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Invite an inspiring author to your school!

AuthorsInSchools is a speakers’ bureau designed to help you find nationally-known or regional authors whose presentations, availability, and fees fit your organization’s needs. Here you’ll find detailed information with more than 40 poets, fiction and non-fiction writers, storytellers, illustrators, musicians, and entertainers who have received high ratings from schools for their ability to motivate students to enjoy reading and writing.

Bruce Lansky
Called “The King of Giggle Poetry” by his fans, Bruce Lansky is the creator of the popular GigglePoetry.com website and author/editor of humorous poetry books that have sold over two million copies. Based in Minnesota, Bruce has performed workshops and assemblies at more than 500 schools from coast to coast and has been a featured speaker at scores of reading and media conferences. Bruce's interactive program gives students a chance to learn how much fun it can be to read and write poetry. Students are so inspired, Bruce often receives bags and boxes of poems and thank-you notes from students—sometimes before he’s even left the school.

Click the following links to hear an interview with Bruce Lansky.

Interview with Bruce Lansky Part 1

Interview with Bruce Lansky Part 2

Interview with Bruce Lansky Part 3

Click here to learn more about Bruce Lansky .

Jeff Mondak
Jeff Mondak is a children’s poet and songwriter—and a university professor. His poems have appeared in numerous books and magazines in the United States, Australia, Germany, and Sweden, including the Meadowbrook Press collections Rolling in the Aisles; Peter, Peter, Pizza-Eater; and My Teacher’s in Detention. Several of his poems have also been published in Cricket and Spider children’s magazines.

Click here to learn more about Jeff Mondak .

Kenn Nesbitt
Kenn Nesbitt—a full-time children’s poet from Spokane, WA—is author of seven funny poetry books, including Revenge of the Lunch Ladies, The Aliens Have Landed at Our School! and When the Teacher Isn’t Looking, both from Meadowbrook Press. His rib-tickling poetry also appears in seven Meadowbrook Press anthologies and three Scholastic anthologies. Kenn delivers assembly-style programs in which students collaborate to write poems as a group. He also engages students through dazzling performances of his work.

Click here to learn more about Kenn Nesbitt .

Robert Pottle
Robert Pottle is a former first grade teacher turned full-time children's poet living in central Maine. He is the author of five books of children's poetry including I'm Allergic to School! and the co-author of Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Tot. His funny poems also appear in seven Meadowbrook Press anthologies plus an anthology published by Scholastic. Robert begins with a large group performance filled with laughs and group participation that spreads a contagious enthusiasm for poetry. Robert then capitalizes on that enthusiasm with age-appropriate activities for smaller groups.

Click here to listen to an interview with Robert Pottle

Click here to learn more about Robert Pottle .

Eric Ode
Eric Ode is an award-winning singer, songwriter, poet, and entertainer from Washington state. A former elementary teacher, he tours schools, festivals, libraries, and churches weaving high-energy music into his lessons about the writing process and the tools of poetry. As the author of Tall Tales of the Wild West —the first major children's collection of sidesplitting, knee-slapping cowboy poetry and songs—Eric engages children in his delightful shows and workshops.

Click the following link to hear an interview with Eric Ode.

Interview with Eric Ode

Click here to learn more about Eric Ode .

Timothy Tocher
Timothy Tocher is a retired teacher and writer from New York state. He writes clever, humorous, and kid-friendly poetry. With his interactive and humorous poetry programs, Timothy will leave students and staff buzzing with excitement. His years of experience as a writer and a teacher make him a natural at bringing out the hidden writing talent in your students.

Click here to learn more about Timothy Tocher .

Ted Scheu
Ted Scheu (“That Poetry Guy”) is a former teacher living in Vermont. Ted, whose work appears in three Meadowbrook Press anthologies, works full-time writing hilarious poetry and visiting schools like yours. Ted’s exuberant assemblies blend his funny poetry with interactive demonstrations of the power of poems. A former elementary teacher, Ted also loves to work with students in a workshop setting, inspiring students to find their writers' voices with poetry.

