Martha Rodriguez, author of A Reel Cool Summer, recently gave a reading at the Sacred Hearts Academy in Honolulu, HI. In her blog, she writes about her nerves, her excitement, and the experience of reading to the kids. The experience was so rewarding for Martha from the start, she wondered: “This is a dream, right?” The kids loved meeting the author, becoming involved in the story, asking questions and sharing their thoughts. Martha shares the highlights of the experience here. On her blog, she gives the full story and special thanks to all involved. Thanks for sharing this fun story, Martha! (:3
I read A Reel Cool Summer to six classes of smart, sweet, curious, silly, beautiful girls in three days. They listened carefully to the story, making mental notes of each detail. They laughed out loud as the characters in the book did, and said, harebrained, ridiculous, funny things.
More fun was in the works when students dressed up as the characters in the book and reenacted the movie scenes from the story. Those very simple costume pieces I had purchased and made brought out the actor in each child. One became a pirate who doesn't really like broccoli, another turned into a princess who gets help crying from an onion, two squeaky girls transformed into cute guinea pigs who turn out to be mean, evil aliens, and, finally, an artistic visionary stepped into the role of movie director shouting, "ACTION!" and "CUT!" at just the right times.
The students asked questions and told me their favorite parts of the book. One told a story about making a silly movie with her dad and brother. Another student talked about important things to remember when writing her own book for a class assignment. "Always start a sentence with a capital letter and finish with a period or a question mark," she reminded herself and her classmates.
As the children left the library at the end of their time with me, they repeated lines from the book and talked to each other about their favorite characters. I had just spent three amazing days surrounded by sweet children and the terrific adults who work every day to encourage them to read, write, explore and wonder. What more can a children's book author ask for? Nothing, I say!
Martha Rodriguez is a wife and mother of three and the
author of A Reel Cool Summer, her first picture book.
Click here to visit Martha's website.