What a delightful trip home, to take in some Fall foliage and spend some quality time with family. While there, I was blessed by three opportunities to share my book and make some new friends. The first visit was to these two incredible young learners who are homeschooled.
Their favorite takeaways were the antique key necklaces we made, searching for the camouflaged keys throughout the book, and finding someone in Ms. Pittman’s class that looks like them.
They stole my heart as I got to sign, sing, and search with them. In the end, my second-grade friend even made a treasure map for me, complete with a key, of course, to find a special treasure chest hidden in his garage. Don’t you love extension activities?
Then it was off to Racine, WI, for a vist at both schools where my incredibly thoughtful friend Trish is the amazing school counselor.
Our friend Julia joined us and shared this beautiful reflection later that afternoon.
Look at how heartwarming this is, the Principal at Red Apple Elementary handing out keys to his kids. I love how he let them decide which key fit them.
I feel so blessed to have visited these two beautiful school families and shared our story. It happened to be World Smile Day, so I also got to challenge a few friends to a smile off. It was a fun way for a student to win a signed copy of our book for one of their teachers. Then it was time to head to the family farm, where I captured Autumn in all of its splendor.
We picked up my mom so she could go along on the third author visit.
She really appreciated how beautiful it was outside. The trees were so vibrant and the weather was absolutely perfect for this visit to a parochial grade school like the one I attended during my formative years.
It was extra-special because my invitation came from a 5th-grade student, a nephew of my brother on his wife’s side.
What joy to watch young leaders take the initiative and make something so magical happen.
Happy October, dear reader; I pray many KEY cotton-candy sunsets, like this one that I captured over our family farm, on the horizon for you as we head toward the most wonderful time of the year.
Barbara Gruener 