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She is sure, she is straw is straw, She is true,
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is true, she is praise, pray, she is she is you.
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Hello, everyone, Welcome to today's Word of Mom Radio. Here on
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the Word of Mom Media Network. I'm your host, Dori
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Di Carlo. And you know we are here week after week,
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show after show, breaking those myths that morepreneurs and business women,
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especially those of us building our businesses from home, that
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we're just dabbling in between bake sales and getting our
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nails done. We're not. We are smart, we are savvy,
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and we are sharing the wisdom of women in business
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and in life. And I'm excited about bringing today's guest
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in to the children's author's alley. Christine Devane grew up
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in Massachusetts, graduating from Merrimack College in two thousand and
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six with a degree in English and a minor in
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elementary education. She earned her master's in elementary education from
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Maryrimac two thousand and eight. Were over thirteen years, Christine
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has taught at Saint Augustine Elementary in Andover and Plimpton
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Elementary in Waltham. She lives in Wilmington with her husband,
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children and dog. She's volunteered and taught English in Costa Rica,
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is a member of SCBWI, attending conferences in New York
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City and Springfield, and has written a really fun book
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called Elephant Beach. And I loved it and I am
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very excited about sharing it. So with all that being said, Christine,
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welcome to Word of Mom Radio.
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Hi welcome, Thank you for having me on today.
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It is my pleasure. I would love for you to
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take us on your journey as an educator that led
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you to writing Elephant Beach.
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Sure, so, actually started when I was very young. I
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enjoyed reading books, especially animal books. One of my favorite
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books was a biography actually on Jana Doll. I was
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very sad to hear about her passing last week because
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I just loved reading all of the amazing things she
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did with animals. And originally I wanted to be a vet,
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but sadly I cannot take the side of blood, so
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that path did not work for me. So when I
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was a teenager, I started working with children at after
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school programs. I started babysitting, and I found to be
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very rewarding because I got to have a creative side
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and I got to see the kids learn, and it
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was different every day. It was fun. So then I
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went to college became a teacher after that, and while
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I was teaching, I truly enjoyed storytime because all of
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the kids would sit on the floor, we would read
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a book, and most books have to do with social skills,
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so we had really good talks after and really good discussions,
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and kids loved sharing. And it was during these story
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times that I realized that there aren't a lot of
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books on shy kids. So I decided I wanted to
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write my own book on being shy. And that's when
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I originally joined that group that you're talking about, the SEBWI.
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So I joined their group. They have a lot of
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great resources. I went to the conferences and I joined
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critique groups, and from there I just kept writing and
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working on my book. And it's funny, I actually didn't
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hear anything for a few years, and then last year
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somebody called me to publish it. And the timing worked
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out well because I have three kids, but now they're
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a little bigger, they're in school, they're two, four, and six,
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so now I have a little bit more time to
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dedicate to the book and promoting it.
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It's exciting and you're in the thick of it, and
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this book, Elephant Beach, talk to us a little bit
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about it, because it really is a charming.
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Book, thank you. So it's about a little girl that
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goes to the beach by herself. She's shy, as I
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was growing up, and she sees group of elephants. She
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almost thinks they're annoying because they block the sun, they
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get sand on her towel. They invite her to play.
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She originally declines, and then after a little while she
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decides to join the group and she has fun with them.
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So it shows shy kids that sometimes if we step
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out of our comfort zone and try something new, we
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can make new friends and do fun things together, like,
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for example, they're in the water and because the elephants
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are so big, they're making waves and she's surfing, which
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she wouldn't really be doing by herself. And then it
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also shows extroverts that sometimes it's nice to lend an
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invitation or a hand to somebody that's quiet, somebody that's
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by themselves. It's nice to go over and invite them
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to be part of the group. And they might say
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no originally, and you know what, that's okay because every adult,
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every child has a different personality, and it's just showing
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kids how we can try to work together and just
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be kind to each other.
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I am sure that your experiences as a teacher have
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so much to do with the way you created this
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book and the experiences with kids in your classroom. For you,
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how has it been, because I'm sure you must have
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shared it with your students. How have they reacted?
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So I'm actually not in the classroom right now. I'm
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home with the three of them, but I have done
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over twenty classroom visits because I still talk to a
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lot of teachers that I used to work with, and
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I still have a lot of friends that are teachers.
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So the book came out in April, and before school ended,
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we did a lot of beach theme parties. So I
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would go in, I would bring towels, sunglasses. At beach ball,
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we would have fun, read the book, talk about lessons
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that kids learned, and just make it something memorable that
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kids really enjoyed. So I tried to bring the book
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to life rather than just going in and being somebody
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that's reading a story to them. So the kids really
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liked that and they had a lot of fun with it.
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The illustrations in the book are awesome. I would love
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for you to talk to us about your illustrator, because
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it really just each page. They're vibrant and they're fun,
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and for me, I got absorbed into the picture and
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then got to read the next caption of I love
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the shade, you know, because of the elephanty years and
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all of the other things going on. So it really
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just like I said, I just really enjoyed it.
