HUMBOLDT — As Humboldt Elementary students stirred an imaginary batch of chocolate chip cookies Monday morning, author Erica S. Perl encouraged them to add whatever ingredients they wanted. Mythical creatures. Conflict. Cliffhangers.
When she writes fictional books, Perl told them, it’s like making imaginary chocolate chip cookies. She always adds something real, something she calls “semi-autobiographical morsels.” She sprinkles in events that happened in her past or things she observed, then tosses in a few emotions she felt.
“So even though they are made-up stories, they have real feelings inside,” she told students.
She offered an example through a children’s picture book she wrote called “Dotty.” It’s a story about a young girl with an imaginary friend. Perl reached back into her own past, when she had a friend no one else could see, and used that to form her characters.
“Everyone has stories to tell. Put your real feelings on the page and your stories will be that much more vibrant,” she said.
Perl is an award-winning children’s book author who has written more than 40 picture books, chapter books, novels, plays and more. She briefly recapped some of the illustrators and authors she has worked with, including illustrator Henry Cole who visited area schools in 2021. Last year, she co-wrote the first in a series of books with Dolly Parton.
Perl visited area schools Tuesday and Wednesday as part of the Author Visit Program, funded by the Helen Gates Whitehead Trust of Iola. She was at Iola and Yates Center elementary schools Tuesday before a meet-and-greet and book signing event at the Iola Public Library, then spoke to Humboldt, Marmaton Valley and Crest schools Wednesday.
Deb Greenwall with Iola Reads noted how well Perl connected with students and said Tuesday’s meet-and-greet at the library had the highest attendance she’s seen compared to previous events. More than 20 children were in line before the doors opened.
Perl has been speaking to students since her first book was published in 2005. Her previous experience as a trial lawyer and in the theatre prepared her well. She engaged the students with humorous stories and a photo slideshow featuring her parents wearing crossword puzzle pajamas, her earliest works dating back to when she was a toddler and could barely write her own name, and even a photo of Perl and her brother with Big Bird. She and her brother once visited her aunt at work and met Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch. That’s when Perl discovered her aunt was a writer for “Sesame Street.”
“I started realizing that everything we see, every time you watch a show, someone wrote that. People have this amazing job where you can write these stories. All over the world. And I thought, ‘I want to do that,’” she said.
Everything went along smoothly until she was hit by a serious case of writer’s block. She asked students to mimic her writing process, which includes eating popcorn. Humboldt students sat in the cafeteria and pretended to eat popcorn. Several tossed an imaginary piece into the air and caught it in their mouths, but one kid missed.
“Luckily someone came along who gave me great advice,” she said as a photo of a dog popped up on screen. “My dog Lucy.”
Lucy will eat anything, Perl explained. She learned to follow Lucy’s example. When you have an idea, she told students, eat it.
From that example, she developed a three-step process for handling ideas. 1. Grab it. 2. Put it down on paper. 3. Say “whoo!”
If you follow that process, you won’t have time to wonder if your ideas good enough. And some day when you have writer’s block, look through old ideas. Maybe something will inspire you, she said.
Near the end of the program, Perl answered as many questions as she could from the young audience. Then, she used their answers to draw a picture. It featured a variety of animals, mostly dogs, inspired by stories she told about her book, “When Life Gives You OJ.”
Perl said she hopes students will come away from her presentation believing “that their voices matter.”
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