Children’s book author Randall de Sève visits Springfield students

COURTESY
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — On Monday, May 20, the Springfield Schools PTA was pleased to sponsor a visit from children’s book author Randall de Sève at Elm Hill School. Randall is the author of New York Times bestseller “Toy Boat,” as well as “The Duchess of Whimsy,” “Mathilda and the Orange Balloon,” “Peanut and Fifi Have a Ball,” and a “Fire Truck Named Red.” Randall’s most recent book, “Zola’s Elephant,” was named an Amazon Best Children’s Book of 2018 and a School Library Journal Best Picture Book of 2018.

During a lively presentation to each grade level at Elm Hill School, Randall helped students understand how the “seed” of a story can grow into a complete tale. She shared the inspiration behind many of her works, and took students through the process of publishing a book. She also left time for answering the questions from many curious students.

Each student left with a signed set of instructions on how to make their own toy boat, inspired by Randall’s book “Toy Boat.” The Elm students were thrilled to meet Randall, after reading several of her books in Library class with librarian Cynthia Hughes in the weeks leading up to the event.

Besides writing picture books, Randall currently works at Blue School in New York City, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, a very nervous dog and a cat. The PTA aims to build upon this year’s successful author’s visit, and bring additional authors to Springfield’s elementary schools in the 2019/20 school year.