Speaking Engagements
I'm available for school, library, festival, and book club visits-- both in-person and virtually!
For Adults
I'm also available to speak with educators, parents, counselors, college groups, and other adults! I love to present on strategies for making writing and reading a more engaging, fun, less-of-a-battle experience for kids. I've done everything from conference keynotes to small homeschool pod strategy sessions, and can work with your to tailor a presentation to your group's needs.
Something Else Entirely!
Your school is hosting a "Girls in STEM" week? You got funding from a car dealership and presentations MUST involve a car somehow? Your event is to raise money for a school trip, so you'd like us to write about it in the workshop? I've tailored or created customized presentations for all of the above! Let me know your needs-- we can work together to make something great.
"Author Life"
Presentation
For auditorium-sized groups! This is what most schools and libraries contact me for-- a visit where I discuss my books, what inspired them, and the writing process. This is a high energy, funny, and engaging presentation that never fails to have the entire room laughing.
In this presentation I primarily discuss the Pip Bartlett series, the Ellie Engineer series, and the Doublecross series. I'm also always happy to tweak this presentation to better fit your school or community's needs!
Writing Workshops
Writing workshops are a great option for groups of under thirty students! We'll go over the basic elements of a story, brainstorming strategies, dealing with writer's block, and how to take your story from idea to completion.
Some groups opt to gear these workshops toward "reluctant writers", while others choose to gear them toward writing clubs, book clubs, or advanced writing programs. And, of course, some opt to open the workshop up to students of all stripes!
STEM-focused presentations
The Ellie, Engineer series is about a girl who is a lot like me-- she loves pink, sparkles, ballet, bugs, explosions, and engineering. As a kid I often felt like I was "allowed" to like all of these things, but not all of these things together. I wrote the Ellie series to showcase a little girl who is proud to like what she likes-- and to tell a story about how there's no such thing as "boy stuff" and "girl stuff", there's just "stuff" and you can like whatever it is you like.
I love discussing this series, and can incorporate it into your group's STEM programming by pairing it with a simple machine build! In small groups, construct a basic catapult, then creating a story about using it. The video on the right shows students participating in the catapult build (among other cool STEM-day programs!).
Virtual Visits
If visiting your group in person isn't in the cards, a virtual visit might be possible! All the visits mentioned above are available virtually-- though I tend to think that virtual visits are best suited to smaller groups.