Corbin honors 16 newly published authors and illustrators

Sixteen Corbin Elementary School fourth graders were recognized Monday as published authors and illustrators.

When Corbin Elementary School librarian Emily Lewallen received a flyer from Student Treasures publishing offering her students the chance to become published authors, she couldn’t pass up the chance.

“I thought, ‘Well, let’s do it,’” Lewallen said. “I have two enrichment groups in the morning of about sixteen students and so we ordered the kit.”

Lewallen said Student Treasures allowed the school to pick a theme for the story.

The theme selected was Thanksgiving.

The story follows the adventures of Tom the Turkey. Throughout the story, Tom is attempting to escape being the entrée at the Thanksgiving dinner, so he is hiding from Farmer Frank. While hiding, Tom visits with all of his farm friends.

Each student got to pick their own farm animal friend for Tom, and they wrote and illustrated a portion of the story that related to Tom and their animal.

“They each wrote a page of the story, and then, they got to do the matching illustration,” said Lewallen.

Student contributions were handwritten and hand-drawn.

The book was sent off for publication in December.

“They worked on it for months,” said Lewallen. “They got to learn a lot about making revisions, editing, spelling, punctuation, and making sure it is readable for others. They got to learn a lot about the writing process and what goes in to making a book.”

Student authors who participated in writing and illustrating the book are Julia Butler, Olivia Rains, Aries Ferguson, Samuel Ridener, Gabriel Rains, River Fuson, John Reed Warren, Toby Smallwood, Ryder Broughton, Lynnlee Pietrowski, Ashtyn Creech, Amelia Robinson, Gunner Duff, Dylan McKeehan, Bentley Lawson, and Kamryn Millikan.

Corbin Elementary School art teacher Andrew Johnson designed the front cover and the title page.

A copy of the book will remain in the school’s library for students to enjoy for years to come.

At school on Monday, the student authors and illustrators were recognized during the school’s morning meeting, and then, they were invited to the library for refreshments and had the chance to participate in their first ‘book-signing’.

Students had the opportunity to pass around their copies of the book to get signed by the other student authors and illustrators as well as sign other students’ copies.

All of the students signed the library’s copy as well.

Because the book is published, they are available for purchase online at studentreasures.com/ordercopies. Those wishing to purchase the book will need to use pin #8116801.

Books are available in soft cover, hard cover and as a deluxe edition.