Author visits Hartley as part of I love to read month

Hartley Elementary School kicked off “I Love to Read” month with a visit from Minnesota author and illustrator David LaRochelle Wednesday, Feb. 1. Hartley’s theme for 2023’s “I Love to Read” month was “I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream to Read!”

There were four different time slots — one for each grade — during which LaRochelle gave 45-minute presentations. 

The author’s visit was possible thanks to a $1,800 grant from the Waseca Area Foundation via the John Priebe Education Fund. “We would not have been able to have LaRochelle here if it weren’t for that,” media specialist Gwen Krueger said. “This is a great opportunity for kids to learn how fun reading can be and what it’s like being an author and illustrator of their favorite books.”

LaRochelle, an award-winning children’s author, began his working life as a fourth-grade teacher at White Bear Lake. He was already considering career changes after graduating from St. Olaf College with an English degree in 1983. He was interested in being an illustrator of Hallmark cards, but remained a teacher until 1988, when he decided to try and be an author. That very year, his first book A Christmas Guest was published.

Since then, he has published over thirty books. While he did write one adult novel, he has pretty much stuck to writing young children’s books mainly for his love of telling stories through  illustrations and punctuation. He says his favorite book ever, Moo, only has the word “moo” in it, but the drawings and emphasis of the word on every page tells the story.

Wednesday was not the first time LaRochelle visited Hartley Elementary; his first time seeing the little Bluejays was in 2016. “I remember the kids back then were so well-behaved,” he reminisced. “So far today, there hasn’t been any exception.”

His presentation for the third-graders started with an example of illustrating a story with numbers. When he drew out the numbers, he explained to the students that the story was about not giving your dog a book to read.

When the students were confused, LaRochelle used the numbers to draw his illustrations, which included the dog ripping up the book after realizing it couldn’t read, causing its owner to become upset and let go of a kite he was flying, which caused a helicopter crash, Earth to collide with Saturn, and aliens to invade the world. The moral of the story: “If your dog wants to try and read your book, just say no,” LaRochelle told the students.

He then explained the rigorous stages of getting his story The Best Pet of All published.

“I received a letter from the editor within a month of when I sent my final draft; that was unheard of!” he told the students. “After making the suggested changes, I waited two and a half more years until I heard back from the editor again.” LaRochelle sent a friendly reminder to the editor with an illustration of the dragon — a main character in The Best Pet of All — after waiting six months.

The editor got back to him again, informing LaRochelle that they already had an illustrator in mind who couldn’t get to his book yet. At first, LaRochelle admitted he didn’t like the first sketches from Hanaka Wakiyama, who ended up illustrating the book. The characters didn’t look the way he imagined. But after seeing the final product, he thought the illustrations were amazing.

He then pulled out manuscripts for stories that were rejected. All 198 of them. “I was about ready to quit; it seemed too hard,” he told the students. “But had I quit, I wouldn’t have gotten any stories published, let alone thirty.”

The one thing he wanted the students to take away from his presentation was that hard work pays off. “To do what you want isn’t easy,” he said. “You have to work at it, and sometimes you won’t be successful. But it’s worth it, especially when you’re an author.”

Krueger agreed. “This was also a way for kids to have fun during ‘I Love to Read Month,’” she added. “We want them excited for reading books, especially in February.”