Elizabeth Levy Presentations

Using everything from colorful overheads to stand-up comedy to magic tricks, and even a cockroach puppet, I like to get my audience involved. Some of you end up on stage with me, acting out scenes, and showing the stages of a book and telling me jokes. I offer a variety of presentations to assemblies, classes, teachers and writers' groups. After the visit, our connection can continue through my website.

My Presentations

• Students will stand up and act out key scenes from my books and recreate the moments that inspired my books
  
• Learn how to do research. To write my books I have visited the Cockroach Hall of Fame, learned ballroom dancing, and gone on a dinosaur dig. Whatever your interests, it's all "research." I try to teach some of the tricks of finding the perfect detail that makes writing come alive.
  
• Experience and talk about: What's funny, and what's not (teasing, sarcasm, making fun of others). My book, My Life as a Fifth-Grade Comedian, shows how important it is to be careful about humor, and the damage that can be done by adults or children who use humor in hurtful ways.
  
• Magic tricks. As a child I spent a lot of time day-dreaming. Now I have magic tricks that help children value the "I" and the "Magic" in all of us.

Equipment Needed

• An overhead projector and a microphone. I bring my own colored & printed overheads. If I am speaking to a large group, I may request a slide projector.

Scheduling

• I have a busy travel schedule and arrangements tend to be made well in advance, so please contact my publishers early to make plans. Contacts are:
  
  
  Jodie Cohen
  Simon and Schuster
  1230 Avenue of the Americas
  New York, NY 10020
  212.698.7432
  800.976.1726
  Jodie.Cohen@simonandschuster.com
  

  Catherine Balkin
  HarperCollins
  10 E. 53rd Street
  New York, NY 10022
  212-261-6798
  Catherine.Balkin@harpercollins.com

  Stephanie Wimmer
  Scholastic Inc.
  555 Broadway
  New York, NY 10012
  212-343-4461
  212-343-4535
  swimmer@scholastic.com

  Eric Hatcher
  Hyperion Books for Children
  114 5th Avenue
  New York, NY 10011
  212-633-4477
  212-807-5432
  Eric.Hatcher@Disney.com
  also, for hardcover copies of Cleo and the Coyote, call Cheri Neumann, 505-291-8828

Advance preparation

• Please have your students read one or more of my books in advance. This is the single most important thing you can do to ensure that the children benefit from having an author visit the school.
  
• Let me know in advance which books the children have read, and I'll tailor my presentation accordingly. It's also helpful to know class or audience size and to have a physical description of the room, so I can plan visuals accordingly and let you know if I'll need a microphone or podium.

REVIEWS FROM SCHOOLS:

"Elizabeth Levy is an incredible woman, adored by the children of PS 11 where she has become an intricate part of the school's 'family'. Her involvement in projects with the children -- the opportunity to work with a well-known author -- gives them a sense of worth. Because what they do with her in the classroom is what she does in her life, they feel they are writers. And, when she travels, she takes their writings with her, in a sense bringing the children all over the world, and the world to them. She's made our neighborhood come alive."

--Emilyn Garrick, teacher PS 11, New York City

"Elizabeth Levy's program is the very best. She gets the kids very excited, then she easily calms them down -- she has total control over her audience. The kids love her books -- they're the most used books in our library -- and her books lend themselves to lots of fun. She keeps up with the kids, what they're thinking. She's genuine and inspiring."
	--Elva Matous, reading specialist West View Elementary School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania