Every year, Village School hosts an author visit. Most years, we connect to the author through zoom. This year, Matt Tavares came to the school in person and talked to the students about his first Graphic Novel, “Hoops.”

Around the time of the author’s visit, we read one of the books the author has written. This year, the students read “21 Steps.” When the author comes, they normally talk about the writing process and if they will write more books. Sometimes, they talk about turning one of their books into a series or, in some cases, making a graphic novel version. This year, Mr. Tavaras did a drawing demonstration, teaching kids about the drawing process he used to design his book “Hoops.”

Then we asked questions such as “What was your favorite part of Hoops to write?” He shared that one of his favorite parts of “Hoops” to write was when it started to feel more like a graphic novel than the original nonfiction picture book. When he was writing “Hoops,” he planned for it to be a nonfiction picture book, but as he wrote, his book started to feel more like a graphic novel based on real-life events than a nonfiction picture book.

Mr. Tavares’s work was fascinating to look at. It inspired many young authors, illustrators, and readers in the crowd of kids listening to his presentation.

Fiona Damon is a 5th grader at Village School in Ms. Meggison’s class. Her SAIL Teacher is Mrs. Karcanes.