About a month ago, I wrote about doing my book talk for my daughter's fifth grade class. I shared a few of their very creative questions.
A while ago, my daughter brought home a thank you card that her class had put together for me. I wanted to also share a few of these. They're great!
First, my favorite one of all:
"I am glad I don't have to live with a cow in my house." (My PowerPoint presentation included a diagram of a typical landed household in Germany in the nineteenth century - which shows that the family and farm animals all slept under one roof.)
"I'm so glad that John didn't get thrown overboard for seasickness." (My great-grandfather, John Albrecht, who immigrated from Germany with his family when he was nineteen, wrote only one sentences about the immigration experience. He said "I know it might sound babyish for a boy of nineteen, but I was so seasick that I begged my parents to throw me overboard and my misery." This really alarmed some of the kids!)
"You're a good detective."
Isn't genealogy work really like being a detective? That's why it's so fun!
"I want to buy that book!"
This makes me smile because the book is not really a fifth-grade book. But hey - I'll take readers of any age!
Then there were a couple that to me really embody why I (and others like me) do this in the first place - why we enjoy so much speaking to others about our families and about how others can find their families.
"After your speech, I've wanted to carry on some Lithuanian traditions! This Christmas we are!"
"I know a few stories about my ancestors, but I want to learn lots more."
This made me feel like my presentation had been a success! I also thought one of my daughter's friends summed it nicely with this comment:
"I learned how hard but wonderful it is to write a book."
Don't you love kids?
Wonderful comments from the kids! I think you really sparked an interest in a few of them. I hope we can see a few writers, or even a genealogist or two, in fifteen years.
ReplyDelete