Authors Love RIS Students!

In the Elizabeth Library for Valentine’s Day (and to connect with February’s Principle of Phoenix of being “Effective Communicators”), RIS students from kindergarten to Grade 5 made Valentines for their favorite authors—and they could pick any author! The Valentines, as well as the authors’ responses, are all posted on the wall outside the Elizabeth Library.

• 219 students each made a Valentine (February 1 to 17) for their favorite author
• 97 authors have received/will receive Valentines (many received more than one)
• 73 have received their Valentines by email
• 24 will receive their Valentines by post because no email was available
• 30 authors have responded via email (so far), including Mo Willems, Kate McMullen, David Shannon, Eric Litwin, Nick Bruel, Kelly Yang, Gale Galligan, Mark Siegel, and many more! Some authors even drew some special art just for RIS students, or sent a photo of themselves with their books!

PHOTOS & ART SENT FROM AUTHORS:

“I look forward to doing this event again next year!” shares Head Librarian Ms. Natalie Rector. “Authors’ replies are still slowly coming in, so you can keep coming back to see who else has responded! Please also remember that many authors are very busy writing their next book for you to read—but they all say on their websites or via their publishers that they love getting fan mail and read every piece of it, so thank you to all of the students for writing very special Valentines and encouraging their favorite authors—even if they don’t have the time to respond!”