Published: April 12, 2008 09:20 pm         

Inspiring students

Children’s author, Michelle Medlock Adams, visits Columbia Elementary

“Make sure you read and write something every day,” children’s book author Michelle Medlock Adams told a crowd of second- and third-grade students at Columbia Elementary School.

“Good readers make good writers,” she said, stating that her favorite book, “The Secret Garden,” opened the doors for her love of reading as a child.

For Young Authors Day, Adams visited the school to share her inspiration for writing.

Adams has more than 30 titles to her name — both children’s and adult’s. Most have spiritual themes. She also ghost writes for celebrities, and has written biographies about Tim McGraw and Jessica Simpson.

The students were animated Wednesday as Adams read “Conversations on the Ark,” which tells the story of Noah’s Ark from an animals’ point of view.

At the mention of each animal, the students made “moo,” “quack” and “oink” sounds, and made hand movements to portray the creatures.

Adams said she visits about six to eight schools a year when she’s not busy writing books.

The author began her career as a journalist at the Bedford Times-Mail, covering the education, police, business, entertainment, religion and sports beats.

After having two daughters, she decided she wanted to give writing a shot.

“I kinda fell into it,” she said about writing children’s books.

Reading to her daughters every night, Adams fell in love with children’s books. She started writing her own stories and reading them to her daughters.

“I said, ‘I think I can write these books,’” she said.

After attending a few nationwide conferences and showing her work to publishers, she was able to make a career out of it in 2000.

In her first book, “Sister for Sale,” Adams writes about a girl who wants to sell her sister, but ends up keeping her.

“I had a brother and a sister that wanted to sell me a lot,” she told a group of students.

Her biggest critics, she admits, are kids.

“Kids are brutally honest,” she laughed. “They’re not very gracious sometimes. But it keeps me on my toes.”

She said she enjoyed getting out of her home and being able to meet her biggest fans — children.

“There’s nothing more fun than this,” she said. “I get fresh ideas and it’s nice to see my audience once in awhile.”

At lunch time Wednesday, Adams sat with a group of students who have excelled in writing.

Fifth-grader Christian Hall said Adams inspired him to write a mystery story featuring a boy who is trapped in a messy room and can’t break free.

He said she talked to the group about how authors choose events that have happened to them personally and how they can choose to write them as is, or use their imagination to change them up.

Adams encourages children to send in their material to try to get published.

“No matter how young you are, you can be published,” she said. “You don’t have to be 30 to write books.”

To provide examples, she brought in books that were written by students like themselves.

Adams encouraged the children to read as much as possible.

“I always had my nose in a book,” she said.

Elizabeth Loposser, principal of Columbia Elementary School, said the purpose of the event was to get students excited about writing.

“It’s neat for them to meet a real-life author,” she said. “They can see how to use writing in a real-world setting.”

Fifth-grader Joceline Valdovinos said she was encouraged by Adams.

“I used to think that I could never write a story,” she said. “But now she makes me want to write more.”

Melissa Soria may be reached at (574) 732-5143 or via e-mail at melissa.soria@pharostribune.com