Eric Walters
We took the two Gr. 5 classes to the Richmond Hill Central Library today to hear an author talk by Canadian children's author, Eric Walters.
Eric Walters is quite the Renaissance man. As well as being an award-winner author of 26 novels he's a elementary school teacher, a social worker, a coach, and a musician. I wasn't familiar with his books when we were first invited to this presentation, but I've read up on him now and I've been reading his novel, "Trapped In Ice", to my Gr. 5 class.
There were about four classes in the presentation room ranging from Gr. 5-7. Eric Walters had been expecting a younger bunch (all Gr. 5) so he switched from a presentation on tigers that he was going to give (he has a few novels about tigers) to a presentation on Canadian heroes (several of his novels are fictionalized accounts of real historical events in Canada). I was glad he made the switch because I found his talk on Canadian heroes to be fascinating and inspiring.
He talked about Captain Robert Bartlett, the hero of "Trapped In Ice", whose ingenuity and courage rescued 26 crewmen from a doomed Arctic expedition. He talked about Alexander Graham Bell, whose intelligence and inventions went way beyond the creation of the telephone. He told stories of the Canadian heroes of the War of 1812, Fitzgibbon, Laura Second. He told World War II tales of Canadian spy, William Stephenson, who became Ian Fleming's inspiration for James Bond. He also talked at length about Terry Fox and The Marathon of Hope, telling us that he will be launching a book in September called "Run" that will tell the story of Terry Fox's run across Canada from the perspective of a fictional 13-year-old boy who travels with him. Most of Walters' books have 13 or 14-year-old characters observing the events for young readers to identify with. He said "Run" is expected to have the biggest launch in the history of Canadian children's literature and he is donating all profits from the book to the Canadian Cancer Society. (listening to him talk about Terry Fox also made me definitely commit in my mind to doing the Terry Fox Run for cancer this September)
He finished by telling the students how important it was to know about these heroes, how they are at the stage where they will want to pick the people they are going to model their lives after and that it is important to make insightful and educated choices. He told them Wayne Gretzky is a great hockey player and a nice fellow, but he isn't a hero. He also rather scathingly said that not only is Britney Spears not a hero, she's not even a singer... He told the group that they needed to remember, too, that one day they could be heroes to other people, spouses, children, the community and how important it is to learn and appreciate just what that responsibility means.
Eric Walters was an excellent speaker, passionate about writing, children and Canada and I'm really glad my class had a chance to experience meeting the man behind the books they had seen and read. Several of them bought his books after the presentation and he wrote personal autographs in all of them.
Lily (the other Gr. 5 teacher) and I are going to make sure that we prepare for other library visits and author presentations next year.
Exercise log: Yay, I hit 50 miles on my Walk to Rivendell challenge today and earned my second shield. Also, we walked with the students to and from the library today, which was 3 miles total. By the time I walk home in a few minutes I will have walked 53.5 miles toward Rivendell. Only 404.5 miles to go.
Eric Walters is quite the Renaissance man. As well as being an award-winner author of 26 novels he's a elementary school teacher, a social worker, a coach, and a musician. I wasn't familiar with his books when we were first invited to this presentation, but I've read up on him now and I've been reading his novel, "Trapped In Ice", to my Gr. 5 class.
There were about four classes in the presentation room ranging from Gr. 5-7. Eric Walters had been expecting a younger bunch (all Gr. 5) so he switched from a presentation on tigers that he was going to give (he has a few novels about tigers) to a presentation on Canadian heroes (several of his novels are fictionalized accounts of real historical events in Canada). I was glad he made the switch because I found his talk on Canadian heroes to be fascinating and inspiring.
He talked about Captain Robert Bartlett, the hero of "Trapped In Ice", whose ingenuity and courage rescued 26 crewmen from a doomed Arctic expedition. He talked about Alexander Graham Bell, whose intelligence and inventions went way beyond the creation of the telephone. He told stories of the Canadian heroes of the War of 1812, Fitzgibbon, Laura Second. He told World War II tales of Canadian spy, William Stephenson, who became Ian Fleming's inspiration for James Bond. He also talked at length about Terry Fox and The Marathon of Hope, telling us that he will be launching a book in September called "Run" that will tell the story of Terry Fox's run across Canada from the perspective of a fictional 13-year-old boy who travels with him. Most of Walters' books have 13 or 14-year-old characters observing the events for young readers to identify with. He said "Run" is expected to have the biggest launch in the history of Canadian children's literature and he is donating all profits from the book to the Canadian Cancer Society. (listening to him talk about Terry Fox also made me definitely commit in my mind to doing the Terry Fox Run for cancer this September)
He finished by telling the students how important it was to know about these heroes, how they are at the stage where they will want to pick the people they are going to model their lives after and that it is important to make insightful and educated choices. He told them Wayne Gretzky is a great hockey player and a nice fellow, but he isn't a hero. He also rather scathingly said that not only is Britney Spears not a hero, she's not even a singer... He told the group that they needed to remember, too, that one day they could be heroes to other people, spouses, children, the community and how important it is to learn and appreciate just what that responsibility means.
Eric Walters was an excellent speaker, passionate about writing, children and Canada and I'm really glad my class had a chance to experience meeting the man behind the books they had seen and read. Several of them bought his books after the presentation and he wrote personal autographs in all of them.
Lily (the other Gr. 5 teacher) and I are going to make sure that we prepare for other library visits and author presentations next year.
Exercise log: Yay, I hit 50 miles on my Walk to Rivendell challenge today and earned my second shield. Also, we walked with the students to and from the library today, which was 3 miles total. By the time I walk home in a few minutes I will have walked 53.5 miles toward Rivendell. Only 404.5 miles to go.