Tag Archive for James Preller school visits

Photos from Some Recent School Visits

March 24, 2025 / / No comments

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I just thought I’d post a few of these shots, with and without captions, depending. 

I’ve got a busy week ahead of me, with four days of school visits, Tuesday-Friday, and then on Saturday the Poughkeepsie Children’s Book Festival. 

I’m dancing as fast as I can. 

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This is from last week, a local school.

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This last shot was kind of amazing. My first day in Tulsa, OK, and my first presentatiion: 450 5th-graders in a gigantic gym. Whoa!

 

TEACHERS, PTO MEMBERS, SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS:

In the world of author visits, I am fairly unique because I can share age-appropriate books, in paperback (cheap!), for PreK-8. Each presentation is different and, like the books themselves, geared specifically for the age and interest levels of the audience. 

I live in the Albany area of NY state, and will happily travel by car or plane to any location in the U.S. and beyond. 

Some titles typically discussed: 

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My Favorite Color Is . . .

February 19, 2025 / / No comments

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When I visit schools, young readers often ask questions in superlatives. What’s my favorite book? My favorite author, color, food, etc. And perhaps because I am an adult, I tend not to think about things in those terms. So I always fumble for answers, offering lame responses, since nothing I say makes sense to me. Except for color. I have, at last, a satisfactory answer to that one.
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My favorite color is gray.
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It wasn’t always that way. I guess it grew on me.
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(Sidenote: For blog purposes, I have to categorize posts. I didn’t know whether to put this under “School Visits” or “Scary Tales.”)
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Category: School Visits / Tags: , ,

Cookies & Conversation & School Visits

February 12, 2025 / / 2 comments

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Here’s a snap of a display from a recent school visit in Tulsa, OK:

 

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While I doubt this is an original idea, I want to take credit for it anyway. It’s become one of my favorite parts of any school visit when the schedule allows. 

For an elementary school, K-5, I typically do 3 1/2 presentations. I like to add a short one (25 minutes) with PreK/K-only, where we keep things simple and age-appropriate; works better for everyone. Then I do full presentations for grades 1-2, 3-4, and 5-only (45-50 minutes). 

There’s time for me to sign books, always alone. 

And then, ta-da, “Cookies & Conversation.”

Kids love cookies.

And some of them like chatting with a real, live author.

Essentially it’s a cozy group of 10-15 young people — the ones who would rather sit in the library with an author than go outside for recess. 

It’s always a loose Q & A format that tends to go deeper on writing, if that’s where the group takes me.

I’m often invited to eat lunch with students — and while I’m willing to do that, it’s a cherished tradition in some places, I much prefer to eat in silence and do a 30-minute Q & A with a small group. 

Anyway: Did I invent the Cookies & Conversation format? 

Um . . . maybe? 

Okay. Probably not. 

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Category: School Visits / Tags: , ,

School Visits: A Week In Tulsa!

January 30, 2025 / / No comments

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I’m looking forward to a week visiting schools in Tulsa, OK. Leaving on Sunday, a day after my birthday. I’ve prepared unique presentations for PreK-K. Grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8. The full monty! Wait, no, not that. Anyway. I’ll go from Two Birds and a Moose for the youngest up to Shaken and Upstander for the oldest.

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Curiously, it’s been the “Big Idea Gang” series that’s been getting me invited to places lately, schools buying these books for every student, reading them in multiple classrooms. I recently got invited to CT for the same reason.

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I am grateful to be asked into a school to speak to young readers. I try to inspire them, encourage literacy, share my enthusiasm for books, and aspire to leave the room just a tiny bit better than when I first arrived.

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School Visits, Reminder

December 19, 2024 / / No comments

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School visits for the Spring have picked up, March and May are filling up, but visits are still not at pre-pandemic levels. A host of factors, I’m sure. Please keep me in mind. Happy to answer questions. Write to me at jamespreller@aol.com and we can get the conversation rolling.

I am fairly unique as an author, since I have a wide range of age-appropriate titles, K-8, most of them at paperback prices. 

And I also Zoom with smaller groups, typically in a half-hour Q & A format (cheap!). 

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