Newsletter
Laurie Ann Thompson

Speaking

In-Person Visits

I love talk­ing about books and writ­ing and being an author to stu­dents of all ages! Please see the descrip­tions of avail­able pro­grams below. I am always hap­py to auto­graph books. If it’s an in-per­son vis­it with your stu­dents or fac­ul­ty, we can share a lunch-time.

If you’re look­ing for some­thing a lit­tle dif­fer­ent from what I’ve out­lined here or you have a spe­cif­ic cur­ricu­lum need or bud­get, I’m hap­py to dis­cuss alter­ing an exist­ing pro­gram to bet­ter fit your needs. Please email me with any ques­tions or to sched­ule a presentation!

Virtual Visits

If teach­ers or stu­dents are using one of my books for a project or class­room activ­i­ty, I glad­ly offer a free 15-minute vir­tu­al Q&A author vis­it ses­sion via Skype, Google Hang­outs, Face­Time, etc. Full online author vis­it pre­sen­ta­tions are also avail­able, at 50% off my stan­dard local in-per­son rates.

Book an online vis­it. 

Fees

My stan­dard rate is $400/presentation with­in a 1‑hour dri­ve from the Seattle/Eastside area, or $1500/day plus expens­es to trav­el out­side of that area (3 pre­sen­ta­tions max). Dis­counts may be avail­able depend­ing on the sit­u­a­tion, and book sales are strong­ly encour­aged and much appreciated.

Laurie Ann Thompson speaking at a bookstore
Laurie Ann Thompson signing books

Available Author Visit Programs

Truth and Lies: Can You Tell the Difference?

40–60 min­utes
grades 3–8
class­room or assembly

Two Truths and a Lie: It's Alive!In this pre­sen­ta­tion, I’ll intro­duce con­cepts of infor­ma­tion lit­er­a­cy and effec­tive research tech­niques through my Two Truths and a Lie books (co-authored with Ammi-Joan Paque­tte). Stu­dents will learn why being able to spot fake news and ques­tion truth­ful­ness is impor­tant as well as how to do it. They’ll learn how to eval­u­ate sources, whether their own or oth­ers’. Final­ly, they’ll learn addi­tion­al tricks for not get­ting fooled by less-than-fac­tu­al infor­ma­tion. They’ll leave the pre­sen­ta­tion with a height­ened sense of skep­ti­cism as well as new­found self-suf­fi­cien­cy as both con­sumers and pro­duc­ers of infor­ma­tion. Length is 40–60 min­utes, for large or small audiences.

Tes­ti­mo­ni­al: “Thank you so much for com­ing and talk­ing to our 6th-grade stu­dents! They real­ly enjoyed meet­ing you and hear­ing about your writ­ing process. Thank you for review­ing how to find cred­i­ble resources and spot fake news! The acronym for eval­u­at­ing research – cur­rent, rel­e­vant, author­i­ty, accu­ra­cy, and pur­pose – will stick with them. They loved read­ing the book for sci­ence, and it has been a favorite for infor­ma­tion­al read­ing. Sor­ry we were unable to spot any tree octopods dur­ing your vis­it.” (Brooke Hendry and Jes­si­ca Brun­ing, Jef­fer­son Ele­men­tary, 6th grade team)

Writ­ing from the Heart

40–60 min­utes
grades K‑6
class­room or assembly

My Dog is the BestI will read from both Emmanuel’s Dream and My Dog Is the Best, using them to show how we make our writ­ing more rel­e­vant to both our­selves as writ­ers and to our read­ers. This author vis­it offers a glimpse of my writ­ing jour­ney from inspi­ra­tion to pub­li­ca­tion and dis­cuss­es grit and let­ting go of per­fec­tion­ism. Stu­dents will leave know­ing we are all writ­ers and that shar­ing our sto­ries mat­ters for each and every one of us, whether we’re pro­fes­sion­al authors or not.

Tes­ti­mo­ni­al: “I am so deeply thank­ful for your vis­it with our stu­dents in Dis­cov­ery Club this sum­mer. The stu­dents’ eyes were glued on you, and they were just soak­ing in your every word as you told sto­ries about research­ing and writ­ing a book! I could tell they felt very spe­cial to get a sneak peek of your soon-to-be-pub­lished books. They were tru­ly cap­ti­vat­ed by your time with them, and you intu­itive­ly found ways to show them that all of their ques­tions and ideas were impor­tant. We would love for you to vis­it our stu­dents again next year!” (Ted­dy Dilling­ham, Lead Edu­ca­tor, Imag­ine Children’s Museum)

