An Author in Every Classroom

Scissors in hand, Bryan Collier explains how he creates his collages. "I can look at objects, pictures, and images and see something else," says the 2002 Caldecott Honor–winning illustrator, snipping away at a piece of textured paper. For example, "I can look at the blow-up of a map, and in that map, I can see a pair of pants; I can see a jacket; I can see a handbag."

Thanks to an innovative Web site called TeachingBooks.net, millions of students nationwide can view video clips of Collier and 13 other prominent children's book creators, such as Betsy Lewin, Chris Raschka, David Wiesner, and recent Newbery Honor winner Jack Gantos, as they discuss their craft. And the price is right: it's free, enabling cash-strapped schools to bring artists right into their classrooms and libraries.

Launched in the fall of 2001, the site is the brainchild of Nick Glass, who came to children's books by way of Major League Baseball. In the early '90s, Glass managed the Chicago White Sox's database software. A dream gig, right? But the University of Wisconsin education major realized he was much more passionate about kids' books than curveballs. So in 1996, he started working at Pooh Corner, a children's bookstore in Madison, WI. Glass soon learned that he loved working with children, parents, and teachers, and that they all enjoyed meeting the visiting authors and illustrators, like Stephen Gammell and Lois Ehlert.

Eventually, Glass created a Web site to cull all the hard-to-find bits of kids' book-related information on the Internet—things like links to artists' and publishers' Web sites and lesson plans on popular writers. He launched the site with $250,000 from private investors and a $5,000 small business grant from the State of Wisconsin. Most of all, Glass wanted to create a venue for kids to experience a real, live children's book creator, since many schools couldn't afford to pay the average $1,500 in fees for visiting artists. And since many children's book creators were too busy to travel, or reluctant to do so in the wake of September 11, Glass, armed with his video equipment, went to their homes and studios to interview them. So far, the interviews have taken him to 10 states and one Canadian province.

Glass videotapes his subjects for several hours, then digitally edits the sessions into five-minute presentations for his Web site. Each video clip attempts to capture the essence of who each artist is, as well as how he or she works. Since talking heads won't cut it with a restless audience of youngsters, Glass encourages interviewees to take viewers on a local tour of their lives. For example, an interview with Christopher Paul Curtis shows the 2000 Newbery Medalist at Windsor, Ontario's public library, where Curtis likes to write.

Glass posts the names of future guests several months in advance, so site visitors can submit questions for them to answer. If visitors' queries don't appear in the finished film, they often appear in a teacher's guide that accompanies each interview, downloadable from the site in PDF format.

Each interview is available in two versions—one for viewers with dial-up modems, another, smoother, version for viewers with broadband connections, in either QuickTime or Windows Media Viewer formats. All of the interviews are available as streaming video files, so viewers can begin watching while the segment is still downloading.

Judging from students and librarians' responses, Glass's site seems like a winner. "In Montana, it's hard to bring in authors for visits, says Dawn Greenwood, a teacher-librarian at West Side Elementary School, a K–2 school in Sidney, MT. "So after I looked at the site, I did an in-service [presentation] for the teachers, and now they're using it with their classes." Greenwood's fifth-grade daughter is also a big fan of the site and uses it to look up information on the authors she's reading.

Jeanie Olson, a sixth-grade teacher at Schroeder Middle School in Grand Forks, ND, uses the site to supplement students' textbooks. "Lots of our reading texts use condensed versions of stories," she explains. "I want the kids to get more than just the beginning and end of a good book. The site helps us to learn about what the author is feeling." Olson also shares the site's teacher's guides with her school's special-needs aides, which they find extremely helpful.

With 4,200 subscribers to the site, Glass hopes to generate money without having to turn to advertisers. Perhaps commercial Web sites (say, parenting or bookseller's sites) will pay for TeachingBooks.net's student-enriching proprietary content. Although Glass admits that he might eventually have to start charging subscribers, he's encouraged by his first sale: the Wisconsin Department of Education has purchased a statewide subscription for all of its K–12 schools. He plans to pitch his business plan to other state departments of education and school districts, as well as to private foundations, despite shaky economic conditions. Still, Glass is a man driven by a dream. "I would love to build this incredible portal that tells people there are all kinds of great resources that match their needs," he says. "There are lots of authors for young people that not many people know about, but they should. I want teachers to realize the breadth and depth of children's literature."