Everyday I Write the Book

On May 16, children's author Pat Cummings visited Leah's school.  Apparently, the PTO tries to sponsor an author visit once a year.  I had never heard of her or seen her books before then.  In fact, I had to look her up on the Internet (http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai/cummings.html).  Ms. Cummings met with the kids during an assembly at school, but there was also a "meet the author" event at 5:30pm that evening.  Leah, Aaron and I went straight from t-ball practice to the event, which was in the school cafeteria.  There were copies of her book, Harvey Moon, Museum Boy for sale by the PTO and you could get them signed by the author.  Ms. Cummings spoke about how she started drawing as a child, how she began illustrating books by other authors before writing and illustrating her own and the inspirations behind her own books.  It was all very interesting and she was super-nice and engaging with all the kids.  My only criticism was that half the audience were elementary school-aged children, sitting for a lecture during dinner time.  I thought she would speak for 30 minutes then sign books and answer questions for the remainder of the time, especially since she had seen the kids earlier that day.  She spoke for the full hour, then signed books and posed for pictures.  Overall it was a nice event and I'm glad the kids and I had the opportunity.


Author Pat Cummings shows an example of the
ballerina pictures she used to draw as a child.

Author Pat Cummings with Leah and Aaron.