Chickering Student RadioWhen Ms. Davies came to our school, we had a chance to talk with this amazing writer. Ms. Davies was at our school to talk to us about what life is like as an author. We all loved having a famous writer come to our school.
Reported by Lyla and Sebastian
Boom! Splash! Crash! On a hot summer day, a great canoeist, Peter Lourie, author and adventurer, navigated the rapids on the Hudson River, New York, USA, from its source to the New York Harbor. He is an amazing nonfiction writer, who came to our school to work with the fourth graders. His advice to the students is “Good writing is detailed writing.”
We had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Lourie. We wondered what are the pros and cons of his job. Sadly, he doesn’t have enough time to do the research he’d love to do. He wishes he had years to learn and know a subject to become an expert. The best part of his job is working with people who are “passionate” about a topic. Being in exotic environments such as the arctic and working with Inuit as they catch whales, or Africa with experts studying human evolution are favorite parts of his job.
Peter Lourie did not always want to be a writer. If you can imagine he had many interests in different jobs. Surprisingly, at age nine or ten Mr. Lourie wanted to be a pilot. A little later, he wanted to be an oceanographer. Next, an underwater archaeologist then, a physical anthropologist but he never ended up doing any of those jobs. As a writer he spends more time researching and locating experts then he does the actual subject.
We were curious if it was difficult to be away from his family for long periods of time. When his children were young it was hard for everyone. Now that his kids are older it is easer and his wife enjoys the break ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! He misses his family and appreciates coming home. Being away from his home is exhausting, but talking to people and gathering the research he needs to write a great book is helpful for him.
After listening to Peter Lourie, we received more strategies to use in our writing. We’ve learned how to incorporate interesting details in to our nonfiction writing. He not only inspired our writing but encouraged a sense of adventure. So if Mr. Lourie motivated you to explore and have some fun, then go ahead and enjoy an adventure and don’t keep it to yourself … write about it!
Reported by Caden, Beck, and Kris.
Jacqueline Davies, an author, came to Chickering School to work with the fifth
grade students. She worked with each of the 5 classrooms during her 4-day Author Residence. There are five items, she explained, which can be included in our stories: humor, mystery, dialogue, voice, and conflict/action. She shared some strategies to assist us with our writing. For example, draw a map of your favorite memories and circle one that you might like to write about.
We appreciate the opportunity to interview Ms Davies during a lunchtime. She shared interesting answers to our questions. Please click on the link below to watch our “Chat with Jacqueline Davies”.
We wish to thank Jacqueline Davies for being so generous with her time and expertise by meeting with us.
Reported by: Jake, Kevin, Lindsey, and WB
Jacqueline Davies came to our school and talked to us about her amazing books. When she came, she taught us the three most important things for
writing a story. They are the main character, the motivation, and the problem. She went to each of our classrooms after her demonstration and she gave each kid in our classes a “story worm”. The story worm is a template for setting up your story. It has a box for the main character, a box for the motivation, and a box for the problem. Those boxes are all on the side. Then there are boxes for the beginning, the two build-ups, the climax, and the ending.
She has just finished the second in the Lemonade War series and it is called the Lemonade Crime; it is coming out in May. She is now working on her third book in the series. She wrote several books in different genres before the Lemonade War series.
Some other books she has written are:
Were the Ground Meets the Sky
The Boy Who Drew Birds 
The House Takes a Vacation
Lost 
The Night is Singing
Tricking the Tallyman 
Jacqueline Davies has been a great writer for a long time, but she has also been through some tough times in her writing. When she went to college the worst thing happened to her, she lost her confidence. Later on she regained it. When she tried to publish her first book it got denied along with her second, third, fourth and fifth but she kept working hard. Finally, her first book was published and she became an author. She writes many books for kids in a variety of genre.
You can be like Jacqueline Davies and be creative. You can write a good story, read it and feel like you’re traveling in the book. Sometimes you can be so into a book that you really feel like you’re in a book and forget everything that is happening. That is partly why Jacqueline Davies is a writer.
Visit her website at:
http://www.jacquelinedavies.net
Our school thinks Jacqueline Davies books are so good, every single kid in the fifth grade read The Lemonade War including us! Jacqueline Davies has been a popular author in our school for a while and the people who read her books are excited to read her other books.
Thank you Jacqueline Davies for sharing your love of writing with us and for allowing us to use several of your photos from your website.
Reported by: Zoelle and Ceci