On Growling at Kids and Unintentionally Hilarious Letters

Grrrrrrrrrrrr…

I love making school visits and I’ve been fortunate to have several recently. At St. John Neumans Regional Catholic School, I met with students K-8 (not at all at once, thank goodness!).

Obviously, I told different stories to different age groups: for the K-2, I focused on the story of how Alexander tamed the wild horse, and of how he “took” the Sogdian Rock in Afghanistan with the “Soldiers with Wings” story.

The young ones squealed with delight when I put on my replica warrior helmet and growled at them.

For the 3th – 5th, I focused on the deliciously gross details of mummification and the strange and funny facts about the ancient world that they won’t read in about in most books. For the middle school kids, I talked more about Cleopatra’s Moon and the challenge and opportunity of writing historical fiction. Thanks to media specialist-extraordinaire ,Janet Kent, for a wonderful visit!

With some of the students at St. Jude.

Before spring break, I also visited the sixth-graders at St. Jude, thanks to another awesome media specialist, Eleonora Straub. The kids had studied ancient history earlier in the year and their faces lit up every time they made a connection with something I said and their previous lessons.

Recently, I received a thank you note from a nine-year old whom I’d given a special tour at the galleries at the Carlos Museum (along with his mom, Tanya Valentine, and his four-year old brother, Benjamin).

It’s so cute, I have to share it with you:

Dear Mrs. Shecter,


Thank you for the special tour of the Carlos Museum. I enjoyed it a lot. Sorry my brother didn’t enjoy it as much as I did. If it looked like I was bored, I wasn’t, that’s just how I look when I’m dehydrated.

Sincerely, Charlie

And he put hieroglyphic symbols on top of every word! That letter makes me smile every time I think about it. I want to use that line about being dehydrated sometime. It’s going to come in handy some day, I just know it!

So teachers, media specialists, and parents–invite me to your school. There’s nothing I love more than sharing my love of history with your kids.