Dear Dara: How Can I Make Author Visits Happen?

Dear Dara,

I am a fairly new school librarian in a high school in an urban Title I district. Our reading levels are rather low and I am trying to find ways to engage our students. Although the library is busy and we have a steady flow of students, our fiction section sits undisturbed and I am constantly trying to book talk the latest title into someone's backpack.

I would love to bring an author in for a visit, but have no idea where to even start. We have very little funding to pay for anything in the school. I am fearful if I even approach the administration about my idea they will laugh me out of the office. Are there ways to make an author visit happen without having any financial resources?

Best,

Seeking an Author

Dear Seeing an Author,

An author visit is an amazing way to immerse students in reading and can definitely influence a student's life for the better. I have been witness to an enraptured audience of young minds at the edge of their seats listening to someone share their life's work. However, I have also watched kids fall asleep in a presentation, check-out, and act considerably rude.

You want to start preparing for an author visit long before they walk into your library. Selection is extremely important. Make sure you consider an author who the students are familiar with, can relate to, and who can be dynamic in person. Read an author's work before inviting them to your school and have the students familiar with at least one of their titles. Survey your students to find out what genre they like. Do not limit your selection to just fiction. There are plenty of nonfiction writers who can engage a young audience through their narrative writing or poetic prose.

Take a look at YouTube or Teachingbooks.net and do a little research before committing to someone. Many authors tend to be introverted and not everyone can capture the attention of a group of students. However, with the right speaker it can feel like a rock star just walked into your library. Look for a recorded visit to give you an idea of who the author is with an audience. If your school does not have a subscription to Teachingbooks.net, this is the perfect time to start exploring this unique database of curated literary resources and original author programming. Try signing up for two-week, free trial.

Once you have a few authors selected, use social media to reach out and connect. Although many authors have agents and handlers, many also maintain their own social media platform and encourage the connections. Take the time to reach out to publishers. Focus your attention on local authors who do not have travel expenses and the newly published. You are more likely to secure someone who just published their first book than someone with thirty titles under their belt. Don't be afraid to discover the undiscovered.

If you still haven't secured an author and are limited in funding, reach out to your local public library, independent bookstores, surrounding schools, and publishers. Sharing the expenses or piggybacking with an author who will be in town already to promote their book or has a scheduled visit to another school is a great way to keep costs down.

If an in-person author visit is not a must have, you can also connect your students with an author via Skype. Back in 2008, the Skype an Author Network (http://skypeanauthor.wikifoundry.com/) was born out of a "school visit" between Mona Kirby and a 2nd grade class. A Skype visit can be short or long, there is very little if any financial commitment, and technology has greatly improved allowing the "visit" to be interactive and easy to set-up.

Don't limit your choices even when funding is an obstacle. Your students are worth the time and effort to make the connections. Continue exploring ways to build your students' enthusiasm and reach out to your administration. Sharing your vision with them might just get you the funding needed to support your author hunt.

Sincerely,

Dara