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Author Day is the second book in The Kids in Ms. Colman's Class series.

Back Cover[]

A famous author is going to visit Ms. Colman's class. He is Ricky's favorite author. Ricky can't wait for Author Day.

But then Ricky makes a big mistake in class. Now Ricky doesn't want to have Author Day at all.

Summary[]

Main Plot[]

One day, Ms. Colman decides to read a story to the class and lets Ricky Torres pick the book. He picks Sloppy Sam, a book by one of his favorite authors Robert Bennett. Later, on Monday, Ms. Colman announces that in one month Stoneybrook Academy will host Author Day, in which several authors will visit. Mr. Bennett is the author who will come to talk to the second and third graders. Ms. Colman tells the class that in a few days each student will write a letter to Mr. Bennett with their questions to him. In addition, the students will write stories of their own, working in pairs. The class will choose one story to make into a big book to read to Mr. Bennett at a party that the second and third graders will give to him in the library at the end of Author Day. While the story is being read, several other students will act out the story.

A few days later, the class is reading aloud the story 'The Puppy Who Wished for a Girl', with a different student reading each page. When Ricky reads the fourth page, he accidentally says "she farted across the lawn" instead of "she darted across the lawn." The kids start to laugh at him, and Ricky tells Ms. Colman he won't continue reading, and vows to himself that he won't ever read aloud again.

On a later Monday morning, the kids write letters to Mr. Bennett. Ricky writes in his letter that the kids at Stoneybrook Academy are mean to you and laugh at you if you make a mistake. Ms. Colman makes him rewrite it.

That afternoon, the kids start working on writing and illustrating their own books. They work in pairs: Jannie and Bobby, Omar and Tammy, Nancy and Hank, Karen and Terri, Ricky and Natalie, Hannie and Chris, Leslie and Ian, Sara and Audrey. Ricky is a bit disappointed because Natalie Springer is not his favorite person, though she is okay. Ricky agrees to write the story since he would rather do that, and Natalie would rather draw the pictures. Ricky and Natalie write a story called Juicy Lucy, in which a goose named Lucy, who lived on a farm, hears the farmer talk about an upcoming dinner date. She dreams she will go out to dinner with a fine goose gentleman. Instead, she finds out she will actually be the dinner. Later, she outsmarts the farmer and runs away, and finds a fine goose gentleman at a pond.

A few days later, after Ms. Colman reads all the stories out loud to the class, the class votes on which story is their favorite. Natalie and Ricky's story wins, which means they will be in charge of turning it into a skit. Ricky realizes that might mean he has to read it out loud, which he now refuses to do. He finds Natalie at lunch and asks if she will read it. She says she won't, because he wrote it. Ricky still does not want to read it, so he finds Ms. Colman and talks to her. Ms. Colman tells him that if he won't read his story aloud, he can't come to Author Day and must spend the day in the resource room. Ricky understands but stubbornly refuses to read.

After recess that day, the students are divided into several groups, one to make decorations for the party, one to think of a gift to make for Mr. Bennett, and a group of Natalie and Ricky to start turning Juicy Lucy into a book. The groups continue their work over the course of several days. The gift group decides on making a blank journal to give to Mr. Bennett, and Ricky and Natalie finish their book. Next, Ricky and Natalie pick who gets what role in acting out the play or planning props or costumes. Ricky picks the best roles in the play based on who did not laugh at him when he made a mistake reading aloud. Ms. Colman has Ricky and Natalie choose the roles again, this time encouraging Natalie to speak up more.

Five days later, the kids hold their first dress rehearsal, two days before Author Day. During the rehearsal, Ricky still refuses to read the story. Natalie reluctantly agrees to read it, but says she will not do so on Author Day.

The next day, the day before Author Day, the kids hold another rehearsal, and make welcome cards for Mr. Bennett to be displayed in the hallway. Ms. Colman writes a welcome message on the board that the students can copy onto their welcome cards. While Ricky is copying the message, he notices Ms. Colman mistakenly did not write the word 'for' in the message "Thank you for coming to Stoneybrook Academy," and raises his hand to tell Ms. Colman, who quickly corrects her mistake. Karen points out that Ricky just read aloud, and saved them all from putting up cards with that mistake on them. A few kids thank him, and Ricky feels like a hero. Ricky tells Ms. Colman that he has decided he will read his story to Mr. Bennett the next day.

On Author Day, the kids spend the morning decorating their classroom and the library and rehearsing Juicy Lucy one more time. At 10:30, Mr. Bennett arrives, carrying a briefcase. He begins talking to the class, telling them that he has written 17 books, including his first book Sloppy Sam, and answers their questions. After that, he tells the class they are going to create a character together that he will draw. They create a character named Popcorn who is a monkey with a big poofy tail, hooves instead of feet, and who wears a straw hat and lives in a castle. Mr. Bennett leaves and Ms. Colman puts the picture of Popcorn on the bulletin board.

Later that afternoon, the kids walk to the party in the library. The students present Mr. Bennett with their gifts for him, including the diary from Ms. Colman's class. The third graders sang a song they had written, the kids in Mr. Berger's class played charades and had Mr. Bennett guess when book titles they were acting out. Then, Ms. Colman's class performs Juicy Lucy for Mr. Bennett. At the end of the party, they have cookies and refreshments and give Mr. Bennett the welcome cards that had been hanging in the hall.

As everyone is leaving for the day, Ricky looks at the chair Mr. Bennett was sitting in and discovers that Mr. Bennett had forgotten his briefcase. He runs to the office to see if he can catch Mr. Bennett there, but Mr. Metz, the secretary, tells Ricky that Mr. Bennett has already left and is on his way to the parking lot. Ricky catches up with Mr. Bennett and returns his briefcase. As a gesture of thanks, Mr. Bennett signs a copy of Sloppy Sam for Ricky with the text To Ricky, a future author and a great reader.

Characters in this book[]

Students

Juicy Lucy play roles[]

Family

Other

Places in this book[]

Trivia[]

  • On the dedication page it says: "This book is in honor of Jane Martin and Doug McGrath, my sister and my brand-new brother-in-law. Congratulations."
  • Inconsistencies: On the cover Karen is sitting near the front when her original seat before getting glasses was in the back with Hannie and Nancy. Nancy says that she wants to be an actress in later books but she doesn't want to be in the play.
  • Pop culture and real life references: Babar and James and the Giant Peach
  • Hannie sits next to Ricky in this book.
  • Ricky's handwriting is seen for the first time.
  • Stories that the students include: Jannie and Bobby's story called Backwards Day. Hannie and Chris's story called Sailing Out to Sea. Sara and Audrey wrote a story called the Little Flower.
  • Natalie has lunch with Audrey and the Barkan twins.
  • This book has multiple point of views at various points in the book.
  • The character that Robert makes with the class is left for them to get right.

Gallery[]

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