Tag: Skype

Posted on by Cynthia Reeg

My Monsters Continue to Travel the Globe

February and March have continued to be busy months for me with my Microsoft Educator Community Skype Classroom visits—over 75,000 virtual miles total now. Whew! Yesterday I traveled from north Texas to New Jersey and all the way down under to Australia! G’day, mates!

 

In the past two months, I’ve also squeezed in a couple of in-person school visits in St. Louis at Lone Dell Elementary and Bayless Elementary, meeting hundreds of eager 4th and 5th graders.

 

What I enjoy so much with school visits—whether in-person or via Skype—is sharing my love of words with the students. Seeing them become excited about reading and writing is the best! Today, out of the blue, I received a note from Mark Nechanicky, 4th grade teacher in Albert Lea, MN, expressing appreciation for my January Skype visit with his class.

Thanks again for the Skype. We purchased and received books from you. Our media specialist told me that they are checked out all the time. Thought you should know the students really like the books.

This totally made my day! As a former school librarian, I know how awesome it is to have students lining up for a good read. And it’s totally amazing when that read is one I’ve written!

Chandra Hale, school librarian from Celina, TX, where I visited 5th graders yesterday, said: I’m trying to get a copy of each of your monster books for our library… Several students are already asking about checking them out:) And 4th grade teacher, Maria Krudzlo from Marlton, NJ, had this to say after my recent Skype visit with her class: They learned a lot. Thanks again! I ordered your books and the kids are arguing over who gets them first.

Again, that’s so super cool!


My books FROM THE GRAVE and INTO THE SHADOWLANDS are published by Jolly Fish Press/North Star Editions. This is a small indie press, so it is much tougher for my books to be noticed by schools and libraries and middle grade readers. But I’ve found through my visits that WHEN my books and students connect it is a winning combination. I hope you’ll pass the word on about my monsters through social media with an Amazon or Goodreads review or a Tweet.

The REAL critics (the student readers) from all of these states so far: Missouri, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Connecticut, New York, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Alaska, Washington, New Jersey, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa—as well as Puerto Rico, Canada, Wales, and Australia—give a big “Scary on!” for my stories.

I hope you’ll have the opportunity to share my monsters with the special students in your life!

Posted on by Cynthia Reeg

Happy Holidays!

The Monsters Have Been on the Move

Frank, Malcolm and all the crew have continued to entertain classrooms. This week I shared the mayhem with 5th graders at Marian Middle School in St. Louis. The students had a fun time brainstorming sensory words and discussing story: beginning, middle, and end. It was wonderful to return to this awesome school, “educating girls for life!”

Looking Ahead

I will be taking part in the World Read Aloud Day (February 1, 2018) free Skype visits to classrooms. I’m already signing up schools. If you’d like to have me “come visit” your students, please contact me here on my website or visit Kate Messner’s blog for a list of other authors as well.

 

February will also find me at the Write to Learn Conference (February 15-17) in Osage Beach, MO, for K-12 Language Arts teachers. Reading and writing are fundamental skills for student success. I take great pleasure in doing whatever I can to help kids love literature–whether it’s through the stories I write for them or the author visits I do to share my joy in language.

 

For Now

Happy Holidays!

Now is the time to grab a monster gift for someone special. Books always make the best gifts! You can save 20% right now on FROM THE GRAVE and INTO THE SHADOWLANDS.

North Star Editions    promo code: social

If you’d like a signed bookplate for your Monster or Die book, please contact me and I’ll mail you one!

I hope you all have a wonderful season shared with family & friends–and maybe a few monsters too!

Posted on by Cynthia Reeg

Inquiring Middle Grade Minds Want to Know!

 

I had such fun reading and responding to students’ questions I received this week from Holt Middle School in Fayetteville, Arkansas that I wanted to share their awesome words!

Comments

I really enjoyed you describing the characters for us and reading the first couple of pages of your book. I can’t wait to lose myself in your book. Thanks for visiting our school. Maggie

Thank you for the bookmark and I hope I can stick it in one of your books because I would really love to read FROM THE GRAVE. Kyndal

I am so excited to read your new book. I am happier than a elephant in a room full of peanuts. I hope we get to see you in real life! Maddie

You were so prepared and organized. I really like listening to you read the first part of your book. I can’t wait to read your book! Ashton

Thank you for Skyping us and letting us talk to you. It was fun doing it! Jose

I am so excited to read your book, FROM THE GRAVE! …My favorite character is the Dragon because she doesn’t abide by people’s expectations! Rian

I love how you teach people to not bully in an adventure with monsters. Finally, I would like to ask you when your next book in the series comes out so I can tell my friends about it. Matthew

Thank you for showing us that different is ok with your book. Mariano

Questions & Answers

 

Mikayla: How many books have you wrote in your career so far?

