| PATRICK O'BRIEN Author & Illustrator BIOGRAPHY I BOOKS I PRESENTATIONS I BOOK ORDERING
GRADE LEVEL AND NUMBER OF PRESENTATIONS PER DAY
In general, I speak to kids from grades K through 5, and I generally give three to five presentations per day. NUMBER OF STUDENTS PER SESSION Any size group is fine with me. For groups of several hundred students, I would feature a slide presentation.
PRESENTATION DETAILS
My presentations vary, depending on the needs of the school. My latest book, written by a good friend, Kevin O'Malley, is Captain Raptor and the Moon Mystery. It's a light-hearted science fiction story about rocket ships, mysteries, and dinosaurs in space that borrows elements from comic books and old-fashioned serials like Buck Rogers. It's a fun book to read to the kids, and I talk about what it's like to collaborate with another author, write fiction, and whether dinosaurs really did fly spaceships.
I also sometimes talk to the kids about how I research the subjects I explore in my books; I talk about the writing and rewriting process, how I illustrate my books, and how editorial input works. I bring rough sketches, rough drafts, color proofs, and even some original paintings that the kids can handle. It's always a hit with the kids when I bring out my giant ancient shark's tooth and the sabertooth-cat fang. For the youngest kids, I find it works best to read one of my books and then talk about it.
Each presentation is usually about forty five minutes, which includes as many questions as we can get in. After that I autograph books for the students.
Some teachers, in order to make it easy for their kids to order my books, have created order forms that the kids can bring home. Their parents then can fill in which books they might want, along with the child's name that I will sign the book to, and send the form back to school with a check. Please feel free to click on this order form and use it as a prototype.
HONORARIUM AND NUMBER OF SESSIONS PER DAY
The honorarium is due after the last show on the last day. Generally speaking, I charge $1,200 to $1,500 a day, plus expenses (this is open to negotiation depending on location, number of sessions, etc.). I do three to four sessions a day.
For further information, especially about the expenses (travel, hotel, and meals), click the "Arrange An Appearance" button and see "General Information on the Cost of an Author Appearance" as well as the 'Honorariums' section near the bottom of "How to Plan an Author Appearance."
EQUIPMENT NEEDS
All I need is a table to set out my materials.
REFERENCES
Kate Waller Barrett Elementary School Rozlyn Beitler 4401 North Henderson Road Arlington , VA 22203
Harford Day School Julie Watkins 715 Moores Mill Road Bel Air , MD 21014
|