Michigan author visits Patterson Elementary

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Author Buffy Silverman visited...

HOLLY, Michigan – Patterson Elementary School students were in for a treat on Friday, as one of their favorite Michigan authors took time to pay them a visit.

Nestled in Patterson’s Independent Media Center, Buffy Silverman, the author of a vast collection of non-fiction educational books, was ready to speak with the young readers.

Before becoming an author in the early 1980s, Silverman was a park naturalist, a teacher for several nature centers, a college biology teacher and a mom – her self-professed favorite job to this day.  Silverman boasts a huge collection of non-fiction books on topics ranging from mammals, fish and bugs to the environment to food chains and more.

While Silverman was scheduled to meet with students from all grade levels, she began her day by taking kindergarten students through her book, “Gliding Garter Snakes,” asking them what kinds of information they would hope to learn about one of Michigan’s most popular snakes.

“What are some of the things you would like to learn about a garter snake?” she asked.

“What color they are,” one student replied.

“What they do with their silly tongue,” another answered.

Silverman worked her way through the book, using full-color photographs and easy-to-understand text  to answer those questions and more.

“Team Patterson is always very supportive of our author visits and purchased over 20 of Buffy Silverton’s books so that the kids could start working on non-fiction writing before her visit,” teacher and Author Visit Committee member Margaret Crockett said.  “All of the kids really enjoyed her visit today, and were able to ask some very good questions at the end of her presentation,” she said. “It was a great day for everyone.”

For more information on Silverman, visit her website at www.buffysilverman.com.