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Terrific Connections with Authors, Illustrators, and Storytellers: 
Real Space and Virtual Links
by Toni Buzzeo and Jane Kurtz
Libraries Unlimited ISBN: 1563087448

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Or purchase Terrific Connections direct from the Publisher!

Transform author visits from tenuous to terrific with this exciting new resource! Created by a nationally known children’s author and a practicing library media specialist, this book goes beyond the traditional approach to author visits to explore new possibilities opened by the Internet and other technologies. It helps teachers and librarians create the best possible encounters between students, authors, illustrators, and storyteller--in the classroom, library, or even cyberspace. 

Buzzeo and Kurtz describe dozens of successful visits, offering specific ideas on the many ways to connect with and create meaningful links between bookpeople and children. Every step of the process is detailed, from choosing the right guest and successfully contacting bookpeople to make arrangements for the event to making the most of the visit with curriculum connections and learning extensions. Readers will also learn how to take advantage of technology (e.g, the Internet, ITB, satellites) to maximize their budgets and add even more excitement to their programs. Spotlight sections on authors, illustrators, and storytellers offer close-up views of some of the possibilities, and lists of author/illustrator Web pages and managed Internet sites for author interaction help connect educators with potential guests. 

With proper preparation, author visits can be inspiring and productive experiences for everyone involved. This is the most current and complete guide to author visits available and the only one that covers the new possibilities offered by technology. It will help educators plan events that enrich and enhance learning--in real space and cyberspace. Anyone planning a visit, or hoping to plan one, will want this practical and inspiring guide. Grades Pre-K-12.

From small group visits between an author and a public library storytime group to a schoolwide visit between an illustrator and the entire student body of a middle school to the massive international—and virtual—undertaking, The Read In!, there are fabulous connections going on all over the world.  Our job was to explore those connections, to analyze what made them work, and to offer our readers practical advice about how to ensure terrific connections between bookpeople and kids of all ages, from the toddler crowd to the graduating senior, in every possible venue, from real space to cyberspace.

Whether you are a librarian, a teacher, an administrator, a cultural enrichment coordinator, a home-schooling parent, an author, an illustrator, or a storyteller, we believe that this book will help you to make terrific connections a reality! 

"Gives step-by-step suggestions for planning and implementing successful author visits and follow-through." - Book Report 

"What may intrigue readers the most is the section on 'virtual visits,' which explores ways in which students and authors can communicate online or by using television/satellite links." - Booklist 

"Explains how to get the most out of technology when planning a budget and promoting an event." - Teacher-librarian 

"K-12 teachers can inspire their students to think of themselves as literacy scholars via connecting live or otherwise to bookpeople." - Reference and Research Book News 

"A handy guide, clearly set up, for both novice planners and old hands." - School Library Journal 

"The perfect how-to book on involving authors in youth services programs, offering advice on how to envision, plan, and execute a successful author visit in schools and public libraries...Also offer suggestions for what NOT to do, making his book unique in library literature...A long-overdue, wonderful reference." - Voya 

"Shows teachers how to choose the right classroom guest and make arrangements for a successful in-school or online visit." - Ecs Learning 

"Goes beyond the traditional approach to author visits to explore new possibilities opened by the Internet and other technologies. What may intrigue readers the most is the section on 'virtual visits,' which explores ways in which students and authors can communicate online or by using television/satellite links." - Curriculum Review 

"An annotated list of author and illustrator web sites will prove very helpful for librarians, teachers, and students...At a time when education budgets are facing cuts, this book is highly recommended for a school that is searching for new ways to turn students on to reading." - Education Libraries 

"Hot links to authors, publishers, children's literature collection sites, and a variety of other resources on the Internet re provided and are invaluable....Following the author's plan should make an author visit successful for the beginning or experienced planner of author events." - IASL Newsletter 

"Buzzeo and Kurtz cover all angles: in-person visits and mail correspondence, from spontaneous fan mail (e-mail as well as snail mail) to carefully orchestrated communication sessions in which students' identities are masked for protection...This book could be a lifesaver. It is thorough and provides hints to help save your nerves as wellas those of the author/illustrator at the other end of the visit." - Journal of Children's Literature 

"Will help teachers and media specialists make professional presentations inspiriting and productive." - Nea Today 

"Highly readable and includes many interesting anecdotes of memorable visits -- both success stories and true horror stories. Recommended." - Appraisals 

"Recommended." - Vermont Children's Book Exhibit 

"This is the most current and complete guide to author visits available and the only one that covers the new possibilities offered by technology." - Once Upon a Time 

"Well-organized, readable book." - Library Talk 

"An authoritative (but friendly) guide to connecting children to books via 'book people.'" - The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 

"A tremendous book. The information...is well organized, creative and entertaining...A terrific READ as well as an invaluable reference for ANY writer who finds themselves standing in front of an audience." - Haven's List Newsletter