The important thing is not so much

that every child should be taught

as that every child should be given the wish to learn.

- John Lubbock

“Young Writers Follow Path of Professional Writer”

(Interview published in the Door County Advocate, a Gannet publication, on December 13, 2005)

(996 Words)

When we think of a children’s author, we usually think of an adult who writes for children; but how many of us think of a juvenile author, in literal terms? The average child doesn’t write and publish his own books but, thanks to a group called Authors and Illustrators, the St. Joseph and Corpus Christi School children in Sturgeon Bay are doing just that.

After reading about this group, Corpus Christi principal Laura Krzysiak invited one of the authors to speak at her school. Peter Roop, who has co-authored over 100 children’s books with his wife, Connie, favored the students with a visit to Corpus Christi, in November. The Roops have made occasional recreational trips to the peninsula and one of their books—Jean Nicolet and the Sign of the Thunderbird—features a Door County setting. This prolific author is also a former Appleton elementary teacher who left the profession five years ago to devote his energies to writing books and speaking to elementary students.

“I probably see 25,000 to 30,000 students a year around the country,” Roop said. “I love to teach the writing process to students. The project in Sturgeon Bay was great because they’re all going to be working on a book, together.”

Born in Massachusetts and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, he attended Lawrence University in Appleton and holds a master’s degree in children’s literature from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. He won the distinction of Wisconsin State Teacher of the Year in 1986, the same year that each of his third and fourth graders was published in a national magazine.

Roop tries to share his love of reading and writing with children and has devised a lively presentation for students called “Story of a Story” which shows them how they, too, can be writers. He uses slides, humor, and readings to pull children inside of his creative process. The presentation is aimed at leading the children on a journey of discovery that highlights the joy of learning that transcends the learning process.

Roop’s ability to connect with the St. Joseph/Corpus Christi students impressed Marcia Egeland, the librarian and technology teacher at Corpus Christi. “He was a very dynamic speaker and he really engaged them,” she said. Roop used his humor and visual aids such as a stuffed buffalo and Native American artifacts to captivate his audience and illustrate scenes from his story, Buffalo Jump. During his presentation, the children were “really excited” to talk to a real author and asked many questions, Egeland said.

Krzysiak had previously asked Egeland to coordinate a book project with the students, but Roop’s appearance further energized and inspired these budding authors to build upon the information that he had conveyed to the group. “It’s really kind of neat because, in the course of improving their writing skills, they will also be learning a little bit about the publishing process, and they’ll learn about the parts of the book, too,” Egeland said.

Using Roop’s approach to teaching, the year that he won Wisconsin State Teacher of the Year, each classroom teacher will ask her students to choose a topic and then write a book about it. The teachers will explain the writing process to the students and guide them in the creation of the books, while Egeland will assist the children who are writing manuscripts in the computer lab.

The students’ greatest challenge to creating their own manuscripts, so far, has been “the idea process—coming up with what it is, exactly, that the student wants to tell—which story do they want to focus on?” Egeland noted that Roop was “extremely helpful” in showing the children how and where they might think of ideas for their own books.

Peter and Connie write genres that range from humor to historical fiction. “Basically, we get our ideas the same places where they might start looking for ideas,” he said. Inspiration might come from a family vacation, a favorite setting, or a historical figure. “You don’t take somebody else’s work, but you can take an idea and make it your own.”

That idea, however, is just one small step in a long journey of hard work that still remains to be done before their words can be printed. To illustrate his point, Roop shared his own writing process with the group—a process that includes research that often takes him around the globe in order to accurately represent a setting for a book; and his preference to revise a manuscript ten times and do his own illustrations.

Egeland hopes that her students “will learn that they have stories inside themselves—that they can find ways to be creative and take pride in their work—that they can produce something that’s important.” The children will also be illustrating their own books, in conjunction with art teacher Margaret Lucas’s guidance.

Roop’s presentation has influenced Egeland’s philosophy, as well. She reminds teachers that, “ideas can come from anywhere, so try to keep all the doors open.”

The entire student body of Corpus Christi and St. Joseph will create books: Grades K-2 will write one book per class; grades 3-8 will each create individual books, and grade 8 will pen one book for the younger children as a class project. Stories written by the younger students will be photocopied in their own handwriting, while older students will type their manuscripts in a Word document.

After the books are written, they will be sent to Student Treasures, a part of Nationwide Publishing in Topeka, Kansas, to be printed, bound, and catalogued. Each school receives one free copy of each book for its library, and additional copies may be pre-ordered for $14.95 each by the public at the beginning of January. Approximately 125 students will participate, producing about 100 books that will be completed early in 2006.

To order a book or obtain more information about the project, contact Marcia Egeland at (920) 743-4144. To arrange other presentations with Peter Roop, contact him at peterroop@aol.com