During the week of June 4, Mary Ann Hoberman made her seventh annual visit to P.S. 115 in Washington Heights, a largely Hispanic neighborhood on the upper-west side of Manhattan, as part of the National Book Foundation's Family Literacy Author Residency program. Family Literacy brings National Book Award-winning authors to underserved New York City public schools. Mary Ann spent the entire week working with three hundred third graders, their parents and teachers.

Mary Ann's visit kicked off with a presentation by a class of third graders who acted out skits of her various poems from her book Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers, which Puffin Books donated to the school. Students at the school have become so well-versed in Mary Ann's poems that numerous fourth and fifth graders often ran up to her in the halls and recited poems they had learned when they were in third grade and had worked with her! Some of the favorites include, "My Baby Brother," "The Little Sister Store," and "Cousins are Cozy," because many of the students come from large, extended families.

All day Mary Ann was asked questions about her family and how she gets ideas for her books. She replied that imagination and her own family situations played a part in her career as a writer. For example, she had always wanted to be part of a bigger family, so she decided to write about large families and their various, quirky members. In developing her book, All My Shoes Come in Twos, she described taking a walk with her son and daughter on an autumn day and realizing there was a rhythm that went with the sound of leaves crunching under her feet--that her feet were making a song! Mary Ann also helped students grasp the more technical concepts of writing poetry, in an effort to encourage their own writing. She explained the notion of lines, stanzas, and using italics to make certain words stand out.

Many students expressed that they came from less traditional families, and Mary Ann remarked that she also had poems to include them, such as "My Father," a poem about a single-parent family, "When Annie Was Adopted," and "Half-Whole-Step," which deals with siblings who come from second marriages.

Some students wondered how a book gets published. One child asked if the author and illustrator are friends and then decide to write a book together. Mary Ann replied that sometimes the two never even meet and the students found that unfathomable!

When she met with the bi-lingual classes, Mary Ann heard to her delight that the students had made songs out of her poems in Spanish. She remarked how important it was to her that her work had a far reach.

Mary Ann also had an opportunity to meet with some parents in a workshop. One woman acted as a translator for the parents who only spoke Spanish. Many preferred to talk about their experiences as a way of transforming them into creative writing. So, the goal of the first parent workshop was to discuss the issues relevant in their lives and families; the second was spent writing. Mary Ann urged them to write poems, or keep journals, in either English or Spanish. They were eager to hear about Mary Ann's life and what inspired her to write. She answered that it was her desire for a big family, with lots of siblings and cousins. She then asked the parents to relate their own family situations, which might spark a creative urge. Most of them were from families of five siblings or more! They spoke about problems with immigration, jobs, language barriers, but above all else, a better life for their children, a common thread among the group. Mary Ann remarked that they were ahead of her, in that they had more material to work with, whereas she had to depend on her imagination more than anything.

Mary Ann complimented the parents on their wonderful children, with whom she had grown so close in less than a week, and reiterated some of the remarks the students made. In particular, they all seem to enjoy Mary Ann's poem "Our Family Comes From Around the World," because, as a result of their innocence, that is what the children believe the world to be.

Toward the end of the week, Mary Ann was in all-day workshops with third graders, a few second-grade classes, as well as some special education classes. She had each group work on a class poem, which, she explained, they would develop into their very own anthology. One of her writing exercises included distributing a photo of the words, "I Need" written on a brick wall and asking the students to write their thoughts. Most of them assumed whoever wrote those words was in need of food, shelter, warmth, love, God, etc. Mary Ann acknowledged that because students see the homeless and depraved on the streets of New York everyday, it was inevitable that it would find its was into their creative processes. By the end of each workshop, students didn't want to leave her workshop to go their next class.

Mary Ann's week ended on a sad, but exciting note, because of the annual Hallway Celebrations that bring P.S. 115's Literature Appreciation Week to a close. In addition to music and dance, students performed skits of the various stories and poems they learned during the school year. Many of Mary Ann's poems were favorites, as well as the Three Little Pigs, with their own variations. One class performed the skit, with one student's portrayal of Jennifer Lopez as the third pig, and at the end, broke into dance to her music!

Mary Ann's final workshop focused on poems that rhyme. She and the students focussed on discussions on Ruth Krauss' poem, "Beginning on Paper" and Mary Ann's poem, "The Dime", from her new book, You Read to Me, I'll Read to You. Mary Ann then made a surprise visit, her last of the residency, to a second grade class, during which they discussed poems about animals. She asked the children if they could be animals, what would they be? Students shouted their answers, and because there was such a variety of them, she read some of her animal poems, animal sounds included.

Students and faculty at P.S. 115 were sorry to see Mary Ann go, but all remarked that they would see her next year. Obviously, her annual residency at the school has become a much-anticipated and beloved tradition, both for the author and the school.