Love Those Kids

Yesterday morning I blogged about how being around children inspires me and gives me hope and joy.

And then yesterday afternoon I had one of those experiences with kids that left me on cloud nine.

Teacher Amelia Warkentin had invited me to visit her grade four class at The Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary School to talk about my novel Lost on the Prairie. She had just finished reading it to her students.

The kids were so attentive during my presentation and at pertinent points of course put up their hands to enthusiastically share their own personal experiences that might relate to my novel.

I was incredibly impressed with everything they remembered about the Lost on the Prairie story.

They asked me such great questions. One ten -year-old looked at me seriously before inquiring “How did it feel to write about a male protagonist when you are female?”

One boy asked about the music in the book, another wondered which things were historically true in the novel and which I’d made up, and one girl wanted to know where her parents could go to buy her a personal copy of the book as a birthday gift.

At the recess break a little girl came up and said she had just loved my book.

“Can I tell you a secret?” she asked. When I nodded she whispered in my ear, “I’m an author too.”

I asked her what she was writing and she went to her desk to get her notebook and proudly showed me the title page of her latest story, “The Magic Wish.” I found out later the girl had immigrated to Canada from Ukraine during the school year.

Another girl came up during the recess break to present me with a portrait she had made of me while I spoke.

I was packed up to leave the classroom and out in the hall already when three students came out and asked if they could give me a hug before I left. I readily agreed.

I drove home feeling inspired, happy and hopeful.

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