You Can Be a Changemaker

flex­i­ble length
all ages
large or small groups, hands-on work­shop elements

Be a ChangemakerDraw­ing on my age-appro­pri­ate books (either Be a Change­mak­er or Emmanuel’s Dream or Eliz­a­beth Warren’s Big, Bold Plans), this author vis­it pre­sen­ta­tion will intro­duce youth to the idea that, in today’s world, every­one can—-and should—-strive to be a change­mak­er. I present real-world exam­ples of young peo­ple who had made their marks on the world. I also inspire stu­dents to dream big and take pos­i­tive action in their com­mu­ni­ties and beyond. Final­ly, I give stu­dents prac­ti­cal tips for suc­cess in their own future change­mak­ing efforts. This work­shop can be tai­lored for large or small groups. For small­er groups and/or old­er stu­dents, it can include hands-on work­shop ele­ments. Length is flex­i­ble, depend­ing on your spe­cif­ic sit­u­a­tion and needs.

Tes­ti­mo­ni­al: “Lau­rie Thomp­son is a thought­ful, clear and engag­ing pre­sen­ter. She spent an hour with our 5th and 6th graders as a cul­mi­na­tion to our Lucy Calkins TCRWP unit on infor­ma­tion­al writ­ing. We used both Emmanuel’s Dream and Be a Change­mak­er as men­tor texts for the Teen Activism top­ic. There is noth­ing bet­ter for the vari­ety of writ­ers in a classroom—emergent, reluc­tant and proficient—than to hear a pub­lished author talk about the strug­gle and time it takes to cre­ate a pub­lished piece. The mes­sage that writ­ing is ‘nev­er done’ was pro­fes­sion­al­ly and per­fect­ly con­veyed to stu­dents. If you’re look­ing for ways to engage your stu­dents in writ­ing and in mak­ing a dif­fer­ence, Lau­rie Thomp­son will share her pas­sion with them!” (Mau­reen Juenger, 5/6 Grades, Sun­rise Ele­men­tary, Red­mond, WA) 

Non­fic­tion Writ­ing Work­shop: Facts Are Fun!

40–60 min­utes
grades 1–6
work­shop

I start this author vis­it by talk­ing about where to find ideas and how to decide what to write about. Then I move on to detail the process of non­fic­tion writ­ing, includ­ing research, plan­ning, draft­ing, revis­ing, and edit­ing. I share tech­niques for becom­ing a bet­ter writer in any genre. I will share excerpts from my work as exam­ples, and ask stu­dents to vol­un­teer to share their thoughts as well. Stu­dents will leave the work­shop with a list of their own ideas for future non­fic­tion projects and an open­ing para­graph for at least one of those top­ics. This work­shop can be 40–60 min­utes in length, depend­ing on your needs.

Tes­ti­mo­ni­al: “Thanks so much for your vis­it to our class­room. It is so impor­tant for kids to con­nect their work in the class­room to authen­tic, real-life writ­ing that peo­ple do in the real world. Your vis­it was so dif­fer­ent from our typ­i­cal author-vis­it… we hard­ly ever get to meet real authors who write non-fic­tion! The kid-friend­ly arti­cles you shared fit in per­fect­ly with our study of non-fic­tion text fea­tures, and the tips on gen­er­at­ing ideas, con­duct­ing research, and then actu­al­ly writ­ing and pub­lish­ing your work were all things my 1st graders could real­ly con­nect to. The stu­dents were very engaged through­out your entire talk. Thanks so much for bring­ing the real world to our class­room, and shar­ing all your inter­est­ing arti­cles!” (Michal Friesen, first grade teacher, Woodridge Ele­men­tary, Belle­vue, WA )

Writ­ing Non­fic­tion for Kids | Overview and Resources

30–90 min­utes
adults

In this pre­sen­ta­tion for adult writ­ers, I pro­vide an overview of the mar­ket for non­fic­tion for chil­dren, includ­ing mag­a­zines, edu­ca­tion­al/­work-for-hire, and trade mar­kets for pic­ture books as well as mid­dle-grade and young-adult non­fic­tion books. I dis­cuss how to break in and build a career in each of these areas, as well as pro­vide my favorite resources for all writ­ers of non­fic­tion for chil­dren. Depend­ing on the depth desired, this pre­sen­ta­tion can be 30–90 min­utes long.

Writ­ing to Save the World

flex­i­ble length
adults

This is an inspi­ra­tional and explo­rational pre­sen­ta­tion for adult writ­ers of all gen­res and skill lev­els. I share quotes about the impor­tance of writ­ing and writ­ers along with exam­ples from my own pub­lish­ing jour­ney. I also help par­tic­i­pants tap into their cre­ativ­i­ty and pas­sions to dis­cov­er their true writ­ing pur­pose through sev­er­al short, sim­ple writ­ing exer­cis­es. Par­tic­i­pants should walk away with a greater sense of con­vic­tion about the val­ue of their work in the world as well as new tools to help them keep it mov­ing forward.

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