For Teachers and Librarians

Please look for suggested classroom activities on the web page of each book.

Presentations
I enjoy speaking about my love of reading and writing at schools, libraries, or conferences for teachers, librarians. and/or writers. To learn more about how and why an author visit can change the lives of students, visit author and library media specialist Toni Buzzeo’s website.

Please contact me for references, fees, and information about my presentations, which can be shaped to fit the needs of the listeners. My workshop topics include:

For students:
Tell me the Details
In this workshop, I show ways to use images to bring vitality to writing and ways to develop topics using fictional devices such as dialogue, metaphors, and story arcs.

Finding the Story in History and the World Around Us
I show how to research past and current events to find human dramas at the core. I explore how non-fiction reading can lead to ideas and how empathy can help explore and develop those ideas.

Waking the Dead: Writing about Women’s History
I discuss how I’ve found clues to past secrets in archives and old books, then suggest ways for student researchers to ask questions and read between the lines.

Writing Poetry Together
Mothers and Daughters, or other pairs, are given prompts to write about shared personal history.

For adults:
Past talks have been given to Reading Associations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Michigan; Girls, Inc.; Worcester State College; Massachusetts Audubon Society; and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

Finding Stories in Neighborhoods, Backyards, and the Past
I suggest ways for writers and teachers to begin with place in order to write a strong story.

Research and Creative Writing
I offer research tips and ways to integrate them into fiction, nonfiction, or poetry that sparkles.

Through Dark Forests, Down Yellow Brick Roads, and Other Paths Toward Happy Endings: The History of Literature for Children
A lecture with slides gives a context for discussing how depictions of wizards, witches, wolves, the personified moon, and other characters have changed over time. How are the strands of pleasure and education balanced, and how do we decide what books may best satisfy a child’s mixed longings for safety and adventure?