One of my greatest pleasures is to visit schools and talk about

specific books and how I go about writing them.  My talks are geared

to grades 4 through high school.  Depending on what the classroom teacher would like, I can give the following talks:

For younger students:

Where Do  My Ideas Come From, and How Do I Get People to Talk to Me?

I’ll talk about how I find out all I can about the person before I talk to them, and have my questions prepared, but make sure the person has an opportunity to tell me something special.

Use the Internet, but Don’t Believe Everything that’s Out there. Where Else Can You Get Accurate Information? The Internet is a perfect place to get information and sources for what you are looking for, but you need to find ways to make sure it is accurate.

For high school students:

This is Your One and Only Life, How Do You Figure Out The Best Way to Live It? In this discussion I will talk about the different paths the young people I’ve interviewed have taken, and how their lives were affected by it. (Choices for the High School Graduate)

How Do You Get Published?

I will talk about how to start with local sources and build on success.

Especially for Sunday School Students

How I Came to Write Private Joel and the Sewell Mountain Seder, I will explain how I came upon the true story of Private Joel, and my desire to research the lives of Jewish Americans and Jewish American experience.