Methow Valley Students’ Summer Reading Recommendations

Are your kids looking for a great book to read this summer? Methow Valley Elementary School students have just the recommendation for you!  Each spring, Methow Arts and the public elementary school host the Young Writers’ Conference, which celebrates the art and craft of writing by engaging students in writing activities. Creative professionals in the community lead workshops that celebrate all the ways we use writing and reading in our daily lives.

At this year’s conference, students in grades three through six wrote and recorded a creative radio review of their favorite book. The workshop was led by director Jennifer Abel Kovitz and assistant publicist Missi Smith, both of 45th Parallel Communications, a publicity agency that serves fine independent book publishers. The students prepared audio clips that are being aired on KTRT/97.5 throughout the summer of 2014.

Concurrently, Winthrop’s independent bookstore, Trails End Bookstore, is featuring a window display of all of the recommended titles, along with information about the students who recommended them. The display has piqued community interest, and passersby are already coming into the bookstore to inquire about particular titles.

The goals of the Young Writers’ Conference are to provide students with opportunities to:

• View themselves as writers and feel a part of the writing community
• Hear life stories from individuals who have chosen writing as a career
• Observe techniques and skills used by practicing writers
• Integrate art, music, performance, and storytelling into the writing process

Click here to listen to individual students’ audio clips.

Presented by the Methow Valley School District and Methow Arts Alliance, the Young Writers’ Conference is sponsored by the Public School Funding Alliance, the Methow Valley Fund of the Community Foundation of North Central Washington, Trails End Bookstore, and ArtsWA.

 

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Contact: info@methowartsalliance.org or 509.997.4004