The best part of being a children’s book author and illustrator is meeting and interacting with my readers! My school and library programs include large auditorium and single classroom settings. They are best suited for Pre-K through 4th grade, with different programs tailored to different ages. The most popular part of each of my programs is a story brain-storming activity where the students are the authors and I am the illustrator! I call this WRITING WITH PICTURES, where I go around to each student asking them what happens next in our story-they supply the idea while I draw it on a large pad of paper on an easel. When we are done, we have 3-4 sheets of paper with many illustrations on them (see below) I leave the art with the class, encouraging them to look at one of the illustrations and to come up with their own story about it. Students love this! It really fosters creativity and story writing.
TESTIMONIAL
“Dan is absolutely incredible. He was wonderful back in 2005 when he visited my first grade class, and he was wonderful last week when he visited the preschool class I now teach! Dan is extraordinarily passionate about what he does and about passing that onto the next generation. His stories are classic and hold a special place in my heart. Typically, Dan does presentations to large groups in an assembly format, like he did when he visited my school as a child. I remember feeling a connection to what he was saying and doing even with all of the other children in the room. Now I teach at an integrated preschool, meaning half of our class is special ed and the other half is neurotypical. Because of this, we weren’t able to do a large group presentation and had to do each classroom individually. Dan was more than willing to change up what he usually does to fit our program. Just like when he visited my childhood school, he was able to truly connect with all of my students and I know it meant the world to them. He was able to go with the flow of our classroom and meet the children where they were and what they were capable of doing/understanding. He even catered his presentation for each individual classroom! On top of all of this, Dan is an incredibly friendly, kind, intelligent, and passionate man who was an absolute pleasure to work with. I could go on and on about how great it was working with Dan and how highly I recommend him, but no words will do it the justice that a visit from him could!”
Emily Hyde, preschool teacher at A Child’s Place preschool, Albany, NY