Spencer students write, illustrate children’s books

By ELLEN KOLMAN - Staff Writer - ekolman@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

May 16, 2009 12:27 am

— GENEVA TOWNSHIP — The enthusiasm was contagious Thursday inside the Platt R. Spencer Elementary School’s gymnasium as students were eagerly reading to their families the books they made during Steven Kellogg’s Young Author’s Night.
Young Author’s Night was born out of a special event that took place earlier in the year when renowned children’s author and illustrator Steven Kellogg visited Spencer Elementary and gave each child an autographed book, said Annie Ward, second-grade teacher.
“Every grade level is here tonight with the books they created. It has been a wonderful, creative learning experience for our students,” Ward said.
Kay Havens’ first-grade students created a class book together, with a butterfly theme, called “Our Butterfly Story.”
“It was about a boy and his dog who went for a walk in their town, Geneva, and found on a milkweed leaf some butterfly eggs. Soon the eggs hatched into caterpillars, and the book follows the life cycle of the butterfly until it becomes a monarch,” Havens said.
The goal of the young author’s program was to get the students involved with the writing, illustrating and publishing books, said Curt Bryan, fourth-grade teacher.
“This is a great way for our students to see what it would be like to be an author like Steven Kellogg,” said Michael Penzenik, principal. “I love how the kids’ faces light up when they read me the book they wrote and illustrated.”
Third-grader Mitchell Dawes said he had a lot of fun helping to write and color his classroom book called “Fantasy Classroom 32.”
“I have many favorite parts of our book like, ‘when we say one, two, three, grow like a tree,’ the room grows. Then there is a Twilight Twister roller coaster in our classroom that shoots gum balls in your mouth at the end of the ride,” Dawes said, smiling.
The page Dawes illustrated and colored was page No. 8: “the other water (roller) coaster that lands in a huge pool of hot chocolate.”
“I learned that making books could be fun and reading books to other people can be exciting,” he said.