Julia Cook visits Norris Public Schools

On March 8 and 9, author Julia Cook held presentations for students at the Elementary and Intermediate schools. Cook’s books focus on communication, safety, life skills, friends, mental health, behavior, parents and health — all told in a humorous way to help children understand.

During the hour, Cook led the students through interactive read-alouds of her books, “The Great Compromise,” “I Have Ants in My Pants,” “I Can’t Believe You Said That!” and “I Can’t Find My Whatchamacallit.”

“The first step to being a writing is writing about what you know,” Cook said. “You are interesting all by yourself. So be authentic and write about what you know.”

Beyond the readings, Cook also discussed many topics with students, such as: making mistakes, apologizing and what it takes to be an author. She even brought her therapy dogs to the presentation to explain the dangers that arise with strangers. Toward the end of her presentation, she opened the floor for questions from both students and teachers

“I never planned on being an author,” Cook said. “I couldn’t find a book that said what I need to say, so I wrote a story.”

Originally, Cook was a school counselor in Kearney. However, after almost twenty years of writing, she now has 140 books, published in nine different languages. Clearly, her passion shows in her commitment to meeting individually with every grade level and her ability to make a whole auditorium of students read aloud with her. Students and teachers alike left the presentation with smiles on their faces.

“The biggest benefit I get from these talks is watching kids’ eyes light up,” Cook said. “You can’t fake it, the human twinkle. When I read to a kid and their eyes are twinkling, that’s like… wow.”

Originally published in "The Titan Times," a page in the "Voice Newspaper"