At Stevens Creek Elementary School, Augusta, Georgia.

GRADES K-1

For the littlest kids, I have a 30-minute, very interactive program about the three ways ideas for stories happen and how sometimes the best ideas come right from their neighborhoods and from really ordinary things.  I ask about the kids’ favorite sandwiches and whether they make their beds, and I recite my nonsense poems, “The Perfect Turkey Sandwich” and “Making Beds.”  Then we talk about their dogs and about recycling and how those can be subjects to write about, and I read one of my dog stories, usually A TALE OF TWO DOGS or OH, TUCKER!, or my recycling story, STUFF! REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE.

GRADES 2-3

An interactive, 45-minute Powerpoint presentation that is all about how I live and work as a writer and how ideas for stories happen, plus side trips into my travels speaking at schools and conferences all over the world.  Included are slides of my street in Greenwich Village, my office apartment, lions I saw in Africa, and me riding an elephant in India.  There’s also a lot about how important rewriting is and, at the end, a reading of either PATCHES LOST AND FOUND or JUNGLE BULLIES.  Questions follow every program at the three older levels.

GRADES 4-5-6, 7-8

The same Powerpoint presentation as above, for 4-5-6, with an opening about translating my books and a longer, concluding discussion of how certain ideas of mine developed into several of my more popular titles. There is no reading in this program, but with the additions, it too takes 45 minutes.

For 7-8 (and adults too), I have a program called A TOUR OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD. It can be 45 minutes to an hour, and it's a Powerpoint presentation that explores the importance of neighborhood in writing for children and how growing up on Manhattan's Upper West Side made me into a writer and gave me the ideas for many of my books.

The Day

Three programs.  Lunch with anyone, chosen or simply interested. As much autographing as necessary. Please allow at least 15 minutes between presentations.

The Equipment

Computer and projector for Powerpoint, with screen. Technician to assist. Microphone for groups larger than 50 (preferably cordless).

The Fee

$1700.00 a day, plus expenses. The fee should be payable the day of the visit. Expenses can be paid in advance or reimbursed the day of the visit or by mail.

Steven Kroll
64 West 11^th Street, Apt. 3R
New York, NY 10011
212-674-1768