The WRAD Part of the Writing Life, 2026 Edition

WRAD 2026 is officially a Wrap! 

World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) is a special literacy event that takes place around the globe on the first Wednesday in February each year. It's hosted by LitWorld, and originally founded by Pam Allyn. For the past several years, author Kate Messner creates a space on her website where teachers and librarians can connect with authors and illustrators who are willing to volunteer to offer free virtual book readings to young readers around the world. It's one of my favorite annual book events. 

If you missed out this year, and want to be among the first to know when I open my schedule for next year, subscribe to my newsletter and/or drop your contact info into my Google Scheduling Form.

This year I met with six schools and multiple classrooms. (I'm still gathering more specific statistics, which I'll share in my next newsletter). Even with excellent coordination, it's not unusual that one or more of the schools needs to cancel at the last minute due to weather-related school closures, illness, or other scheduling issues (for example, this year I originally had eight schools scheduled, which dropped to six before the big day). Also, some schools that hope to meet with me are unable to match their scheduling needs with my available times, and/or my schedule is full by the time they reach out, or there are members of the learning community who were absent on World Read Aloud Day, etc. 

For these schools (and now for you!) I compile some of my best resources as a stand-in for a real-time virtual author visit. These resources are of course not quite the same as real-time virtual visit, (or a full-length, personalized author visit), but they do allow young readers to connect with an author in some fashion, in honor of World Read Aloud Day. Please feel welcome to explore and share these resources with your learning community: 

***

Here is a link to a “Hello” slide deck that I shared with the schools/classrooms that I visited.

(The “speaker notes” below each slide provide my general talking points and related resource links.) 

Speaking of resources, here is the link to the plethora of Resources tab on my website.

From this landing page, you can access things like: 

1. My YouTube channel with full readings of several of my books including Lucy’s Blooms,  Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty? and First Day Jitters from the collection of stories in Oregon Reads Aloud. This is where you will also find animated book trailers and companion songs for my three most recent books, as well as some ASL interpreted readings and the companion song for Lucy’s Blooms.

2. Curriculum-Aligned Educators’ Guides for Lucy’s Blooms, Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty?, Where Does a Pirate Go Potty? , and Oregon Reads Aloud. (Most of the guides include STEM tie-ins, and for my Pirate and Cowgirl books, these guides include Readers' Theatre scripts.)

3. Lesson Plans for Sign Language Story Times, themed enrichment activities, and fun extras such as Pirate and Cowgirl Name Generators. 

I also have a couple of different “virtual-virtual,” or “self-guided” author visits via Google Slides that you/your students can peruse (the “speaker notes” below each slide provides the talking points I would typically deliver during a school visit): 

Write On! Why Writing is (Possibly) the Most Important Thing You’ll Ever Do

From "Ahoy, Matey! to “Howdy, Pardner!” How to Create Vivid Characters by Giving Each a Unique Voice

Please reach out to me directly and I would be more than happy to provide links to these virtual visits. 

Once a school or classroom has interacted with one of my books, (via the video story times, and/or virtual workshops on Google Slides on your own), I would be more than happy to respond to written questions from students. How this typically works is that the librarian or classroom teacher assigns a “post visit” writing lesson for the students where they each ask me a question (about my books, or my writing process, or my “office assistant, Pickle, etc.), and then you would deliver the full set of questions to me via postal mail or email (in one batched email from you vs. individual emails from students). After I receive the questions, I will reply to the students with a compilation response that I will deliver to you. Here is a link to some examples of my responses from my interactions with other schools. 

I hope these options are helpful resources. Please feel welcome and encouraged to share them with your families and your colleagues, and please let me know if I can be a resource to you in any other way.

Warm wishes,

Dawn

Author Dawn Babb Prochovnic Holding her latest books

Reach out via email, social media channels such as Instagram, Bluesky or my Facebook fan page, or through my contact form (at the left of this post on the desktop version), if you'd like to schedule a time for me to meet with your students in the future! 

For more posts like this, visit The Writing Life series on my blog.

