Schools

Children's Author to Speak at RES

Dan Gutman will speak at Richboro Elementary as part of Authors for Earth Day coalition.

When popular children's author Dan Gutman speaks at Richboro Elementary today, all $2,000 of the fee he would've pocketed will instead go towards a not-for-profit organization of the students' choice. 

This is all because of a program called Authors for Earth Day, of which Gutman is a participating author. 

The Authors for Earth Day coalition is a national initiative founded three years ago by children's author-illustrator Brooke Bessesen, according to the website. 

Find out what's happening in Northamptonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On or near Earth Day, authors who have allied themselves with the coalition speak at schools for free, donating their fee elsewhere.

Schools that have invited participating applicants, like RES, allow the students to choose where the author's fee will go.

Find out what's happening in Northamptonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

School librarian Jill Dorfman said the school already had the guest author scheduled to visit and later found out he joined forces with the coalition. 

"It's right up our alley," Dorfman said. "I was really excited about it."

The children voted last week before spring break on where they wanted the money to go from a selection of five conservation organizations. She said the school's participation in the program fits nicely with some of the students' extracurriculars, like ecology club.

"The kids are extremely excited about it," Dorfman said. "Because they’re very involved in the school and  ... have a real consciousness about the Earth and environmentalism."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here