Another great visit I don't want to forget was in Houston, TX, where two schools chose Where the Mountain Meets the Moon as their One Book, One School Read title.
Can I tell you how much I LOVE when schools do this? It's my absolute favorite thing when a whole school reads my book. I admit I get a bit disheartened when Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is pigeon-holed as "ethnic," but when it's used for programs such as these my faith is restored.
Because, I truly believe that my books are for everyone and anyone can enjoy them, not just for those that look like me. And when my book is chosen for a program such as this, I get to to see and really know that all the kinds of students--boys and girls of ALL races--- enjoy my book and it's wonderful. It's the difference between believing and knowing.
And these schools were awesome! First there was the welcome:
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| isn't that so sweet? |
One school had t-shirts of the book made:
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| I'm holding a special origami book that these students made me, all decorated with compliments about the book! |
And then there were the projects:
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| Each student made their family connected together by a red string! |
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| bulletin boards that showed everyone reading the book and where they read it! |
And because it was a school-wide read, the school made discussion questions to help the students follow along (by the way, I'm planning to have a copy of their discussion guides available online at my website in the future, in case other schools would like it as a resource). I have to admit, I loved seeing how the youngest grades answer!
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| I think this is a first grader's! All the answers are quite correct! |
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| I am told this is a kindergartner's! I am impressed! |
It was such an honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon to be chosen for these schools' One Book, One School Read programs! Thank you so much, Harvard and Travis Elementary!