Subscribe to my newsletter and never miss an update.

Disclosure: As an affiliate of Bookshop.org, I may earn a small commission from books purchased through the links in this post. 

The Layers of Meaning and Themes Part of the Writing Life

Photo Credit: Jane Kurtz

One of the things I especially love about being a children's book author is discovering, uncovering, and finding new ways to lean into the themes of my books. I say discovering and uncovering because, even as the author of a book, it's not unusual for me to learn about and discover, over time, new layers of meaning and embedded themes in my own stories, particularly as folks read and respond to my work. Simply put, of course I meant to say something with my book, but in reality, a book's meaning has much more to do with what it means to its readers than what the author might have intended to say. 

According to the official marketing copy (and likely excerpted from my long-ago query letter) for my most recent picture book, LUCY'S BLOOMS, "is a multigenerational story about a young girl who learns from her grandmother about the enduring nature of love, the strength in rejecting labels, and the wisdom of standing with those who are different." That's still spot on, but I've also come to realize that the story is also about kindness and caregiving. It's not a wonder. The story is inspired by my relationship with my own Gram, a woman who spent her life caring for others, and, it was written during a time in my life when I was caring for aging parents and my children. So, I didn't necessarily "set out" to write a book about kindness and caregiving, but those themes definitely come through for readers, as evidenced by the various reviews the book has received since it was published in 2021. 

For example, fellow author, Carrie Finison had this to say:

And, fellow author Kathy MacMillan had this to say:

I love learning about my stories through the eyes of my readers, and I love that LUCY'S BLOOMS inspires kindness. What better time to celebrate that than today, World Kindness Day. 

by Dawn Babb Prochovnic and Alice Brereton

Looking for other books about kindness to pair with LUCY'S BLOOMS? Check out: 

Be Kind, by Pat Zietlow Miller and Jen Hill (Roaring Brook Press, 2018) 

Rice From Heaven, by Tina Chao and Keum Jin Song (Little Bee Books, 2018 - you can read a guest post by Tina and her book, here.)   

The Power of One, by Trudy Ludwig and Mike Curato (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2020)

And any of the books on Kind World Publishing's growing list.

Plus these beauties from Familius, (the publisher of my next book!):

Kindness Rocks, by Megan Murphy and JiaJia Hamner (Familius, 2025) 

1001 Ways to Be Kind, by Dallas Woodburn and McKay Rappleyea (Familius, 2024)

I Dig Being Kind, by Michele Robbins and Ekaterina Ladatko (Familius, 2020)

Looking for other opportunities to #MakeKindnessTheNorm? Check out these resources:

Action for Happiness

The Be Kind to People Project

The Great Kindness Challenge (takes place annually in January) 

The Growing Kindness Project

Random Acts of Kindness Foundation 

And, check out Paul Avellino's (aka the Garden Guinea's) social media posts, like this one. I find his social media feed inspiring and uplifting. I hope you will, too. 

And to quote Paul, "I'd love to hear about a kindness you've received...something simple or life-changing" in the comments below. 

********

The Writing Life is an occasional feature of Dawn Babb Prochovnic's blog. Dawn is the author of over 20 books for young readers and the proud recipient of the esteemed “Pleasure Reading Award” (her most memorable 5th grade achievement). She has devoted her life’s work to initiatives that support literacy and the literary arts, including early literacy enrichment programs; school author visits; writing workshops; and her educational blog. Dawn’s work has been short-listed for the Oregon Book Award; she was named an Oregon Library Supporter of the Year for her library advocacy efforts; and she received the Walt Morey Award in recognition of significant contributions that have enriched Oregon’s young readers. Contact Dawn using the form at the left, or learn more at www.dawnprochovnic.com. 

The WRAD Part of the Writing Life, 2025 Edition

 WRAD 2025 is officially a Wrap for me! 

World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) is a special literacy event that takes place around the globe on the first Wednesday in February each year. It's hosted by LitWorld, and originally founded by Pam Allyn. For the past several years, author Kate Messner creates a space on her website where teachers and librarians can connect with authors and illustrators who are willing to volunteer to offer free virtual book readings to young readers around the world. It's one of my favorite book-related events to participate in. 

