11/1/07
MECC children educated, entertained by Tennessee alphabet author
By Eric Goold

ERIC GOOLD/Manning Times

Author Michael Shoulders works with first-graders and kindergartners at the Manning Early Childhood Center Monday, Oct. 15. Shoulders gave a presentation on the joy of reading.

A visiting writer thrilled kindergartners and first-graders at the Manning Early Childhood Center on Oct. 15.

“I’m an author. I think it’s important for children to see that books are written by real live people,” said Michael Shoulders. “It helps them to see that the words and pictures come from real people, and so maybe they can do it, too.”

Shoulders mixed in some magic tricks along with his slide presentation about books, writing and publishing. Shoulders recently spoke at a conference of the South Carolina Reading Association, where local school officials asked him to visit four of the schools in Clarendon County.

Shoulders, from Clarksville, Tenn., made his first trip to Clarendon County for the visits.

“It’s been so wonderful,” he said. “The children have been attentive and have participated with great questions. They came in here quietly and paid attention and made me feel at home.”

Shoulders talked to the children about what it takes to write, illustrate and publish a book from the very beginning. He’s an author of six children’s books that help teach the alphabet, like D is for Drum: A Native American Alphabet, V is for Volunteer and N is for Natural State.

“I hope these children understand that reading is fun,” said Shoulders. “I want them to take away from my presentation that they just need to enjoy their experiences with books. And then with our older children, I try to teach them about the whole writing process, from writing to illustrating to publishing.”

Shoulders talked about his family and brought his own personal experiences into the presentation. One of his sons was a contestant on the CBS reality television show Survivor.

Usually when Shoulders does a presentation, he leaves some of his books with the children.

Monday was different, however, when Ms. Jamie Davis and her class of MECC first-graders presented Shoulders with a book they wrote for him to take home, called A is for Author.

“That was so cool. That had never happened to me before,” said Shoulders. “They did their own pictures too, with digital images and everything. That was so nice of them!”