Patricia and Fred McKissack

If you are a St. Louis-area kid who likes to read and write, maybe you should share this article with a parent or teacher. They can help you have a unique learning experience this fall.

Cooperating School District (CSD) is offering two opportunities where famous kids' book authors help students start a book club or improve their writing skills.

And the schools that will take part in these opportunities haven't been picked yet.

That's where the adults come in. Either your parent or teacher can lobby your school principal to apply for one of the spots. CSD signs up schools on a first-come-first-served basis.

Both the reading club and writing classes involve two-way video-conferencing. That allows kids to discuss ideas directly with the authors. You can even get a critique of your plans.

The writing program involves St. Louis authors Patricia and Fred McKissack. The McKissacks have written over 100 books for kids and young adults. In the classes, they'll explain how they find book ideas, and then research and write their books.

The McKissacks will work with 16 different classes during the 2001-2002 school year.

The book club classes will involve other nationally-known kids' authors. These clubs will be special. They pair each kid with a parent or other adult so they can share reading experiences.

CSD is lining up the other authors for this program.

None of the participating schools have been picked as yet. That why you still have time to get your school involved.

CSD represents 49 school districts in St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson, Franklin, Lincoln and Gasconade counties and the city of St. Louis.

Ruth Litman-Block and Martha Bogart coordinate the "distance learning" programs for the CSD.

In the next few weeks, they will be signing up schools that want to participate in either the writing lessons by the McKissacks or the reading-club classes by other kids' authors.

Ruth Litman-Block's number is (314) 692-1272 and her e-mail is ruthb@info.csd.org. Martha Bogart's number is (314) 692-1258 and her e-mail is martha@info.csd.org.

In the writing classes, kids don't just listen to the McKissacks.

That's the magic of two-way video-conferencing. Individual kids can see the St. Louis authors while have a two-way conversation. The McKissacks even will critique individual kids' writing efforts.

There will be four complete cycles of writing instruction during the year. Kids in four different classes will be involved in each cycle. A cycle runs about seven weeks and involves three different video conferences with the McKissacks.

In between video conferences, the kids will be working on their own writing projects. At the end, the McKissacks will pick some of the best writing and share them with all the schools involved.

Any time between video-conferences, kids can e-mail questions to the McKissacks. For instance, a kid might be having trouble getting their story started or how to develop an individual character. They e-mail you an answer.

During this summer, the McKissacks helped CSD try out the book club idea. These classes also used video-conferencing.

A total of 85 kids and 85 adults set up eight different book clubs from six different school districts.

The schools involved were Oak Brook Elementary in the Parkway district, Normandy Middle School, Jefferson Elementary in the City of St. Louis, Glenridge Elementary in Clayton, Truman Elementary in Lindbergh. There were three University City schools, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Pershing Elementary and Brittany Woods Middle School.

Bogart said, "The clubs are to promote literacy and adult-child mentoring relationships."

The big book publisher Scholastic sponsored the book club experiment.

For the summer trial, the book clubs used Pat McKissack's book, "Nzingha, Warrior Queen of Matamba, Angola, Africa, 1595." This is about a famous African queen who led her people against a Portuguese enemy at a time when girls didn't often get hero roles.

Young Saint Louis.com has a special review of the Nzingha book in this month's book reviews. To go directly to the review of the McKissack book, just click here.

Through video-conferences, the McKissacks helped the classes set goals for their clubs and pick the book. The kids also learned background information about the McKissacks.

Each adult-kid team then read the book, which was written in diary form. Kids were encouraged to keep their own diary and to hold individual discussions. They also did art and writing projects.

In the second conference, the McKissacks answered questions about how they researched and wrote their book. The classes also studied a little book, "How a Book Is Made" by Aliki. This gives a step-by-step look at book writing and production.

In the final video conference, the McKissacks gave feedback on the kid-adult projects at each school.