I have a Google Form for folks who want to be among the first to find out when the scheduling tool is available for  next year. 

This year I scheduled visits with six schools and multiple classrooms. Even with excellent coordination, it's not unusual that one or more of the schools needs to cancel at the last minute due to weather-related school closures or illness. Also, some schools that hope to meet with me are unable to match their scheduling needs with my available times, and/or my schedule is full by the time they reach out, or there are members of the learning community who were absent on World Read Aloud Day. 

For these schools (and now for you!) I compile some of my best resources as a stand-in for a real-time virtual author visit. These resources are of course not quite the same as real-time virtual visit, (or a full-length, personalized author visit), but they do allow young readers to connect with an author in some fashion, in honor of World Read Aloud Day. Please feel welcome to explore and share these resources with your learning community: 

***

Here is a link to a “Hello” slide deck that I shared with the schools/classrooms that I visited.

It’s not the same as a real virtual visit, but it will allow your students to connect with me for World Read Aloud Day in some fashion. (The “speaker notes” below each slide provide my general talking points and related resource links.) 

Speaking of resources, here is the link to the plethora of Resources tab on my website.

From this landing page, you can access things like: 

1. My YouTube channel with full readings of several of my books including Lucy’s Blooms,  Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty? and First Day Jitters from the collection of stories in Oregon Reads Aloud. This is where you will also find animated book trailers and companion songs for my three most recent books, as well as some ASL interpreted readings for Lucy’s Blooms and the companion song. 

2. Curriculum-Aligned Educators’ Guides for Lucy’s Blooms, Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty?, and Where Does a Pirate Go Potty? (All three of the guides include STEM tie-ins, and for my Pirate and Cowgirl books, these guides include Readers' Theatre scripts.)

3. Lesson Plans for Sign Language Story Times, themed enrichment activities, and fun extras such as Pirate and Cowgirl Name Generators. 

I also have a couple of different “virtual-virtual,” or “self-guided” author visits via Google Slides that you/your students can peruse (the “speaker notes” below each slide provides the talking points I would typically deliver during a school visit): 

Write On! Why Writing is (Possibly) the Most Important Thing You’ll Ever Do

From "Ahoy, Matey! to “Howdy, Pardner!” How to Create Vivid Characters by Giving Each a Unique Voice

Please reach out to me directly and I would be more than happy to provide links to these virtual visits. 

Once a school or classroom has interacted with one of my books, (via the video story times, and/or virtual workshops on Google Slides on your own), I would be more than happy to respond to written questions from students. How this typically works is that the librarian or classroom teacher assigns a “post visit” writing lesson for the students where they each ask me a question (about my books, or my writing process, or my “office assistant, Pickle, etc.), and then you would deliver the full set of questions to me via postal mail or email (in one batched email from you vs. individual emails from students). After I receive the questions, I will reply to the students with a compilation response that I will deliver to you. Here is a link to some examples of my responses from my interactions with other schools. 

I hope these options are helpful resources. Please feel welcome and encouraged to share them with your families and your colleagues, and please let me know if I can be a resource to you in any other way.

Warm wishes,

Dawn

Author Dawn Babb Prochovnic Holding her latest books

Reach out via email, social media channels such as Instagram, Bluesky or my Facebook fan page, or through my contact form (at the left of this post on the desktop version), if you'd like to schedule a time for me to meet with your students in the future! 

For more posts like this, visit The Writing Life series on my blog.

The WRAD Part of the Writing Life, 2024 Edition

 WRAD 2024 is officially a Wrap! (Well for me at least ... I did my WRAD visits one day early this year!)

World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) is a special literacy event that takes place around the globe on the first Wednesday in February each year. It's hosted by LitWorld, and originally founded by Pam Allyn. For the past several years, author Kate Messner creates a space on her website where teachers and librarians can connect with authors and illustrators who are willing to volunteer to offer free virtual book readings to children around the world. It's one of my favorite book-related events to participate in. 

