Children’s Author Stacy McAnulty Inspires Young Writers at Montgomery Academy
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) — Bestselling children’s author Stacy McAnulty visited Montgomery Academy on Tuesday to share her love of writing and inspire elementary students with her journey from engineer to author.
“I actually didn’t go to college to become an author,” McAnulty told students during her presentation. “I went to college to become something called a mechanical engineer.”
McAnulty draws on her experience as an engineer to write fun, science-based books for children. Her nonfiction works are filled with facts and presented in a way designed to spark curiosity in young minds.
“These are nonfiction books filled with facts, and they’re the ones we’re going to talk about,” she said.
During her visit, McAnulty guided students step by step through her writing process, encouraging them to brainstorm ideas for their own nonfiction books.
“If we were to write a nonfiction book — a book filled with facts — what would you want to write about?” she asked. “Is there a place? A person? A time in history? A sport? An animal? A food? What are y’all thinking?”
The visit was part of an annual tradition at Montgomery Academy’s Lower School, where a different author is invited each year.
“The author visit is a big deal, and our entire enrichment team spends weeks building up to this,” said Sarah Housley, director of the Lower School. “They’ve read nearly all of her books — at least the picture books and chapter books. The older students are incentivized to read more. Then in art, STEM, world languages and cultures, and music, they have cross-curricular projects and lessons to prepare.”
Students decorated the school with their work to welcome McAnulty to campus. Some even created and presented their own books to the author, who is taking the illustrated stories home with her to North Carolina.
McAnulty shared a very personal message with students.
“I see the world through STEM eyes. I wasn’t a huge reader as a child, so I like to share that background with kids,” she said. “If I have kids in the audience who think they’re the ‘math child,’ I want them to know — you can write, and you can find books you like. If there’s a child that struggles with reading, I was that way, and I needed extra help. But we can get through it and become readers and writers too.”
At the end of the visit, McAnulty wrote words of encouragement in the books for the kids, so that every time they open the pages, they will be reminded that they can become an author too.
To learn more about Stacy McAnulty and her books, visit stacymcanulty.com.
