Elizabeth Winthrop Visits Orchard School

Author Elizabeth Winthrop gave two inspiring presentations to students at Orchard School on September 27th. Here are some pictures from her day with us:
Elizabeth's first presentation was at the South Burlington High School auditorium.	It was about Counting on Grace, one of thirty books nominated for the 2008 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award. This book is also the "Vermont Reads" book this year.
Counting on Grace takes place in the mill town of Pownal, Vermont in 1910, a time when child labor was common.	Elizabeth told us how her book was inspired by a photograph.
Here's the photograph that inspired her. This girl was a doffer in a woolen mill. Her job was to replace the bobbins when they were empty. She worked on her mothers' loom.	And here's the photographer, Lewis Hine.
Hine took many photographs of children working in mills.	More interesting faces with stories to tell.....
Here's Grace...actually it's a young girl named Addie Card.	Elizabeth shared with us how she searched for the true identity of the girl in Hine's photograph.
She searched for Addie in town record books. Here's Addie's marriage license.	Elizabeth even found pictures of Addie. In this one, taken at the end of World War II, Addie is seated in the back. Her daughter is in front.
Children working in mills had very hard lives.	Elizabeth told us that there are still children across the world that hold very demanding jobs.
We truly enjoyed this presentation! You can find out more information about Counting on Grace and Elizabeth's search for Addie here: http://www.elizabethwinthrop.com/grace.html.	For her second presentation, Elizabeth traveled to Orchard School to speak with the second and third graders. Some lucky fourth graders were also in the audience. Orchard's fourth and fifth graders had been in attendance at the Counting on Grace presentation earlier in the day.
Elizabeth shared with us that the ideas for her stories usually come from things that she has experienced in her life.	She told us that she grew up in Washington, D.C. with five brothers.
Elizabeth grew up in a writing family. Her dad wrote quite a few books about political Washington. Elizabeth even met a couple of presidents. In this picture, she's with Lyndon Johnson. Click here for Elizabeth's biography.	Elizabeth showed us the different stages a book goes through before it is published. She does a lot of rewrites!
Here's one of her books.	And here are quite a few more. Elizabeth has written over 50 books, including the 1987 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award winner, The Castle in the Attic. Click here for more information about books by Elizabeth Winthrop.
We had lots of questions for Elizabeth.	She told us that by the time we are twelve years old, we'll have all the memories we need to write a hundred books.
Many of us wanted to start writing our memories down.	Elizabeth said that many of the characters in her books are somewhat like her.
We learned so much from Elizabeth's presentation! It was so great to have her visit Orchard School!	Elizabeth enjoyed lunch with the faculty and staff at Orchard before leaving for another presentation in Montpelier. We truly enjoyed speaking with her!
Thank you Elizabeth for a truly unforgettable day! You can find out more information about Elizabeth Winthrop by visiting her web site: http://www.elizabethwinthrop.com/index.html
Many thanks to the Orchard School PTO for sponsoring this fine event.

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