube" key="Ra47jdrCsxw" height="315" width="420" **Previous Author/Illustrator Visit to Red Oak**

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Author/illustrator [|Charise Mericle Harper] visited Red Oak on May 3, 2011 and inspired students to use their creativity so it will grow! <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Read a recent interview with [|Charise Mericle Harper]

[|Jose Luis Orozco Visit]
Wednesday, May 18 10am – 11am

Virtual Author Visit: Skyping with [|Dan Gutman], May, 2011


On October 5, 2010, author [|Aaron Reynolds] spent a day at Red Oak teaching students in a hands-on fashion, how the written words and illustrations come together in the form of a book.Students became super heros and solved mysteries!

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Illustrator [|David Catrow] visited Red Oak on February 23, 2010. Author [|Candace Fleming] shared her writing secrets with students on May 10, 2010. <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> David Catrow

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Candace Fleming

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Author/Illustrator [|Steven Kellogg]: Spring, 2009 <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">

Bill Buczinzky of [|A Child's Voice]: Poetry Nights in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011

[|Kate and Sarah Klise: 2008]