Brief Bio

Deborah Hopkinson is the author of such award-winning children's books as Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt; Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings; A Band of Angels; and Dear America: Hear My Sorrow. Her nonfiction books Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York and Up Before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America, have garnered much acclaim. Deborah lives in Corvallis, Oregon, where, in addition to writing, she works full-time as the Director of Foundation Relations at Oregon State University Foundation.

 

Presentation Details

Suggested Audience: K – 6

Maximum 4 presentations per day

A full day visit typically includes four large sessions. With a wide range of published books and topics, Deborah can adapt the books featured to your school’s needs – whether it is Black History Month, Women’s History Month, science and inquiry, Oregon Trail units, cooking, historical fiction, immigration, sports, the Titanic, and the like.

She focuses not just on her own personal story as an author, but on content that teachers can use in the classroom – how writers use reading and research, and the importance of revision. Students and the author review the difference between historical fiction and nonfiction. Students look at how illustrators develop the art for picture books. And Deborah works with the classroom on historical thinking and comparing the past and present to develop a sense of historical context.

Presentations for Grades K – 3:

What Makes a Writer?
40-min. Kids always want to know: How do writers get ideas? What Makes a Writer? talks not just about where ideas come from, but how similar the writing process is for all writers – whether they’re in 1st grade or have published more than 40 books! Deborah’s presentation is humorous and engaging. She shows slides of some of her picture books and also explores what makes good writing: practice (and lots of it), perseverance and passion.

Presentations for Grades 4 – 6

History Must Be Seen
50 min. This presentation for students in grades 4 – 6 has a built-in writing workshop. Together students and the author look at how illustrators and authors work together to create historical fiction and nonfiction books. How do writers do research? What about illustrators? With amazing slides from illustrator James Ransome, students see how real-life visits to museums, family history, and books and old photographs inform picture books. She asks that all students read her books in advance, so that the focus of the writing workshop is on writing a letter to a person of the past.

 

Family Literacy Nights
Do you need a speaker for a family literacy night, an evening book fair, a young authors’ festival? Deborah has presentations that work for 40 to 400 people of all ages that will help schools convey to parents the importance of reading and writing with children.

While she primarily does evening presentations in the Portland, OR metropolitan area, she is happy to add an evening presentation at a school or library when traveling out of state.

Conferences and Writing Festivals
Deborah loves to speak to teachers, pre-service teachers, and librarians. Without whom, she wouldn’t even be a writer. She can speak on a wide range of topics, including helping young readers think like historians, encouraging historical literacy and using historical fiction and nonfiction works in the classroom. She also speaks on individual books and the research involved. She has also spoken to fellow writers about creating picture books and nonfiction. She has spoken at Oakland University, Shenandoah University, WSU Vancouver, Western Oregon University, local, regional and national IRA conferences, ALA, and has been part of district and federal grants on history and nonfiction.

Skype Visits 
Deborah is available for 30-45-minute Skype visits with classrooms. Here's a chance for dialogue with a real author for a modest fee. (Deborah charges $150 for sessions under an hour.) Skype visits work best when classes have read one or more of Deborah's books and have questions prepared in advance.

 

AV/Tech Needs

• A room that can be darkened
• LCD projector for a PC
• A table to display books
• Projection screen
• microphone

Honorarium
For rates and fees please fill out our Author Request form and the Author Visits Manager will respond shortly.

 

Ordering Books

Schools and libraries may order books at a discounted rate by visiting the Scholastic Teacher Store and using the Promo Code AUTHOR at Check Out or by calling 1-800-SCHOLASTIC.

 

Booklist:

ISBN	TITLE	YEAR	PRICE
9780439375900	SHUTTING OUT THE SKY	2003	19.99
9780545116749	TITANIC: VOICES FROM THE DISASTER	2012	17.99
9780439639019	UP BEFORE DAYBREAK: COTTON AND PEOPLE IN AMERICA	2006	18.99