Click here to learn more about Ted Scheu .

Diane Z. Shore
Funny, fun, and full of life! Award-winning children’s author, Diane Z. Shore, puts the "awe" in author with her lively, ultra-energized performances. She writes picture books, chapter books, early readers, poetry, and nonfiction. Known for her historical picture book series with HarperCollins, This Is the Dream and This Is the Feast, Diane is also a nonfiction article contributor to Highlights for Children magazine. Her first book, Bus-A-Saurus Bop, a rollicking and rhyming read-aloud, won a 2004 "Children's Choice Award." Diane says her favorite thing about being an author is meeting the kids!

Click here to learn more about Diane Z. Shore .

Bill Dodds
Bill Dodds—a critically acclaimed poet and novelist from Seattle—has written tons of funny poems loved by kids. Bill leads a skills-oriented workshop that engages and inspires students to write poetry and strengthens language skills. This award-winning children's poet help your students' creativity soar as he promotes vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation—what a sneaky guy! You can work closely with Bill to build a program according to your goals. Lessons may include a poetry performance, modeling, guided practice, and individual practice. Bill knows what kids like, and he has a delightful time mixing it with what kids need.

Click here to learn more about Bill Dodds .

Dave Crawley
An Emmy-winning television reporter from Pittsburgh, PA, Dave Crawley has published dozens of zany poems in books and children's magazines. He makes frequent appearances at area schools, reading his rhymes to poets of the future. Dave’s assemblies feature lively readings, and his classroom and library programs encourage students to write their own rhyming poetry. Using examples from his own poetry, Dave demonstrates the use of poetic devices, and students are encouraged to contribute ideas for an offbeat poem Dave will create right on the spot.

Click here to learn more about Dave Crawley .

Darren Sardelli
Award-winning poet and children’s book author, Darren Sardelli, makes poetry fun and exciting for everyone! Authors, educators, and parents agree that Darren’s style is similar to Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky. During his assemblies, Darren entertains students with his funny poems; demonstrates all of the wonderful things that can be done with a single idea; shows students that poetry can be creative, funny, and cool; and knows how to get everybody involved. In his poetry workshops, he teaches students how to spice up their writing with humor, creativity, and imagination. Darren’s poetry assemblies and workshops are guaranteed to bring out the funny poet in everyone!

Click here to learn more about Darren Sardelli .

Kathy Kenney-Marshall
Kathy has written hundreds of poems that have been inspired by her third grade students at McCarthy Elementary School in Framingham, MA, and by her own three children. "Kids give me most of my ideas, through their words, actions, and sometimes their disgusting habits!" Her philosophy on education is that standards are crucial, but fun is essential in the learning process.

Click here to learn more about Kathy Kenney-Marshall .

Jeff Nathan

Do you want to get your students excited about poetry? Do you want them to learn in "an atmosphere of laugher and enchantment"? Do you want them to start writing poetry during their own free time? Jeff Nathan is the award-winning author of There’s a Hippo in My Locker, Calling All Animals, and There’s a Bear in My Shoe. His character, Sherlock Poems, Poetry Detective, keeps students in stitches as they learn through laughter. Jeff Nathan is the creator of PunOETRY™, a new way of helping elementary-aged children to understand and enjoy wordplay. He has also created CurricuLaughs, a unique set of hysterically entertaining curriculum-tied assemblies that focus on education through humor. Jeff’s inspiring programs get the right-brain to help the left-brain to open up and learn!

**Click here to check out a short video clip of Jeff’s CurricuLaughs program!**

Click here to learn more about Jeff Nathan .

Steve Charney
Steve Charney is an author, poet, magician, ventriloquist, radio personality, musician, and songwriter from Woodstock, NY who promotes literacy through zany presentations with his dummy, Harry. Steve's presentations teach audiences how much fun reading can be whether alone, with friends and family, at the library, in school, or hidden under the blankets with a flashlight.

**Click here to check out a short video clip of Steve’s program!**

Click here to learn more about Steve Charney .