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ALBANY, N.Y. (May 12, 2009) --
 Local
author and illustrator Daniel Mahoney visited Eagle Point Elementary
School on Tuesday as part of the school’s Readers to Leaders Week.
Throughout the week, each classroom had leaders from the community talk
about their accomplishments and share their favorite books.
Mahoney, author and illustrator of the
popular children’s book The Saturday Escape, explained to Eagle
Point students the process of making his newest book A Really Good
Snowman.
Although Mahoney has won two Bank Street
Children’s Book of the Year awards, he made a point to tell the students
there is no guarantee that one of his books will be published. For
example, of the ten books he has submitted to publishers, only three
have been published so far.
In addition, he explained that publishing a
book takes a lot of work and a very long time. Between creating a story,
sending it to a publisher, revising it, painting the scenes, and
resubmitting it to the publisher, Mahoney said it takes over one year
for one of his books to be published.
 After
Mahoney explained the publishing process, he wowed the students with his
artistic ability. Drawing from the
ideas of the students, Mahoney illustrated a story (pictured at left) in which a dog, cat,
and mouse destroyed a house while roughhousing, only to be taken away
with the rubble in a garbage truck to the city dump. Students then went
back to their classrooms and wrote stories to go along with Maloney's
illustrations.
Mahoney grew up in Albany and currently
lives in the city. Although the process of publishing is lengthy,
Mahoney's visit highlighted for students that anyone can be a writer and
illustrator.
The City
School District of Albany serves approximately 8,600 students in 18
elementary, middle and high schools. In addition to neighborhood
schools, the district includes several magnet schools and programs, as
well as other innovative academic opportunities for students. The
district is more than halfway through its comprehensive facilities
project to newly build and/or renovate nearly all of its elementary and
middle schools. The ultimate goal of the facilities project is to
provide schools with the resources necessary to help students succeed in
the 21st century. |