For the past couple of years, I've used a Sign-Up Genius to help me coordinate my virtual visits. I also now have a Google Form for folks who want to be among the first to find out when the scheduling tool is available for  next year. 

This year I scheduled visits with eight schools. Even with excellent coordination, it's not unusual that one or more of the schools needs to cancel at the last minute due to weather-related school closures or some other scheduling or technical snafu. Also, some schools that hope to meet with me are unable to match their scheduling needs with my available times, and/or my schedule is full by the time they reach out, or there are members of the learning community who were absent on World Read Aloud Day. 

For these schools (and now for you!) I compile some of my best resources as a stand-in for a real-time virtual author visit. These resources are of course not quite the same as real-time virtual visit, (or a full-length, personalized author visit), but they do allow young readers to connect with an author in some fashion, in honor of World Read Aloud Day. Please feel welcome to explore and share these resources with your learning community: 

***

Here is a link to a “Hello” slide deck that I shared with the schools/classrooms that I visited.

It’s not the same as a real virtual visit, but it will allow your students to connect with me for World Read Aloud Day in some fashion. (The “speaker notes” below each slide provide my general talking points and related resource links.) 

Speaking of resources, here is the link to the plethora of Resources tab on my website.

From this landing page, you can access things like: 

1. My YouTube channel with full readings of several of my books including Lucy’s Blooms,  Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty? and First Day Jitters from the collection of stories in Oregon Reads Aloud. This is where you will also find animated book trailers and companion songs for my three most recent books, as well as some ASL interpreted readings for Lucy’s Blooms and the companion song. 

2. Curriculum-Aligned Educators’ Guides for Lucy’s Blooms, Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty?, and Where Does a Pirate Go Potty? (All three of the guides include STEM tie-ins, and for my Pirate and Cowgirl books, these guides include Readers' Theatre scripts.)

3. Lesson Plans for Sign Language Story Times, themed enrichment activities, and fun extras such as Pirate and Cowgirl Name Generators. 

I also have a couple of different “virtual-virtual,” or “self-guided” author visits via Google Slides that you/your students can peruse (the “speaker notes” below each slide provides the talking points I would typically deliver during a school visit): 

Write On! Why Writing is (Possibly) the Most Important Thing You’ll Ever Do

From "Ahoy, Matey! to “Howdy, Pardner!” How to Create Vivid Characters by Giving Each a Unique Voice

Please reach out to me directly and I would be more than happy to provide links to these virtual visits. 

Once a school or classroom has interacted with one of my books, (via the video story times, and/or virtual workshops on Google Slides on your own), I would be more than happy to respond to written questions from students. How this typically works is that the librarian or classroom teacher assigns a “post visit” writing lesson for the students where they each ask me a question (about my books, or my writing process, or my “office assistant, Pickle, etc.), and then you would deliver the full set of questions to me via postal mail or email (in one batched email from you vs. individual emails from students). After I receive the questions, I will reply to the students with a compilation response that I will deliver to you. Here is a link to some examples of my responses from my interactions with other schools. 

I hope these options are helpful resources. Please feel welcome and encouraged to share them with your families and your colleagues, and please let me know if I can be a resource to you in any other way.

Warm wishes,

Dawn

Author Dawn Babb Prochovnic holding her three latest books

Reach out via email, social media channels such as Instagram, Bluesky, Twitter/X, or my Facebook fan page, or through my contact form (at the left of this post on the desktop version), if you'd like to schedule a time for me to meet with your students in the future! 

For more posts like this, visit The Writing Life series on my blog.

The WRAD Part of the Writing Life, 2023 Edition

WRAD 2023 is officially a Wrap! 

World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) is a special literacy event that takes place around the globe on the first Wednesday in February each year. It's hosted by LitWorld, and originally founded by Pam Allyn. For the past several years, author Kate Messner creates a space on her website where teachers and librarians can connect with authors and illustrators who are willing to volunteer to offer free virtual book readings to children around the world. It's one of my favorite book-related events to participate in. 

