On Monday, May 12th, Dike-Newell students were fortunate enough to have a visit from author Josh Funk! Josh grew up in Massachusetts and studied Computer Science, he currently works as a software engineer and lives in the Boston area. Since the fall of 2015, Josh has presented at over 800 schools, classrooms, and libraries, and over 300 bookshops, book festivals, and conferences, including the Bath Book Bash! He is the author of "How to Code a Sandcastle" and "How to Code a Rollercoaster," which Dike-Newell students read in library each year as part of Hour of Code. His book "Dear Dragon" was a Maine Chickadee Award nominee, an award students study and vote on annually.
During Monday's visit Josh shared that he did not decide to become an author until his thirties, but had always enjoyed reading, writing and storytelling as a child. He encouraged students to read lots of books so that they can become great storytellers, and when writing, to write about what they themselves would enjoy reading. He suggested always having a notebook with them so they could write down ideas, and he shared how he himself finds ideas for stories. Students learned about the picture book publishing process, including drafts, revisions and working with an illustrator. The visit concluded with students being given a sneak peek at his newest book in the "Lady Pancake, Sir French Toast" series.
Many thanks to the Literacy Fund at the Maine Community Foundation for awarding the Dike Newell School Library a grant to help finance this visit, as well as to donors at donorschoose.org for providing the library with copies of all of Josh Funk's books which students have been greatly enjoying.
For more information on Josh Funk:
https://www.joshfunkbooks.com/
For more information on the Maine Literacy Fund:
https://www.maineliteracyfund.org/
For more information on Donors Choose:
https://www.donorschoose.org/classroom/2658360
