Visiting Author Program
We are very fortunate to host outstanding Authors & Illustrators in Weston.
Thank you to the PTO Creative Arts Committee and WEEFC for continuing to generously support our Visiting Author Program!
We hosted author KATE MESSNER to work with our Kindergarten and First Grade students. Kate has been a finalist in the E.B. White Read Aloud Award for Young Readers and received accolades as a New York Times notable children's book author. Kate's picture books and non-fiction research are matched to the elementary school Science and Social Studies curriculum.
Oge Mora and Catherine Milliken in the Woodland Library.
On February 4th, 2020, Caldecott award winner OGE MORA visited 2nd & 3rd Grade students from Country and Woodland Schools. Oge won a Caldecott Honor in 2019 for her picture book Thank You, Omu! Oge also won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award for this book.
Students were able to learn about the process for creating Oge's picture book format biography The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read, written by Rita Lorraine Hubbard and illustrated by Oge Mora.
Please see below for a video read aloud of Oge sharing her book Saturday, which won a School Library Journal Best Picture Book award in 2019. Source: Oge Mora. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_TKhaMv-cI&feature=emb_logo
On April 9th, 2019, Woodland School hosted Newbery Medal winning author MATT DE LA PENA as the Ben Sandalls Memorial Speaker. Matt won the Newbery Medal and a Caldecott Honor in 2016 for Last Stop on Market Street. Matt's next picture book Carmela Full of Wishes won the Boston Globe Best Children's Book of 2018. His books and presentation feature messages of tolerance, inclusiveness and persistence. Matt is a New York Times bestselling author and he has been interviewed by TIME Magazine and NPR.
Clockwise from above: Matt de la Pena reads Last Stop on Market Street. Source: Dallas Children's Theatre, Kansas Public Library, Kansas City. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcQ72vMnL7k
Lorraine Sousa, Lucille Beeth, Matt de la Pena, Emma Kwon and Kerri Majors.
Matt de la Pena presenting to students at Woodland School. Photographs by Lee McCanne.