For the past couple of years, I've used a Sign-Up Genius to help me coordinate my virtual visits. I also now have a Google Form for folks who want to be among the first to find out when the scheduling tool is available for  next year. 

This year I scheduled visits with ten schools, and successfully completed visits with eight schools. Even with excellent coordination, it's not unusual that one or more of the schools needs to cancel at the last minute due to weather-related school closures or some other scheduling or technical snafu. Also, some schools that hope to meet with me are unable to match their scheduling needs with my available times, and/or my schedule is full by the time they reach out, or there are members of the learning community who were absent on World Read Aloud Day. 

For these schools (and now for you!) I compile some of my best resources as a stand-in for a real-time virtual author visit. These resources are of course not quite the same as real-time virtual visit, (or a full-length, personalized author visit), but they do allow young readers to connect with an author in some fashion, in honor of World Read Aloud Day. Please feel welcome to explore and share these resources with your learning community: 

***

Here is a link to a “Hello” slide deck that I shared with the schools/classrooms that I visited.

It’s not the same as a real virtual visit, but it will allow your students to connect with me for World Read Aloud Day in some fashion. (The “speaker notes” below each slide provide my general talking points and related resource links.) 

Speaking of resources, here is the link to the plethora of Resources tab on my website.

From this landing page, you can access things like: 

1. My YouTube channel with full readings of several of my books including Lucy’s Blooms,  Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty? and First Day Jitters from the collection of stories in Oregon Reads Aloud. This is where you will also find animated book trailers and companion songs for my three most recent books, as well as some ASL interpreted readings for Lucy’s Blooms and the companion song. 

2. Curriculum-Aligned Educators’ Guides for Lucy’s Blooms, Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty?, and Where Does a Pirate Go Potty? (All three of the guides include STEM tie-ins, and for my Pirate and Cowgirl books, these guides include Readers' Theatre scripts.)

3. Lesson Plans for Sign Language Story Times, themed enrichment activities, and fun extras such as Pirate and Cowgirl Name Generators. 

I also have a couple of different “virtual-virtual,” or “self-guided” author visits via Google Slides that you/your students can peruse (the “speaker notes” below each slide provides the talking points I would typically deliver during a school visit): 

Write On! Why Writing is (Possibly) the Most Important Thing You’ll Ever Do

From "Ahoy, Matey! to “Howdy, Pardner!” How to Create Vivid Characters by Giving Each a Unique Voice

Please reach out to me directly and I would be more than happy to provide links to these virtual visits. 

Once a school or classroom has interacted with one of my books, (via the video story times, and/or virtual workshops on Google Slides on your own), I would be more than happy to respond to written questions from students. How this typically works is that the librarian or classroom teacher assigns a “post visit” writing lesson for the students where they each ask me a question (about my books, or my writing process, or my “office assistant, Pickle, etc.), and then you would deliver the full set of questions to me via postal mail or email (in one batched email from you vs. individual emails from students). After I receive the questions, I will reply to the students with a compilation response that I will deliver to you. Here is a link to some examples of my responses from my interactions with other schools. 

I hope these options are helpful resources. Please feel welcome and encouraged to share them with your families and your colleagues, and please let me know if I can be a resource to you in any other way.

Warm wishes,

Dawn

Reach out via email, Twitter, or through my contact form (at the left of this post on the desktop version), if you'd like to schedule a time for me to meet with your students in the future! 

The "Showcases, Media Coverage, and Shout-Outs" Part of the Writing Life

I'm not gonna lie...it feels good when my creative work receives positive recognition—or even just a little press! In fact, I keep a running list of media coverage, here. It's a nice page to stroll through on the days I need a pick-me-up. 

Some recent media highlights include my Story Time with Signs & Rhymes series being included in a Book Riot round-up of books about sign language for toddlers, and my hometown newspaper including Lucy's Blooms in a roundup of children's books by Oregon authors.

