It is a wonderful treat to leave my desk and visit with children. I have spoken at schools, book fairs, festivals, bookstores, and libraries, and to adults at SCBWI and the Santa Clara Reading Association. My presentations to children vary by grade level and age, and last from about half an hour to an hour. They are best for preschoolers through grade four, and I am most comfortable speaking to groups of no more than sixty students. There is always time for questions and book signing.
PRESCHOOL: Presentation includes a story time, with finger plays, puppets, and flannel board, as well as book reading.
KINDERGARDEN: After I read my stories, the children willl have a chance to act out a reader's theatre version of The Scariest Monster in the Whole Wide World. For The Grandma Cure, we will brainstorm sick day activities and make up our own (sometimes silly) recipe for a healthy soup.
GRADES ONE AND TWO: I present an interactive story writing workshop, featuring character, setting and problem. The children will help me create a character and his situation, as a spark to their own writing.
GRADES THREE AND FOUR: Humor Writing Workshop is an hour long presentation that concentrates on what makes us laugh. Through reading from humorous books for children, as well as watching clips of silent films by Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy, we will discuss devices to create humor, such as opposites in characters, the unexpected, exaggerated problems and wordplay. We will also dissect riddles and why they are funny, before choosing a topic to create our own riddles.
Reviews on Pamela's visits:
"Thank you so much for coming to our classrooms! The kids really enjoyed your books
and especially the way you read them. Many of the students now want to be writers when
they grow up!"
– Second grade teacher
Recent Appearances
Stanford Bookstore
Barnes & Noble, San Mateo
PJCC Book Fair
Millbrae Public Library
San Carlos Public Library
Foster City Public Library
East Palo Alto Public Library
Roosevelt Elementary School, Burlingame
Audubon School, Foster City
Brewer Island School, Foster City
SCBWI Second Saturday Series - speaker
Santa Clara County Reading Association - speaker