Fleetwood School District’s 165 kindergarten students met the author and illustrator of “Number One Sam” at Willow Creek Elementary on April 16.
“I draw pictures for a living,” Greg Pizzoli told the students. “I get to create my world.”
Pizzoli shared humorous photos of himself and his early drawings, eliciting laughter and shouts from the young readers.
“You’re a funny drawer,” shouted out one student from the audience.
Telling them he started creating his own books at age 3, he said they too could make their own books at home. His favorite thing to do is create picture books. He loves reading and drawing.
The author of six books, he read a few, starting with “Number One Sam.” He will publish five more.
Responding to a student’s question as to why he became an illustrator, he asked how many of them like to draw and write. “That is my favorite thing to do. When you’re an illustrator, you can come up with stories and you can make your own pictures. You can draw pictures all day.”
When asked how he became good at drawing, Pizzoli credited practicing a lot. Sometimes he draws all day long and they don’t come out all that good so he has to start again the following day. He encouraged the students to just keep practicing and they will get better.
After the presentation Pizzoli told The Patriot, “I hope that if they like to read and draw and write themselves, which it sounds like most of them do, that they understand that’s something they can do for the rest of their lives, I think sometimes kids get talked out of enjoying drawing because somewhere along the way someone tells them they’re not drawing the right way. I think anybody can do it if they just love it.”
This was the first time Fleetwood Area School District and Fleetwood Area Public Library co-hosted an author. The author visit was in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Pennsylvania One Book, Every Young Child, which is a state-wide initiative to promote early literacy. Pizzoli was selected as this year’s author for the One Book program. Pizzoli also visited Exeter Community Library and Muhlenberg Library as part of this program, said Fleetwood Public Library Director Stephanie Williams.
“Greg I found to be highly interactive. He really enjoyed speaking with the kids and he loved reading his stories to them and he kept them engaged,” said Williams. “Today I hope the children were able to see how they can take a passion such as Greg’s love for illustrating and turn it into something that will be a career for them many years later. I also hope that they understood the message in Number One Sam that sometimes winning isn’t everything and you just need to do the right thing.”
More information about the statewide initiative, One Book, Every Young Child can be found at www.paonebook.org. For more about the Fleetwood Area Public Library visit www.berks.lib.pa.us/sfl.