Today I learned that the Children's Book Council included Lucy's Blooms (illustrated by Alice Brereton, published by West Margin Press) in their #LoveMakesTheWorldGoRound summer showcase. I'm quite delighted that this book of my heart has been included in such an esteemed list! I hope you'll check it out. (While you're there, take note of two other books in particular: Made for Me and The Proudest Color, two fantastic books published by Familius, the publisher of my next scheduled book.)

If you're not familiar with Lucy's Blooms, you can view/listen to the book trailer here (with original music written and performed by Maiah Wynne, the lead vocalist for Alex Lifeson's new band, Envy of None): 

 

and you can view the book reading I recorded for my book launch here:

 

Lucy's Blooms is available wherever books are sold. You can support my creative work (and your local indie bookseller) without leaving the comfort of your home by purchasing your books through Bookshop. 

Thanks for celebrating with me! 

The Seasonal Tie-Ins and Promotional Pairings Part of the Writing Life

It's hard to believe, but today marks the one year anniversary, or "book birthday" for Lucy's Blooms. 

On this date last year I shared a blog post entitled, "The Book Launch Part of the Writing Life," where I talked about the activities leading up to a book launch. Today's post is about creating opportunities for extending the book buzz beyond the initial launch through seasonal tie-ins and promotional pairings. 

The marketing copy on my publisher's website describes Lucy's Blooms as "a multigenerational story about a young girl who learns from her grandmother about the enduring nature of love, the strength in rejecting labels, and the wisdom of standing with those who are different." In the story, "the town's annual flower contest is coming soon, and a young girl puts her heart into growing a lively bunch of flowers she finds in a meadow. As her grandmother guides her in nurturing a garden, the girl learns that winning ins't the true reward—it's the special love found in caring for something or someone." 

These are the words that help booksellers and librarians make book buying and collection development decisions—but these words don't necessarily help a book get hand-sold, placed face out on a retail display, or incorporated into a library storytime. This is where seasonal tie-ins and promotional pairings can come in. 

I maintain a running list of potential promotional connections for each of my books. Some seasonal tie-ins (such as the spring equinox in March and Earth Day in April are easy to come up with. I broaden the list by browsing web-based resources such as the "There is a Day for That" calendar, the "Today is" calendar  and this list of national days, along with taking note of observances recognized by literacy organizations such as Every Child a Reader. 

There are quite a few different connections that can be drawn for most of my books, and although it's not reasonable for me to set a goal to amplify each tie-in every year, the running list of seasonal tie-ins and promotional pairings does help me maximize my promotional opportunities. 

Here is an example of my current running list for Lucy's Blooms and some examples of the promotions I developed to go along with some of the observances:

The Great Kindness Challenge (January)

Random Acts of Kindness Day (February)

International SEL (Social Emotional Learning) Day (March)

Plant a Flower Day (March)

World Planting Day (March and October)

International Women's Day (March)

The Spring Equinox (March)

National Weed Appreciation Day (March)

Dandelion Day (April 5)

Good Deeds Day (April)

Earth Day (April)

May Day (May 1)

Mother's Day (May)

World Bee Day (May)

Grandparents Day (September)

International Day of the Girl (October)

World Kindness Day (November)

I also maintain a strong supply of book-related resources and enrichment materials here, including a robust collection of Pinterest boards with categories such as:

Grandparent’s Day

Earth Day and World Bee Day 

Kindness and Good Deeds

Fun Facts About Dandelions

Weeds: Metaphor for Resilience

Garden Tours, Virtual Visits, and Other Experiential Opportunities

Gardening with Kids

Gardening Tips and Info

Picture Book Pairings for Lucy’s Blooms

 

The past year has flown by faster than the seeds of a dandelion. Thank you to everyone who continues to read, share, and help Lucy's Blooms flourish and grow. 

The Reader Engagement Part of the Writing Life

Back in February, I had the pleasure of participating in World Read Aloud Day, aka, WRAD. As I've said before, one of my favorite parts of author life is connecting directly with young readers. 

