BY SYDNEY HOOVER
First graders had the chance to listen to a read-a-long and ask questions with author Mike Boldt Wednesday via a Zoom event hosted by the Eudora Elementary Library.
Boldt is a Canada-based children’s author and illustrator who has published more than 20 books, including his most recent titled “Find Fergus,” which he read to students on the Zoom call.
“They’re just curious and that age group, kids are just happy to have anyone read to them,” he said. “They’re just happy to have the story read to them, so it’s kind of neat to be part of that.”
Boldt and Elementary Librarian Jill Dodge connected through Twitter after Dodge tweeted a photo of Find Fergus as a recommendation to parents. Dodge received the book from the Eudora Community Library to put in the elementary school for students to check out.
Boldt responded to her tweet to thank her for sharing it and offered a virtual meet and greet with students, which he has done with several schools that have reached out to him throughout the pandemic.
“I think even when it's the right decision to be remote, because it's safest, it's hard not to be with their friends and with their teachers,” Dodge said. “I told the author, this will be such a great thing for them to look forward to something kind of special that we're still able to do when we're remote.”
Eudora Elementary has been in remote learning with the rest of the district since Nov. 17.
Around 60 students participated in the meet and greet Wednesday, where he read Find Fergus and answered questions from a few of the students.
One student asked Boldt how old he was when he first started writing. Boldt said he loved drawing and reading from a young age and began telling stories at about the same age as the first graders, but did not publish his first story until he was out of college. He continues to practice drawing in sketchbooks, which he showed to the students.
“People often say practice makes perfect,” Boldt said during the Zoom call. “What practice really makes is progress. That means the more we do something, the better we become at it.”
Dodge said she’s been impressed by different authors throughout the pandemic who have been willing to let teachers read their books online against copyright agreements or attend virtual meet and greets with students. She said events like the meet and greet show these authors care about meeting their readers and seeing how students connect with their books.
“It shows that for them, it's more [than] just making money off of their book, that it's really about connecting with readers,” Dodge said. “That's been super heartwarming to see that and to be able to connect kids to the author.”
Reach reporter Sydney Hoover at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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