May 6, 2021

Bonnie and Shanda interview New York Times Best Selling Author of the I Am Series, Susan Verde, about her author visit philosophy surrounding social emotional learning (SEL).

Susan Verde, is the New York Times Best Selling Author of the “I Am” series (which were illustrated by Peter Reynolds): I Am Human, I Am Yoga, I Am Peace, I Am Love and I Am One, along with many other books and a brand new book called THE TOSSY-TURNY PRINCESS AND THE PESKY PEA! A fairy tale to help you fall asleep! (illustrated by Jay Fleck).

Fun fact: Susan and Shanda happen to have the same literary agent!

Let’s get to it! … Questions we asked Susan:
 

• To start, tell us about your new book and how you came up with the topic of sleep for this one?

• Ok Susan, can you give us an overview of what you typically do during a school visit and what about it is uniquely you?

• Similar to Bonnie, many of your books fall in the social emotional learning (SEL) category which is a hot topic these days! What’s your SEL philosophy when presenting to kid readers?

• Has your visit schedule been pretty busy this year in light of the pandemic? Did you offer virtual visits? How did that go for you?

• Has a student ever brought up something uncomfortable? How did you / would you handle that?

• As an educator, mother, and school presenter, what do you see as the biggest SEL need/gap right now? Any thoughts on how to bridge that gap?

• Did I just imagine this or did you once tell me you used to be a kindergarten teacher?! How has that experience affected you as a presenter?

• Do you consider yourself more of an introvert or an extrovert? How does that play into your visits?

• How many school visits do you typically like to do a year?

• Before we wrap up, do you have any last tips for our listeners (authors, educators) about school visits or SEL?

This podcast is sponsored by AuthorVisitCentral.com and produced by Ben McCloskey of EngineIndustries.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and share it with others who might enjoy it too! Thanks for listening to this episode of the Author Visit Podcast! 

Kid book review by Beni McCloskey (6).

Resources and books mentioned in this episode (with affiliate links that help support this podcast):

• The Tossy-Turny Princess and the Pesky Pea: A Fairy Tale To Help You Fall Asleep by Susan Verde (Author) and Jay Fleck (Illustrator)

• The Three Little Yogis and the Wolf Who Lost His Breath: A Fairy Tale to Help You Feel Better by Susan Verde (Author) and Jay Fleck (Illustrator)

• I Am Human by Susan Verde (Author) and Peter Reynolds (Illustrator)

• I Am Yoga by Susan Verde (Author) and Peter Reynolds (Illustrator)

• I Am Peace by Susan Verde (Author) and Peter Reynolds (Illustrator)​​​​​​
   
• I Am Love by Susan Verde (Author) and Peter Reynolds (Illustrator)
   
• I Am One by Susan Verde (Author) and Peter Reynolds (Illustrator)
  
  
• Laxmi's Mooch by Shelly Anand (Author) and Nabi H. Ali (Illustrator)
   
• Diary of a Pug: Paws for a Cause by Kyla May

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Author Visit Podcast!