One of the most fantastic things about connecting with young readers is sometimes they send written cards, letters, and pictures. Given the digital nature of book events these days, for the first time ever I received digital postcards from a classroom of readers I visited from a school in Japan. Here are some examples:

Artwork from Ms. Venn's Second Grade Class

Whenever students write to me after an author visit, I do my best to write back to them, and WRAD is no exception. Here is the letter I recently wrote to the students in Ms. Venn's second grade class at John O. Arnn Elementary School in Camp Zama, Japan:

*****

Dear Ms. Venn’s Class, 

Thank you for taking the time to write and illustrate beautiful digital postcards for me to enjoy. 

Each of you, including Ayce, Bobby, Kathryn, (and one additional student who did not sign their name :) thanked me for reading Lucy’s Blooms to you. You are very welcome. I’m so glad you enjoyed the story. In case you’d like to read the story again, many of my books, including Lucy’s Blooms, should be available at your local library. And, if you’d like to watch a video of me reading Lucy’s Blooms (maybe with your family at home), you can find it here.

Some of you had additional questions.  My responses are below: 

Zoey: You asked what inspired me to write books, and what made me like being an author and love writing? One reason is I like words. They are powerful. They get things done. They help people understand one another. Words give people a voice. I like when my voice is heard. I have written an entire blog post with some of the other reasons I like to write. You can find it here.

Addison: You asked how many books I have made. I have written 20 stories that have been published into books. You can learn about all of my different books here. You also asked how many books I have read to people. I haven’t kept count of that—I’ll have to start doing that! (You also shared a cute picture of a cat! I showed the picture to Pickle the Cat! Pickle says, “Meow!”)

Kalib: You asked if I enjoy reading to students. I do! It’s one of my favorite parts of being an author. You also shared a picture of a rainbow baby turtle. I hope you will write a story about that some day! 

Alek: You asked how to publish a book. There are a lot of steps in that process. It all begins with writing (and/or illustrating) a story, and then revising it until it is exactly how you want it to be. Then, you research publishers that might like your story. You send your story to publishers until you find one that likes your story enough to turn it into a book. One of my author-friends, Josh Funk, has a great website with information about how to write picture books. You might enjoy reading what he has to share. You can find it here.

Aurora: You asked what was the first book I ever made. The first book I ever made was a poetry book that I hand-wrote as a Mother’s Day gift for my mom back when I was in middle school. You also asked why I became an author. I became an author because I had stories and important ideas in my head that I wanted to share with other people. You asked what year my books came out. The first book I had published, See the Colors, came out in 2009. The most recent book I had published was Lucy’s Blooms, which came out in 2021. I also had two humorous books that were published in 2019: Where Does a Pirate Go Potty? and Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty? You should be able to find all (or most) of my books in your local library. If you can’t find my books in your library, you can find videos of me reading them (and songs to go along with my most recent books) on the internet, here. You also asked if I ever write fairy tale books. I haven’t yet, but I have a friend who does. Lastly, you asked why I like books. I like books for many different reasons, but one reason is because reading books is one of the best ways to become a better writer. I have also written some blog posts about why I like reading. You can read about that here and here.

Eliana: You asked what is my favorite flower? I like LOTS of different kinds of flowers. I of course like dandelions, and I also especially like tulips, daffodils and nasturtiums. You can find an article I wrote that includes a photograph of some of the nasturtiums in my yard and some stories about my favorite gardening memories with my own Gram on my publisher’s website.

Holden: You asked why I like the weed. I like it because it is cheerful and beautiful and makes me smile. I wrote more about this in a blog post, here.

Thank you again for all of your notes and pictures, and thank you to Ms. Carter for inviting me to visit your school.  I hope I get to visit your school again in the future. In the meantime, if you’d like to read more about my life as a writer, you can visit this section of my blog where I talk about my writing life.

Write On!

Sincerely, 

Dawn Babb Prochovnic (and Pickle) 

*****

If you missed World Read Aloud Day, but would still like to connect, I offer Virtual Author Visits year round anywhere in the world. I've also compiled a comprehensive collection of free remote resources for Self-Guided Virtual Author Visits here. It's not quite the same as a personalized virtual visit (or an in-person visit), but these resources do allow young readers to connect with an author in some fashion. And here's a fun fact: I also write back to classrooms of students who visit me virtually via a Self-Guided Virtual Author visit. 

