Author Janet Nolan Visits Mark DeLay School

“Words + Pictures = Magical”

(Nolan, 2017)

“Can a story be better told in words? Or can a story be better told in pictures?” (Nolan, 2017). On May 9th, acclaimed author Janet Nolan visited Mark DeLay School in Darien, Illinois to tell students what it is like to be an author. She has published 5 picture books. Her books have been granted numerous literary awards, from the Illinois Reading Council’s 2017 Illinois Reads list to the Maryland Association of School Librarian’s 2017-2018 Black-Eyed Susan Book Award list.

To prepare students for the author visit, students read Nolan’s books during library classes, learned about different genres, and discovered some background information about the author and her writing career. Students also practiced appropriate behavior for an author visit and prepared thoughtful questions to ask the author.

“Day after day, year after year,
the lightbulb did not burn out”

(The Firehouse Light, 2010)

Students attended assemblies where the guest author read The Firehouse Light. “Day after day, year after year, the lightbulb did not burn out.” This is an incredible story of a lightbulb that has been lit for over one hundred years. It is hanging in a Livermore, California fire station where the firefighters keep watch over it day and night. In return, the light is always shining, it keeps watch over the crew and is a symbol of the community’s history.

How did Nolan become interested in writing a picture book about the 115 year old light bulb? “I read about the lightbulb in a magazine article,” Nolan said. She was hooked on the idea of telling the story of the record-long burning bulb. She started out on a journey to learn about its history and even visited the Livermore Fire station several times to see the bulb in person. Nolan also conducted research at the Livermore Historical Society.

If you would like to see a live feed of the Centennial Light, visit this site:

http://www.centennialbulb.org/...

As part of her presentations, Nolan explained different tools to help students become better writers. She taught students about elements of a story (plot, setting, characters, conflict, and resolution), and she also talked to the students about the differences between fiction and nonfiction literature.

“I keep my ears tuned to the interesting channel.”
(Nolan, 2017)

A popular question that the students asked her was how long she had been writing. She told students that she had been writing for over 15 years. “Stories open us up to new ideas and a different world,” said Nolan. If you want to read more about her, please look up her webpage:

https://www.janetnolan.com/

Students decorated fire engines as part of the author visit festivities. A special thank you to the Darien-Woodridge Fire Protection District for donating prizes for each entrant of the “Design a Fire Truck” contest.

Nolan has published four other books. Her most recent picture book, Seven and a Half Tons of Steel, has won numerous awards. “There is a ship, a navy ship. It is called the USS New York. It is big like other navy ships, and it sails like other navy ships, but there is something special about the USS New York” (Nolan, 2016). Read this true story of how a steel beam from the World Trade Center was formed into the bow of this ship.

As a wind-up for our visiting author unit, students wrote thank you letters and colored pictures of fire engines, then sent them to Janet Nolan. Several copies of her books are housed in our collection so students can check them out and read them at home.

Finally, the importance of hosting authors is extremely valuable to our school library program. Thanks to the generosity of the PTA, we can bring new and exciting authors in every year! Reading for pleasure, reading for information, inspiring future authors, providing positive role models -- these all lead to the promotion of reading and writing.