 

Hi Mikayla! So far I have written four picture books which explore parts of speech: THE PET GRAMMAR PARADE series, and another picture book called GIFTS FROM GOD. I’ve had two short stories published in anthologies—story collections: “The Emily Explosion” in THE GIRLS and “The Dragon Artist’s Tale” in SPREAD YOUR WINGS. FROM THE GRAVE was my first middle grade novel for readers your age. Book 2 in the MONSTER OR DIE series will be out October 10: INTO THE SHADOWLANDS. You can go to my website to find out about all my books. www.cynthiareeg.com

Thanks for your interest and happy reading!

 

Ella: I am reading your book right now … I can’t wait to read the second book …

 

Thanks, Ella! I really appreciate your reading and enjoying my story. That helps me know that my writing is working. It helps me be a better writer. The second book (INTO THE SHADOWLANDS) is coming October 10, but because all of you at Holt Middle School have been so supportive of me I will try to send Ms. Jewell an advanced reader copy if I can. I’m sure it won’t arrive before school ends for this year, but at least you can check it out first thing next year!

 

Aidan: Were you scared of monsters when you were little? Is there going to be a second book to the From the Grave?

 

Hello Aidan! Yes, I was very scared of monsters when I was young, and I think a lot of kids are. So I enjoyed creating monster characters who are misunderstood and a whole lot like regular kids. I guess that’s how I made my monsters less scary—to me anyway. The second book: INTO THE SHADOWLANDS is coming October 10. I sure hope you can read it. And I really appreciate nice reviews on Amazon if you and any of the other students have enjoyed reading my books!

 

Zachary: Do you have any brothers? Are you married?

 

Hi Zachary! Yes, I am sandwiched between two brothers—one older, one younger. You can visit my author website (www.cynthiareeg.com) in the ABOUT section to find out a little more about them and me. And yes, I’m married to the most wonderful man I could ever find. He’s my number one fan, so I am very lucky. He even dressed up like Frankenstein for my book release party last October! J

 

Madison: Do you like writing books? How long have you been writing? Are you going to retire?

 

Hey Madison! Thanks for your questions. I love writing books. It seems the best job in the world—creating fun characters and stories to share with readers like you. I’ve been writing since I was your age. I also loved reading and writing. I hope you are writing too! And no, I don’t plan to retire any time soon. I have retired from my library work, so I can write full time now. I’ve just started to get going with my writing, so I hope there will be many more stories to come.

 

Mattie: When did you know you wanted to write books? Why did you write this book and was this books suppose to teach you a lesson about something? Finally did you write the book about past experiences?

 

What great questions, Mattie! As soon as I learned to read and write, I started writing my own stories. I hope you are too! I wrote this book because I wanted kids to think about how awful bullying and discrimination is—even if you’re a monster. So yes, I hope FROM THE GRAVE will help kids think about being kinder and more accepting of each other—no matter if they’re blue like Frank or a sparkly dresser like Vanya. 🙂 I think all writers use a bit of their past experience in creating their stories. For me, I moved with my family quite often when I was a child, so I knew how scary it was to start in a new school with no friends. I wanted to fit in. I was generally lucky that things went pretty well, but there were a few times when others bullied me. I’m hoping you and the other students at Holt Middle School encounter no such “monsters!”

 

Jonah: Do you plan to make a movie?

 

Hi Jonah! I think it would be very cool to make a monsters movie, but so far no one has offered to do it. But I did collaborate with a video game maker to create a bit of monster animation. I hope you and the other students at Holt Middle School can open this short introduction to FROM THE GRAVE. If the link below doesn’t work, try https://itch.io and type in the title in the search box to open the video. You will need to click to advance the story. It works best in the manual mode to be able to read the text. Let me know what you think. Or you might try to create a book trailer of your own for the monsters. I’d love to see that!

 

https://from-the-grave.itch.io/from-the-grave