Authors!

Thanks to my #Marcella 365 challenge, I wrote to many authors! However, before my 2016 challenge to myself, I had met a couple of authors who have inspired me! I will list all the authors I have met or been in contact with below, but one story in particular is worth telling!

My undergraduate University of Kutztown always hosted a children's literature conference every spring. I signed up to attend and the keynote speakers were Kate DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux), Eric Rohmann (The Cinder-Eyed Cats), and...Mo Willems! This was BEFORE Mo Willems was...Mo Willems. He had only written Knuffle Bunny, Edwina, and started the Pigeon series. He was as nice and as talented as you can imagine. He told us his author/illustrator journey and taught us all how to draw "the Pigeon". It's a skill to this day that I show off, the little kids love it! He signed my book "Edwina, the dinosaur who didn't know she was extinct". Years later I wrote him a letter and stated that I met him in 2008 at Kutztown University. He sent me a signed card (see picture), a signed poster to hang in my classroom, and stickers for all my students. It is a memory to never forget!

Authors I have written to and they have written back to me: -J.K. Rowling -Mo Willems -James Dean -Kid President -Amalie Jahn -Micki Bare

Authors or Illustrators who I have met and have a signed book from: -Mo Willems -Eric Rohmann -Kate DiCamillo -Karla Valenti -Jerry Pallotta -Lester Laminack -Chris Soentpiet