authors - Pivotal

Boy, 9, Dispenses Advice

Alex Greven discussing his book on
The Ellen Degeneres Show earlier
this year. Alec Greven makes it look like child’s play. In the span of a year, the nine-year-old author has gone from self-published book fair bestseller to national media darling, and has three books arriving between now and next May. This month HarperCollins’s Collins imprint will release the first, How to Talk to Girls, based on a book Greven wrote at the age of eight, for a school assignment.

In the picture book, which features interior art by Kei Acedera (her first children’s book as well), Greven, a fourth-grader from Castle Rock, Colo., offers suggestions about dealing with girls and crushes (“It is good to give a girl compliments. Don’t go crazy with them though. Then you look like you are trying too hard”), as well as observational “statistics” based on his experiences at school (“About 73 percent of regular girls ditch boys; 98 percent of pretty girls ditch boys”).
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Authors

e-manual for new authors presenting in primary schools

In partnership with CAL (Copyright Agency Ltd), e:lit (the new name of the Primary English Teaching Association) has developed an e-manual for new authors who would like to present talks and workshops in primary schools.
The manual is based on the information and ideas presented in a 3 day training course trialled with a dozen authors in Sydney earlier in 2008.

What's in it?

The manual is divided into three sections:

About primary schools includes information on the curriculum and text types taught in schools, literary events and duty of care.
About being a presenter covers various types of presentations including online author talks and workshops, using props and examples of workshops for students and teachers.
About the business of visiting schools includes information on fees and charges, promoting yourself to schools and other resources to check out.

Accessing the e-manual

The e-manual consists of 61 pages packed with information and ideas. It can be accessed in the Special Projects section of the e:lit website.