A New Generation of Storytellers! By Isabel Estrada O’Hagin

On Wednesday, May 13, I had the honor of being the featured author at the 39th Young Writers Day coordinated by the Heritage Southwest Intermediate School District held at the beautiful campus of Southwestern Michigan College in Cass County. The program included an illustrator, Aaron Zenk, and storyteller, Kevin Kammerad.   

“The purpose of Young Writers Day is to enhance and motivate elementary students to write.”

HSISD directs this fine celebration of student writing both by exhibiting literally hundreds of student works, and by introducing children to published authors and illustrators, as well as leading storytellers. The program is open to 2nd through 5th grades, and each participating student must submit a book for display.

Teachers from four different school districts brought fifteen students per grade level per school system. Each of the grade level groups, 2^nd-3^rd and 4^th-5^th, rotated between the three sessions: writing, storytelling, and illustration, in addition to two breaks and lunch.

After a quick plot summary of my picture book, LA MARIACHI (illustrated by Addy Sonda Rivera), I shared the inspiration that led to my manuscript and talked about my background and writing process. I emphasized the idea of connecting your passion with the heart of your story.  To get them started, I encouraged students to draw on their own life experiences using a template: What Do You Bring to the Picture, inspired by Linda Sue Park’s concept of what a writer brings to the table. After identifying their strengths, interests, and unique traits, I encouraged students to build on those traits combined with their imaginations to create a Story Spine (Leslie Helakoski)—one of the fundamental building blocks to writing a story. First, we created a story as a group, and then students were given time to work on their individual stories and were encouraged to discuss their story ideas with their peers. The Young Writers were engaged and involved throughout the process—an exciting opportunity for all.

A marvelous aspect of the Young Writers Day involves students preparing their own manuscripts and sharing them with their peers. The schedule allows breaks for students to peruse the manuscripts and books written by their peers. Last year, students asked for more time to read each other’s books, and this year’s schedule reflected that change. How awesome is that? Student-created works were on display before the event, during two fifteen-minute breaks, and during the lunch break. Lowry’s Books also offered books for sale.

Let me tell you—after I perused the fourth & fifth-grade book displays, I joked with their teachers that I would never write again. The students’ stories were fabulous with creative titles, exciting characters, pages full of driving action moving the plot forward, and eye-catching book covers and illustrations. Some students even had their books hardbound at a print shop! Other students included a comments page where readers (their fan base) could share a like. All were positive and supportive.

Author visits are typically filled with memorable moments. . . I glanced at a fourth-grader’s What Do You Bring to the Picture? worksheet where she’d written two sentences: I am a queen.  I am funny. The second part of the writing task was to use the Story Spine as a springboard for their story. This part was left blank. I walked around the hall and came back. The queen was stumped.

I asked, “What does the queen want?” I waited. When she didn’t respond, I made a suggestion by saying something like: “You wrote that you were funny. If I were the queen at this court, I might want everyone to laugh at my jokes and order them to do so.” Immediately, she sat up and with imperial flare gazed down at me. “No, you can’t do that. I’m the queen, and I decide what happens in my court.”

“Yes, I replied. “It’s your queendom after all.”  The Queen’s POV? Covered.

Another awesome memory: After my presentation, students lined up for my autograph—totally unexpected. I’ve signed books at book launches and book festivals, but not at an event like this. After I signed his folder, one boy told me: “This is great. I have Raul the Third’s autograph, and now I have yours.”  Wow! My name in the same sentence as Raul the Third! What fun to feel like a school celebrity!

Other SCBWI members have presented at this event in past years such as Leslie Helakoski, Kat Higgs-Coulthard, Lori Eslick, and LaurieKeller. I’m sure there are others! Please add your name to this list in the comments section.

Final thoughts:

Like Lisa Cron, I believe that we are wired for story and have been since the beginning of time. Story is what keeps us alive and keeps us going. My experience left me with hope that the next generation will value human-based stories. Young writers are writing their own stories and young illustrators are illustrating, and I can’t wait to read them!

 “The best stories are those that come from the heart.” - Kate DiCamillo

Isabel grew up in the desert borderlands of Arizona, dancing and singing her way through life. Always a dreamer, she blends her life experiences as a performing arts educator with her love of Mexican-American culture & folklore into stories. When she’s not writing, she loves to dance, cook, read, daydream, and play with her two gatitos, Dante and Cosmo. She also loves her volunteer work for SCBWI-Michigan as Outreach Coordinator and K.A.S.T. Co-Coordinator (A shout-out to my KAST friends—Where everyone’s a star!)  LA MARIACHI is her debut storybook! Isabel would like to remind everyone that her author name is Isabel Estrada.