Celebrated author visits Davisburg Elementary School

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Celebrated author Josephine No...

DAVISBURG, Michigan – The students of Davisburg Elementary School enjoyed a real treat on Thursday as celebrated author Josephine Nobisso visited their school, sharing stories she’s written, tips and information about writing, and many personal stories behind her books.

“After our morning session, I got all goose-bumpy because  Ms. Nobisso has good energy – great energy,” Principal Barb Bloom told students before Thursday afternoon’s presentation. “She has wonderful stories to tell you about her life, and her life as an author – and some amazing things about her book that I think you’ll enjoy very much.”

With that, Bloom introduced Nobisso to a room packed with third, fourth and fifth graders.

Nobisso has written over 40 children’s books, and chose to first share “Hot Cha Cha,” a book she wrote using straight and slant rhyme and wonderful rhythms to explain “the five W’s and How.”

“We’re going to start with a rousing story called “Hot Cha Cha,” Nobisso told the attentive students. While her books may look like they’re for younger readers, Nobisso said there is always a deeper level of learning in the story. “Hot Cha Cha is a book that deals with the things you’re learning in class – the five W’s – who, what, where, when and why, and also how.”

Methodically, Nobisso took students through the five W’s before pausing to discuss what “how,” means. “What does the ‘how’ tell us in a story,” she asked.

“How it happened,” a student answered.

“How it happened or usually the resolution or how it’s going to be resolved – because if you write a story in which a dog falls into a hole, you can’t let him out until you have some dirt fall in on him or a bear come around to wait until he comes out,” she said. “You’ve got to give him a little bit of a problem – the story is all about creating a problem, then getting your character out of the problem usually by using his own wits.”

Before heading into an interactive slideshow presentation with the book, Nobisso took time to explain different types of rhyming, literal versus figurative expressions, and syllables and alliteration.

“She was absolutely remarkable with the kids,” Davisburg Elementary School parent Sara DeLauder said after the morning session. “The kids were all so focused on her storytelling – it was really emotional for many of us parents to see our kids get so enthralled in the presentation – she’s a real storyteller.”

Nobisso stayed on into the evening and made a final presentation to interested Davisburg Elementary parents.