Author speaks to Houlton summer reading students

The four-week Summer Experience program for students in grades K-5 is finishing this week at Houlton Southside School. The teacher-to-student ration is 1:10 and students are divided according to grade levels.
    Summer Experience is a free program blending academics — an hour and a half of uninterrupted block of reading, writing and math skills – physical activities, hands-on enrichment activities — such as science, social studies, art and/or health — to working with guest presenters.
A weekly theme was incorporated, expanding during enrichment activities. The themes included Summer Olympics, Science Experiment Week, Healthy Living for the Mind, Body and Soul and Maine Studies.
One of the guest presenters was author Lynn Plourde, who has published more than 18 children’s books including “Moose, Of Course,” “Wild Child,” and “Snow Day” to name a few.
Plourde worked with each grade level to help them develop better writing skills.
“Ever since I can remember, I have loved words,” the 1973 Skowhegan graduate wrote in her biography. Plourde earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in speech therapy from the University of Maine. As she read to her sons at night, Plourde discovered her interest in maybe writing a picture book.
“And I tried, for 13 years, I tried, collecting hundreds and hundreds of rejection letters,” she said.
Finally in 1997, her first picture book was published “Pigs in the Mud in the Middle of the Rud.” The full-time author visits schools, writes new stories, edit and revises older stories, does book signing and readings, and teaches courses and workshops on how to write for children.