Author Visit

Brynne Barnes, author of Colors of Me, came to visit the combined 1st/2nd grade classrooms yesterday. It was a wonderful way for us to find out many things about being an author. For instance, many of us were surprised to learn that Brynne and the illustrator of the book, Annika Nelson, have never met! They were "put together" by their publisher, and communicated via Skype or email.

Another thing that surprised us was just how long it took to write a book, and how many times the words need revising. Brynne worked on Colors of Me for about two years, and made too many changes and revisions to count. The illustrator also had to make revisions - and Brynne showed us a few examples of the before and after.

This was a particularly important lesson for our beginner authors. Most - if not all - children this age want to be "done" after they write a story. We've been learning that most times, a rough draft is just that - rough! And we want to make our writing the very best it can be.

Brynne read the book, with much audience participate and rapt attention, and then read some of her drafts so we could hear the changes .. and sometimes learn why something needed to be changed.

Many thanks to Brynne for visiting, and to her former teacher who arranged the visit - Christine Hume. Thank you, thank you!