CAMARILLO : Authors Offer Encouraging Words to Pupils

Bruce Balan wrote “Jeremy Quacks”--about a duck who barks, moos and tweets but is afraid to quack--for very young readers.

Kathryn Cocquyt’s book about a horse named Freddie who wins the Kentucky Derby against all odds is geared toward a more sophisticated crowd.

But the message these two authors brought to elementary school children at Bedford Open School in Camarillo on Tuesday was the same: Writing may be fun, but getting published can be tough.

Dr. Seuss received 26 rejection letters on his first book before a publishing company finally said yes, Balan told a group of 22 5- and 6-year-olds.

“Can you imagine if he decided to stop at 26 ‘no’ letters?” Balan said. “We wouldn’t have “Green Eggs and Ham” or any of those other great books.”

“I get ‘no’ letters all the time,” said Balan, holding up a file folder brimming with rejection letters. “But I also got five ‘yes’ letters, and those became the books you see behind me,” the author said, gesturing to other picture books he has written.

Balan and Cocquyt were part of a group of 29 authors that descended upon Camarillo’s public schools Tuesday to explain why they write--and to remind youngsters that it can be fun.

Educators hope that the daylong lectures by the authors will increase students’ interest in books and maybe spark the stirrings that produce a future Laura Ingalls Wilder or Dr. Seuss. And with the state’s increasing emphasis on literature-based curriculum, teachers are looking for any way to boost interest in reading.

“These visits are wonderful,” said Jean Scott, a kindergarten teacher at Bedford whose charges listened as Balan read “Jeremy Quacks” and two of his other books.

“It makes the children realize there is a human being behind those pages, that someone actually created those books,” she said. “It excites them to become writers.”

Cocquyt told her sixth-grade audience that “Freddie at the Kentucky Derby” is really a story about anyone who follows their dreams.

“Freddie’s dream was to win the greatest race of all, the Kentucky Derby,” said Cocquyt, a Simi Valley resident and avid horsewoman. “All you have to do is substitute your name for Freddie, and it’s your book.

“It’s your dream, whatever that is.”

Cocquyt also gave the 29 11- and 12-year-olds some concrete advice about writing. Students should recall one incident in their lives and then embellish it with the five w’s: who, what, when, where and why.

“Write down those five little facts and you have a story,” she said.