As a follow-up to my post earlier this week, Calling all 9-12 year Olds, I found out about this great resource for authors and teachers called Skype an Author Network. The service allows authors to connect with teachers/readers to arrange author visits via Skype. Low income schools can use this service to bring authors into their classrooms without having to pay huge fees (and, depending on the duration of the chat and the author’s policy, the presentations are often free). Authors also benefit because they can make lots of visits without worrying about travel time or the limited budgets publishing houses have for book tours.
To learn more about this program, check out Kate Messner’s article from the School Library Journal, An author in Every Classroom: Kids Connecting with Authors via Skype. It’s the next best thing to being there.