Write On!  

The WRAD Part of the Writing Life

WRAD 2022 is officially a Wrap! World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) is a special literacy event that takes place around the globe on the first Wednesday in February each year. It's hosted by LitWorld, and originally founded by Pam Allyn. For the past several years, author Kate Messner creates a space on her website where teachers and librarians can connect with authors and illustrators who are willing to volunteer to offer free virtual book readings to children around the world. It's one of my favorite book-related events to participate in. 

This year I created a Sign-Up Genius to help me coordinate my virtual visits, and it worked great. I will definitely use a tool like this again in the future.  I visited nine schools, including one school in Japan (thanks to a friend from high school who teaches math at a school overseas reaching out to see if I'd be interested in meeting with her school community)!

Even with excellent coordination, it's not unusual that one or more of the schools that have signed up to meet with me needs to cancel at the last minute due to weather-related school closures. Also, some schools that hope to meet with me are unable to match their scheduling needs with my available times and/or my schedule is full by the time they reach out. 

For these schools (and now for you!) I compile some of my best resources as a stand-in for a real-time virtual author visit. These resources are of course not quite the same as real-time virtual visit, (or a full-length, personalized author visit), but they do allow young readers to connect with an author in honor of World Read Aloud Day, in some fashion. Here is the content of the email with resource links that I sent to schools this year. Please feel welcome to explore and share with your learning community: 

***

Hello friends! 

I’m so sorry that I was not able to read with your students as hoped during World Read Aloud Day. 

As promised, here is a link to a “Hello” slide deck that I shared with the schools/classrooms that I visited.

It’s not the same as a real virtual visit, but it will allow your students to connect with me for World Read Aloud Day in some fashion. (The “speaker notes” below each slide provide my general talking points and related resource links.) 

Speaking of resources, here is the link to the plethora of Resources tab on my website.

From this landing page, you can access things like: 

1. My YouTube channel with full readings of several of my books including Lucy’s Blooms,  Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty? and First Day Jitters from the collection of stories in Oregon Reads Aloud. This is where you will also find animated book trailers and companion songs for my three most recent books, as well as some ASL interpreted readings for Lucy’s Blooms and the companion song. 

2. Curriculum-Aligned Educators’ Guides for Lucy’s Blooms, Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty?, and Where Does a Pirate Go Potty? (All three of the guides include STEM tie-ins, and for my Pirate and Cowgirl books, these guides include Readers' Theatre scripts.)

3. Lesson Plans for Sign Language Story Times, themed enrichment activities, and fun extras such as Pirate and Cowgirl Name Generators. 

I also have a couple of different “virtual-virtual,” or “self-guided” author visits via Google Slides that you/your students can peruse (the “speaker notes” below each slide provides the talking points I would typically deliver during a school visit): 

Write On! Why Writing is (Possibly) the Most Important Thing You’ll Ever Do

From "Ahoy, Matey! to “Howdy, Pardner!” How to Create Vivid Characters by Giving Each a Unique Voice

Once a school or classroom has interacted with one of my books, (via the video story times, and/or virtual workshops on Google Slides on your own), I would be more than happy to respond to written questions from students. How this typically works is that the librarian or classroom teacher assigns a “post visit” writing lesson for the students where they each ask me a question (about my books, or my writing process, or my “office assistant, Pickle, etc.), and then you would deliver the full set of questions to me via postal mail or email (in one batched email from you vs. individual emails from students). After I receive the questions, I will reply to the students with a compilation response that I will deliver to you. Here is a link to some examples of my responses from my interactions with other schools. 

I hope these options are helpful resources. Please feel welcome and encouraged to share them with your families and your colleagues, and please let me know if I can be a resource to you in any other way.

Warm wishes,

Dawn

Reach out via email, Twitter, or through my contact form (at the left of this post on the desktop version), if you'd like to schedule a time for me to meet with your students in the future!