Career Day at Pennsylvania Avenue School in Atlantic City

Today, I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting with some of Atlantic City’s best and brightest students as part of a Career Day event at the state-of-the-art Pennsylvania Avenue School, one of the largest in Atlantic City. I was happy to talk with fifth and sixth graders and their teachers about being a writer of children’s books and about the many ways a writer today can make a living with words. 

The students and I talked about how the work of writers is all around them, in places they might not even realize:  on TV, in the movies, in advertising, on websites, in newspapers, on the radio, in magazines, on posters and, of course, in the books they read in class and in their libraries. We talked about advertising copywriting, screenwriting, and journalism as well as the ways writers can earn their livings working for companies in public relations and marketing. We talked about authors and agents and self-publishing. Students were eager to read from the script for the movie Toy Story, to see how stories are crafted on a page long before they become movies on the big screen. 

The students also enjoyed  hearing Rodney Robin’s story  and about the process of creating Rodney Robin as a fun, energetic character by working with an illustrator. Many shared their own ideas for stories and why they enjoy writing (or not). I definitely met some future poets and writers in these classes, and there was terrific enthusiasm for reading and writing from both boys and girls, which is excellent to see. 

Many thanks to Dr. La’Quetta S. Small,  Ms. Antoinette Gray, and Mr. Christopher O’Brien for making my visit possible. The staff and teachers at Pennsylvania Avenue School are doing great things with these students and it shows.