Author Shares Writing Tips with Country School Students

From New Canaan Country School: NEW CANAAN, CT — Author Ann Malaspina, an award-winning author of nonfiction and fiction books for children and teens, gave Lower School students tips on tapping into characters’ authentic stories during a visit to New Canaan Country School on Nov. 2.

Ms. Malaspina gave first through fourth grade students a peek inside her writer’s toolkit, which includes a notebook, camera, audio recorder, library card, passport and a small container of cinnamon, which reminds her to “spice up” her stories.

She shared her writer’s process with the students: “When I’m writing about characters, I want to walk in their shoes, see what they see and how they view the world.” She told them of the places she has traveled in order to research the subjects of her many biographies, including to India to learn about Mahatma Gandhi, to Hawaii for a book on tsunamis, and to Rochester, N.Y. to research women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony for her book, Heart on Fire.

She wanted to feel as close as possible to what Ms. Anthony must have felt, so Ms. Malaspina put on a pair of boots that would have been similar to the ones worn in 1872 and Ms. Anthony’s signature red shawl, and walked down the very sidewalk that Ms. Anthony had hurried down on the day she was arrested for voting, launching the women’s suffrage movement.

Ms. Malaspina then offered students a chance to try on a red shawl.

She also talked about her book, Touch the Sky, a biography of an Olympic high jumper Alice Coachman, which fourth graders had recently studied.

“I always ask my characters, ‘What is your dream?’ and ‘What is stopping you?’, and I look for little details to bring the story to life.” She told them that she had learned that Ms. Coachman always ate a lemon before she competed, for a last minute boost of energy and how that detail helped paint a portrait of her character.

Lower School students are exploring their own authentic writer’s voices through the new Lucy Calkin’s Writer’s Workshop curriculum which was piloted last school year and is being fully implemented this year.

New Canaan Country School is a co-ed, independent, day school for students in Pre-K (ages 3 & 4) through Grade 9. The school is located on a 75-acre campus at 635 Frogtown Rd in New Canaan and provides bus transportation to families living throughout Fairfield County and Westchester County. For more information about the school, please visit: http://www.countryschool.net.

Photo: Ms. Malaspina, author of books such as Heart on Fire, shared writing tips and offered New Canaan Country School students Isabella Kelley of Westport and Jayden Liu of Stamford a chance to try on a red shawl similar to the one worn in 1872 by women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony. Photo credit: New Canaan Country School