Fourth and Fifth grade students at Cullen Elementary were treated to a visit by an award winning children’s author last Thursday morning.
Gordon Korman, who has authored more than 85 books, visited the school during a three day Southern California speaking tour. The school was one of only six to get accepted for the engagement by Scholastic Publishing.
GCN was invited to hear him speak and attend the book signing that followed. It was evident at the event that Korman is revered in this age group and his books are well read.
Korman signs a book for one of many students familiar with his published works
Korman had an immediate connection with the students as he read his latest book Slacker. The humor and verbiage, which seems to come natural to him, was easily relatable by the Fourth and Fifth graders. Often times during the reading, the entire student cafeteria was giggling to his jokes.
At the end of the reading Korman fielded questions from students, and very eagerly, half the students had questions regarding his many books. Questions ranged from characters in the different series to cover illustrations.
Many students were most excited to ask about awkward situations the characters went through in his books. To their delight, the situations usually were based upon something he or his children had gone through, or thought about.
Korman has written such books as the Masterminds series, Swindle series and recently the book Slacker. Swindle was adapted into a Nickelodeon movie in 2013. His series The Monday Night Football Club was also made into a TV series by Disney.
Slacker, one of Korman’s latest books, is the one he read from during the Cullen visit
All totaled, his books have sold more than 17 million copies, winning him numerous awards and propelling him to best seller lists in the United States and Canada.
Monica McGregor, a school parent, headed up this year’s book fair at Cullen Elementary and along with School Principal Cheryl Bonner, was able to secure Korman to visit based on the school’s individual student reading efforts.
Scholastic Regional Manager Alan Gilreath told GCN that they only do a select amount every year, estimating about 130 speaking engagements at most nationwide.
