Author Jamie Gilson at St. Francis Xavier School

Children’s book writer Jamie Gilson visits students at St. Francis Xavier School.

Young writers and readers at St. Francis Xavier School were treated to a visit recently from children's book writer Jamie Gilson, author of 20 nationally acclaimed books for elementary-school -age students. The visit was organized by the school librarian, Kathleen Finn.

Students in grades two through five at St. Francis Xavier have been reading Gilson’s books since school began. On the day of her visit, she spoke to these students about how her ideas develop and the book process works, from manuscript to finished product.

The importance of the back-and-forth process between editor and writer—including many rewrites—was emphasized. She showed the students samples of her original, edited manuscripts, some illustration drafts, and what her books translated into German, Dutch and Braille look like.

Gilson’s humor and her uncanny eye and ear for what children are like at this age is key to her success, from her earliest titles published in the late 1970s to those of the last few years.

Notebook in hand, Gilson has been prowling school classrooms for years in the Chicago suburb where she lives. “This is the way my books grow,” she said. “I watch what kids are doing and write stories based on what I see.”

The everyday stuff of elementary school—such as field trips to catch spiders, chess clubs, class clowns and substitute teachers—provides the foundation to her fast-paced, engaging and witty books.

Her most recent book is Chess—I Love It! I Love It! I Love It! (Clarion, 2008). Her 1982 title, Thirteen Ways to Sink a Sub, is the winner of five child-voted state awards and is being reissued this fall as a “classic” by Marshall Cavendish.