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I'm so happy that you like the pictures and you
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like the book, and it's so nice to hear feedback.
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So the pictures actually were done by somebody at the
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publishing company, and what we did was I wrote very
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specific notes for how I wanted the pictures to look like,
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and then they drew them, and then we went back
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and forth because as specific as I might be, it's
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different when I see it. So, for example, there was
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a page where there was elephants. It was at the
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beginning of the book, and there was a big blank spot.
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So I said, okay, let's add a sign there, let's
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add this there, And the elephants outfits were tweaked a
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couple times. So it was really a lot of back
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and forth about how I envisioned the book and how
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the publishing company wanted the book to look. But I
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love how the pictures looked. I just wanted them to
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be bright, colorful. I wanted it to be a happy story,
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so that's why I wanted them to use a lot
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of very colorful pictures that would draw kids in.
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And it does, it really does, and they are there
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are illustrations, to me, should be a story in themselves,
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and then there's the story, and in both ways they
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compliment the story beautifully. Why did you choose elephants as
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the companion for this shy girl?
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So my favorite animal growing up was elephants, and my
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parents and grandparents would always bring me lucky elephants when
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they traveled. So I have a collection of elephants, and
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I've just always been drawn to them because they have
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such great personalities. They're very kind, they're very caring, they're
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very family oriented. And when I was thinking of a
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character that would be good for a children's book, I
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thought an elephant would be perfect because kids think they're
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funny because of their size, but they're also such warm
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and social creatures that I thought that it would be
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a great fit for the book.
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I too love elephants, and to me, even though they
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were always so big, they seemed shy. They have that
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little bit of humility, and I don't think they realize
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they're as big as they are, you know, I really don't.
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I actually traveled to Africa eight years ago with my
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husband and my mom and we got to see animals
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out in the wild, and we saw elephants out in
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the wild. And it's funny that you say that because
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they are really big, but they're not like the lions
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out there making a ton of noise and stuff like that.
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They just keep to themselves, so maybe they don't know
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their size are how big they are. But it was
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fascinating seeing them and seeing how they really stick together
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and how the older ones take care of the little ones,
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and it was amazing to see that that's how they
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really are. They're very kind, caring, nurturing creatures.
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Funny, I always tell my grandson big takes care of
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little because he's seven and his cousin, my granddaughter's five,
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and I use the elephants. I said, remember when we
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watch the thing, you remember how the big elephants take
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care of the little ones. They surround that baby as
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they walk, They make sure that little is taken care of,
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and so I love that because they do, and I
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think that kids identify with that, especially younger children where
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they're still being nurtured and cared for and taken care of.
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So in creating this, how much of your life in
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the classroom you feel kind of influenced where you want
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these books to go.
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So a lot of my work in the classroom actually
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came through in the book because, as I talked about before,
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kids have all different personalities. So almost every year you
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had a couple of kids that were very shy as
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I was, and I wanted them to be seen so
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that they could read a book where they see that
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it's okay to be shy, and it's okay to want
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to be by yourself and sometimes it's hard to join
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a group. And every year I got kids that were
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just quiet. So I wanted something that kids could read
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in school. And then, like I said, join the classroom visits.
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I've taken a lot of my teaching skills to my
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author visits where I bring activities, coloring sheets. The teachers
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always say, wow, now the kids are going to expect
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so much from all the author visits because you bring
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so much stuff with you because I really wanted to
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be something special for kids and also something that can
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help the teachers out. So I bring a writing activity
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where the kids pretend they're at the beach with an elephant,
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and what would they do with an elephant? And I
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think the top answer was eat a big ice cream.
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But it ties into the standards and reading and writing
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and it's not just here's a story. So I've tried
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to bring my teacher skills with me to story times,
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and I've done story times at some books. I'm actually
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doing one at a farm next week, so just trying
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to make it fun for kids.
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On that note, think about what Christine is talking about
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making it fun for the kids and bringing her education
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background into all of this. We're going to take a
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quick break, say thank you to our supporters, and we'll
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be back here in just a moment. On Word of
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Mom Radio. She is brave, she is bold, she is you,
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and we want to tell your story. Are you ready
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We want to tell your story because when you win,
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we all win.
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org for more information.
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And we're back here on Word of Mom Radio. We
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are talking with Christine Devane about her book Elephant Beach
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and her journey as an educator. My background was in
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education and I did theater with kids and people would
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say to me, how do you do theater with a
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five year old? They're not even reading? And I would
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pick three different stories and we would have story time
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and then they would get to choose which one of
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those stories they wanted to bring to life. So we
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would keep reading it and they'd start bringing in costumes
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and they would create their dialogue. I never gave them
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a script, but you know how kids are when that repetition,
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you know, and to parents, I would invite them in
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to watch the last class that was their performance. We
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would do a song. I would teach them a song
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in sign language. We would do an adagio movement of
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just our arms where they would follow me, and then
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they'd get to act out their little play that they created.