Yesterday McGuffey was visited by Caldecott Honor author and illustrator, David Ezra Stein. His visit was made possible by the Lane Public Library, who brought David to Oxford to visit local schools and libraries. Our Pre-Primary and Primary units spent part of the morning with David.
First he told us a bit about himself, how he loved to draw as a child, and even shared some childhood photos and illustrations. He also talked about his creative process, showing photos of his desk where he works and the couch where he thinks up many of his best ideas!
Then he read two of his books—Leaves and Pouch—leading the children in movements that coordinated with the stories.
Working with the children, he then created a collaborative illustration. Based on the children’s suggestions he drew a picture of the Pre-Primary room with a large spider, who was there for his first day of school. When the joey from his book, Pouch, saw the spider, he got very scared! One of our students helped model what a scared face might look like.
David left us with this one-of-a-kind illustration and several signed copies of his books.
We’d like to extend a huge thank you to Lane Public Library and David Ezra Stein for such a great experience—it made for an exceptional day!
