Bring Timothy Tocher to Your School!

Timothy Tocher is a retired teacher and writer from New York state. A sports enthusiast and historian, he is the author of the middle-grade novels Long Shot and Playing for Pride. His novel Chief Sunrise, John McGraw, and Me was named a 2005 Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. Timothy magically transforms an auditorium into a warm fireside chat. By interacting with his audience and performing humorous stories, Timothy will leave your students and staff buzzing with excitement.

Home: Suffern, NY
Travels to: Timothy travels anywhere he’s invited, especially in New England.
Has written: Long Shot; Playing for Pride; and Chief Sunrise, John McGraw, and Me (Cricket Books). His short stories have appeared in Newfangled Fairy Tales and Girls to the Rescue.

Rates

One-Day Visit: $600 plus travel and other expenses
Two-Day Visit: $1,200 plus travel and other expenses
One-Week Visit: $2,800 plus travel and other expenses
Evening Event: $100 (available only when you book a school visit)

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Biography

Timothy is one of Meadowbrook Press’s most outstanding fiction writers. He is author of a series of books for middle-grade girls. Long Shot introduces basketball phenom Laurie Bird Preston, who must make a name for herself in a new town and new school. Laurie's adventures continue in Playing for Pride. She tries out for the middle-school softball team and learns what it's like to be a marginal player rather than a star. Laurie and her friends provide strong role models for today's girls. The sports action gives the stories appeal to boys as well.

Timothy wrote five of the twenty stories in the Newfangled Fairy Tales series. He has stories in the Girls to the Rescue series as well. He His historical fiction pieces have appeared in Cricket magazine, and his novel Chief Sunrise, John McGraw, and Me, published by Cricket Books, was named a 2005 Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. A multicultural story helped launch the Guideposts for Kids electronic magazine in 2001. Timothy also writes humorous poetry, some of which appears in No More Homework! No More Tests!, Rolling in the Aisles, and Kids Pick the Funniest Poems.

Click here to read an interview with Tim Tocher.

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Event Description

Timothy's sport stories, Newfangled Fairy Tales stories, Girls to the Rescue adventures, historical fiction, and multicultural stories have appeared in a dozen books and magazines. His thirty years of experience in elementary-school classrooms make him a natural at bringing out the hidden writing talent in your students. Teachers and children find new excitement in the ELA curriculum after a visit from Timothy. He offers half- and full-day programs, which include any of the following:

• Sports story workshops specifically geared toward grades 1-8
• Reader's Theater interactive stories for grades 3-8
• Teacher training workshops, focusing on how to get children writing historical fiction, parodies, or sports stories
• Evening PTA/PTO events, focusing on how to excite children about reading and writing

Below is some detailed information on his presentations. Keep in mind that if your school has a special interest or need, you can work together with Tim to craft a presentation for your class. Schools are free to choose as many different programs from this menu as they like, provided the total number does not exceed 5 presentations for one day. All programs run from 40 minutes to an hour, except the K - 1, which works better in 30 to 40 minutes.

Whole School Assemblies:

I GREW UP IN THE FIFTIES AND LEARNED TO TELL ABOUT IT
This amusing slide show answers the question "Where do a writer's ideas come from?". Tocher uses samples of his humorous poetry to demonstrate that your interests and experiences as a child provide material for poems, stories, and other forms of writing.

READING AND WRITING SPORTS
This interactive assembly motivates students to turn the thrills of competing and watching sports into material for writing. Students read the author's poems and perform readers' theater versions of scenes from short stories and novels.

OLD TIME BASEBALL
What was major league baseball like in its early days? Who was really baseball's first black player? (It wasn't Jackie Robinson.) How have rules, equipment, and stadiums changed in the past hundred years. ow does a writer learn what he needs to make a setting realistic? (Aimed at readers of the award winning novel, Chief Sunrise, John McGraw, and Me, this program works best in middle schools and high schools.)

Classroom Presentations:

K - 1 INTERACTIVE NURSERY RHYMES
Students act out humorous versions of well known rhymes.

GRADES 2 - 8 INTERACTIVE POETRY
Students read and perform age appropriate poems about school, sports, family, holidays, and other topics too silly to mention.

GRADES 2 - 6 SONG PARODIES
Sing along with Tocher presentation of the author's song parodies. The session ends with a new composition created in a brainstorming session with the students.

GRADES 3 - 8 READING AND WRITING PARODIES
Tocher uses Newfangled Fairy Tales to demonstrate techniques for writing a story parody. Students perform a readers' theater version of the award winning story, "Sgt. Monday of the Enchanted Kingdom Police." Session ends with a brainstorming session that generates the start of an original story.

GRADES 3 - 8 READING AND WRITING SPORTS - See above.

GRADES 4 - 12 HISTORICAL FICTION
Students read scenes from Chief Sunrise, John McGraw, and Me to learn how an author creates a book set in a different time. This program was presented at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, as part of Education Week in 2005.

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Testimonials

"Timothy's workshops are instructional, entertaining, and age appropriate."
—Barbara Geoghan, principal, George Grant Mason Elementary School, Tuxedo Park, NY

"The school is still buzzing with excitement. Timothy's style is comfortable and down to earth. He immediately made a real connection with our kids, engaging them from start to finish in his interactive program. Everyone got to be a confident writer the day Tim Tocher visited our school."
—Sara Medelius, PTA, Ridgeway Elementary, White Plains, NY

"Wonderful workshop, delightful day."
—Jeanine Saal, PTA, Alpine School, Alpine, NJ

"Your presentation was interesting and informative. Everyone loved it!"
—Susan Babcock, children's librarian, Tuxedo Park Library, Tuxedo Park, NY

"Terrific job, Tim! Kids loved doing readers' theater and creating their own stories."
—Debbie Dunne, third-grade teacher, Tisdale Elementary, Ramsey, NJ

"I have never seen an audience react as they do to Tim Tocher. Young and old, children and adults, sit spellbound as they listen to Tim tell his stories. A natural raconteur, Tim magically transforms an auditorium into a warm fireside chat, making you feel that you have known him all your life. An educator at heart, Tim has the gift of finding humor from the school-day routine and makes all of us happy that we are a part of this special world."
—Jan Hammond, EdD, chair of Dept. of Educational Administration and assoc. prof., State University of New York

"Through the humor of his stories, Tim Tocher is able to captivate both the avid and reluctant readers and writers. The students will be reading, rereading, reciting his stories, and even writing their own stories for months."
—Diana Musich, asst. principal, Monroe Woodbury Central Schools

"Tim Tocher has a way of engaging students with his clever, humorous, and kid-friendly stories. He makes children giggle as he sparks their interest and makes reading fun. Tim truly inspires children!"
—Marianne Vandemark, teacher, Monroe Woodbury Middle School

If you’re interested in booking an event with Timothy Tocher, please fill out the Author Visit Query form or contact our Author Appearance Manager at 800-338-2232, ext. 105, or admin@authorsinschools.com. We look forward to working with you.