JENNIFER ARMSTRONG

Ms. Armstrong has access to iChat via her Mac.

Please have the students prepare in advance a list of questions for her to answer. She will first give a brief presentation, perhaps showing her latest book or talking about an upcoming project, and will then take questions. If you prefer, the Q&A can come first, depending on your students' needs. How you handle the Q&A is up to you. Sometimes students come up to the screen individually to ask questions and then the next student comes up. Sometimes the students gather around the screen to ask questions. The format will depend on your needs and what kind of equipment you have. If you have an activboard or some other means to project the images onto a larger screen, for example, the format might be somewhat different. In any case, students must be familiar with some of her books.

If you would like a different kind of program, please let us know before setting up the program and please provide a general idea of what you would like. Further details will be needed at least a week before the chat so she can prepare.

She'll also be happy to autograph bookplates in advance of the chat, but be sure to send them to her in a timely manner so she can sign them and get them back to you before the chat.

Honorarium:

$600 * for 3 one-hour long chats over the course of a day

$400 * for 2 one-hour long chats over the course of a day

$200 * for 1 one-hour long chat

These rates may be negotiable.

Please visit Jennifer Armstrong to see her bio, then follow the three other links at the top of the page for a list of her books, information on her presentations when she comes to do a physical visit, and book ordering information for getting her books from a variety of sources.

Grades levels: K-YA

Residence: NY

A FEW WORDS FROM A COUPLE OF LIBRARIANS WHOSE YOUNG PA TRONS SKYPED WITH JENNIFER:

If you can't have Jennifer live, Skype is the next best thing!

María E. Gentle

Young Adult Services

Arlington Central Library

1015 North Quincy Street

Arlington, VA 22201

703-228-7693

Mgentl@arlingtonva.us

The Jefferson Middle School TAB Club had a wonderful Skype chat with Jennifer Armstrong. Ms. Armstrong helped us prepare by sending us a short introductory video ahead of time. Even though we were hundreds of miles apart, Skype brought Ms. Armstrong right into our library. Students were so excited to have Ms. Armstrong right in front of them answering their questions about her books and being an author! An author visit using Skype is like watching a professional sports game on TV—with Skype, you're not actually there, but you can see and hear things a whole lot better. We couldn't shake Ms. Armstrong's hand, but this visit was a lot less expensive and easier to plan. This was our first Skype author visit; we hope to have more Skype videoconferences with authors soon.

Kirsten Wall

Librarian

Jefferson Middle School

Arlington, VA

(Contact Information available upon request)