Tuesday brought us award-winning illustrator Brian Lies and famed author Farhana Zia. Brian has illustrated more than 30 books including the NY Times-bestselling bat series “Bats at the Beach.” During his presentation students in grades K- 2 learned about the steps Brian took to become an illustrator and how his determination and will to succeed helped to shape his success. Farhana shared her goal as a writer is to " create meaning from the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of things she has experienced in her life". In addition to reading from her recent book, Farhana cooked a traditional meal and allowed students to explore the cultural dress of her stories.

Today we enjoyed a visit from Debbi Michiko Florence, author of “Just Be Cool,” “Jenna Sakai,” and “Last Chance Academy.” Students in grades 3-5 enjoyed hearing how Debbi developed her characters and made them relatable to young adult audiences. Simultaneously kindergarten students enjoyed ' Camp Read A lot' and listened to stories, set up tents, fished for sight words and practiced phonics rules with 'secret flashlights'!

In addition to this, we learned that our very own Physical Education teacher, Mr. Tiller, is a published author and we are proud to celebrate his achievements as well! It has been an impressive few days around here! Many thanks to our families and PTO for arranging this annual event and providing the funds to bring such talent to our students.