Author Visits and Testimonials

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A very special day, as I read Parmesan Pig stories to the students at Slingerlands, where my kids go to elementary school. 150+ students (grades 1/2/3) in attendance throughout the day, and about as many hands raised. Jane and Connor were so proud of their own contributions to this project and helped answer the questions in the session they attended.

A special Veteran's Day event with children at the Saratoga Museum. A younger crowd for these stories (ages 3-4), with tons of excitement for the characters, rhyming stories, and illustrations.

 A big thank you to Read for Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region for the opportunity to be on their author list. I received my first request from Glendaal Elementary (Scotia) to read Parmesan Pig books to the second-grade students in their awesome library to kick off the November reading month. This program is intended to have students track the time they spend reading for a specific month and ask friends & family to sponsor/donate, in accordance with the time spent reading. Authors are selected to come to schools to inspire those efforts and read their stories. Safe to say we have some excited readers at Glendaal today with another hundred character names they might add to a story of their own some day. These 2nd graders were truly engaged with the Parmesan Pig themes of support, friendship, inclusion, acceptance, and well-being/mental health. Tons of questions. Tons of energy. And hopefully a future of kids who will help out charities.

Thank you to Johnsburg Central School in North Creek, NY for the author visitation, meeting with 7 different elementary school classrooms. The teachers were welcoming, the kids were enthusiastic, and we talked a lot about what to do when you have a creative idea (write it down), what makes a story become a book, what it means to be a supportive friend, what’s the difference between physical and mental health, and last but not least...receiving hundreds of new combinations of food-animal character names to use in future books. Hope to be back someday with the rest of the books in the series!