AROUND CAMPUS
Second Annual Recycling Challenge
In May , homerooms , faculty and staff were visited by “ secret ” student or faculty monitors , who recorded how well the groups did with their recycling . Winners , selected in Lower School , Upper School and Faculty categories , enjoyed a pizza party . Thanks to the School ’ s Environmental Action and Awareness Committee , Jenna Boccella , Brian Donnelly , and Alex Binaco , for spearheading !
PA Author Series Features Two “ Adams ”
Two days . Two Adams . Four sessions . Thanks to our PA Author Series , boys in all grades got the inside scoop on writing and illustrating books when they were visited by notable published authors .
Adam Auerbach , author and illustrator of The Three Vikings , Legendary Creatures : Mythical Beasts and Spirits From Around the World , Monkey Brother , and the Ezra Jack Keats Honor book Edda : A Little Valkyrie ’ s First Day of School met with the Lower School boys .
While reading aloud The Three Vikings to boys in Grades K through One , Mr . Auerbach transported them through this “ mythical tale that celebrates teamwork , acceptance , the power of music , and the art of storytelling .” He also led the boys in drawing an original character , an amalgam of diverse animals generated by the boys ’ imaginations and shared the long journey a book takes through writing , editing , illustrating and production . One third grader noted he was particularly “ impressed to learn about the multiple rewrites and re-drawings during the writing and illustrating process .”
Upper School boys were visited by the dynamic Adam Gidwitz , author of the Unicorn Rescue and Grimm series of fairy tale “ re-tells .” Mr . Gidwitz enthralled the boys with one of his reworked
fairy tales - The Iron Shoes . He explained how he first came upon the idea to rework fairy tales . “ I was a substitute librarian at a school in Brooklyn , and I picked up a book of Grimm ’ s tales to read to a class of second graders . They were entertained , enthralled , enriched and , to be honest , slightly traumatized . Inspired by this experience , I wrote my first novel , A Tale Dark and Grimm , which tells the ’ true ’ story of Hansel and Gretel by retelling many of the scarier , weirder , lesser-known Grimm tales .” The boys were riveted by Gidwitz ’ s presentation . One eighth grader especially appreciated the author ’ s personal journey , commenting , “ Mr . Gidwitz gave a lot of background about how he became an author . It didn ’ t feel scripted , and that was nice .”
Highly interactive and thoroughly engaging , these sessions were sponsored by the school ’ s PA Author Series Committee led by Susan Austin and Caroline Shook and are made possible through the support and leadership of our Librarians , Winnie Feng and Gretchen King . Each year , this series provides our boys with the opportunity to learn from and interact with a published author , gaining insights into the challenges and rewards of writing and illustrating books .
48 • Saint David ’ s Magazine