Friday, January 11, 2013

World Premiere

I was honored this morning to be part of the world premiere of Debra Frasier's 2013 book SPIKE: UGLIEST DOG IN THE UNIVERSE. The F&G copy was bright in color and felt bold in my hands as I read it aloud to a 4th and a 3rd grade class. Debra listened to her story read aloud by someone else for the first time and observed how the young listeners reacted to the story.

We talked a lot about voice, listing things about Spike's voice gleaned just from the first page of the story. He is direct. He has a heart. He is hopeful despite his circumstances. The children imagined how a dog's bark would sound if it were joking or tired. They considered Spike's intrepid character and how he persevered in the face of uncertainty to save a friend.

And then, Debra told them the most amazing thing. "I brought a dog for each of you!" Those dogs were in folders, their biographies and photographs taken from petfinder.com. They proceeded to make miniature books, filling them with drawings of their dogs and words to describe how those dogs were unique. On Monday, we will all learn more about each other's adopted dogs and begin to write stories about them.

6 comments:

  1. I am totally excited to hear this, especially after my week of being immersed in the art of picture books!! Bookmaking for children is just so wonderful & so are you for making this event with Debra Frasier happen!!

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  2. How exciting that this book is nearing publication. The book-making activity sounds wonderful.

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  3. how wonderful! thank you for sharing this with us.

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  4. How wonderful for those students...to hear a great story read well and then have a fun follow-up activity! Two women working well together!! PS. I have been out of town, Up North, for a week near the Canadian border without internet or cell phone capability. Very peaceful and serene and I loved it; gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. But I have not been able to visit any of my blogger friends. It'll take awhile to read all of my email messages and to visit your posts to see what I've missed, but it's good to be back!

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  5. Note that the illustrations are made from jeans! The description of the illustration in the book's CIP is the most unique I have ever read.

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  6. I can't wait to see this one! Hooray! And what a marvelous writing activity tied in with this book. Of course Debra would come up with something so clever and fun.

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