Princeton Elementary Students Celebrate Becoming Authors, Publishing Class Books

By Mia Watkins | For The Birmingham Times

Grade school is full of milestones for children, but some students at Princeton Alternative Elementary School have reached a goal some adults can’t even claim—becoming a published author all before the age of 10.

Two kindergarten classes and one first-grade class recently celebrated the release of their books in a cafeteria full of their classmates, teachers and, of course, their proud parents.

“You see the smiles on their faces,” kindergarten teacher Terri Tucker said, looking around the room. “They are absolutely elated to be authors. That’s worth it all.”

The book writing program started four years ago with Dorine James, a former fifth grade teacher. This is the second year that the school’s youngest students have participated, according to Tucker.

“When Ms. James introduced it to me, I just fell in love with it,” she said. “I thought it was a wonderful thing, and I was so excited to try it with the five-year-olds. They grasped the concept, they did everything and they followed that writing process precisely. They got that book done, and I’m very proud.”

The classes worked throughout the school year to conceptualize, write and illustrate three books: “What Would You Be?,” “Kindness Counts in Kindergarten” and “The Life of First Grade Superheroes.” Each student authored a page in their class’s book. The books are published through Studentreasures Publishing, a company that provides free publishing kits to classrooms.

A Big Undertaking

Tucker describes the process from idea to finished product as a big undertaking. She said that thinking about it gives her chills.

“We begin by writing a rough draft of what we want to say,” Tucker said. “We teach the children how to stick to one idea. Like, our idea was kindness. Think about what it is to be kind. Everything you write has to be on that topic. It’s hard to get the little ones to stick to the topic, but once you do, it’s great.”

She said she saw tremendous growth in her students throughout the project.

“I’ve definitely seen the growth in their writing,” she said. “They’re using complete sentences. As you go through the book, you’ll see that they started with capital letters, and they’re using punctuation at five years old. I was just really impressed with that.”

Principal Bruce Jackson said these programs are important because they provide students with practical experience in reading and writing.

“This is our way to incentivize those scholars,” he said of the students. “Having their own book and their parents are given an opportunity to see them write a book and have those memories.”

Jackson said he enjoys seeing the whole family get involved in the process.

“The parents are more excited than the kids,” he said.

Gaining Confidence

Dr. Brandi Rudolph Bolling’s daughter, Faith, gained more confidence in her writing during the process of publishing two books at school.

“She’s gaining the skills as someone who’s learning to understand and also perfect the English language,” she said. “She’s become more confident in her ability to express herself in print.”

John Williams III, whose son, John Williams IV, and daughter, Gia Williams, are both published authors, said projects like these assure him that he made the right decision by sending his children to Princeton.

“Even watching my daughter read her portion of the book and watching my son being excited about doing his second book is just encouraging them to be more studious,” he said. “It’s fun. The growth has been amazing.”

First grader Pryce Stephens wrote about this superhero alter ego, Mr. Invisa, who has the superpower of invisibility.

“I learned how to read better,” he said

Londyn Long said it feels great to be a published author. She said her aunt helped her draw her illustration for her page.

“My favorite part was drawing everything,” she said. “I feel like I learned how to be a better drawer for when I grow up or when I get older, like my brother.”

Her class’s book focused on kindness, which she said other kids can learn about through reading.

“If they see someone else being kind, they can feel a better emotion about it by seeing kind actions and kind stuff,” Long said.

Tucker, who is retiring, hopes to see the program expand to all classes in the school and eventually throughout Birmingham City Schools.

“I’d like to get it where every class has a table in here set up with what they’ve written, so the children can really take part in becoming an author as they grow,” she said. “To say that they’ve published five books by the time they go to middle school, that’s big stuff.”