Wheeler and Hamilton Lower Schools Storytellers and Author Series

 In the past the Lower Schools at Wheeler and Hamilton have always been fortunate to experience an author visit at least once a year. We have had Caldecott Award winners Dan Santat, Bryan Collier and popular author and illustrator Kazu Kibuishi. We called these events a Celebration of Reading, which would normally take place in the month of October and always in partnership with the Lincoln School's Children's Book Festival. 

The year 2019 would be the last time we would have such an event, because the following spring brought a pandemic. The pandemic prevented authors from traveling and children from assembling. Over the next few years, students would be given access to virtual author visits thanks to the necessary use of Zoom and Skype. 

As we entered the 2021-2022 school year, places and spaces begin to open up and our community became well versed in safety layers and navigating this pandemic successfully. So we brought back assemblies and allowed visitors on campus. 

We kicked off the Wheeler and Hamilton Lower Schools Author Series with Marlon Carey from The Rhode Island Black Storytellers.  Marlon shared tales, poems and songs. These stories came from Cuba, England and his own experiences. The following week we were joined by Karyn Parsons, famously known for her role as Hilary on the tv show The Fresh Prince of Belair. She shared she had been writing for a while, but recently began to share hidden stories of Black people who made significant contributions to our history. Parsons shared the story of Garrett Morgan and his invention of the traffic light using the book Saving the Day: Garrett Morgan's Life Changing Invention .

Our next author was Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie. She's an award winning author and Lower School parent. She shared her book Layla's Happiness. Students and teachers volunteered to join in the read aloud. Her presentation was a feel good assembly. We all left feeling grateful for the small things that bring us happiness. Students shared how rest, spending time with friends and playing sports were some of the many activities that brought them happiness. 

We end this Storytellers and Author Series with Kyle Lukoff. Kyle's most popular books are When Aiden Became a Brother, a picture book about gender identity and Too Bright To See, a National Book Award Finalist. He'll be presenting to the entire Lower School on April 7th and we cannot wait to welcome him. 

We feel so fortunate to expose our students to such a diverse group of authors and storytellers. We are thankful to be given the green light to gather together as a community and have visitors on campus.