Author Susan Hood shared insight with students in Petrice DiVanno and Matt Dalton's sixth grade cluster at Reed Intermediate School on April 25 about how her book Ada's Violin came together.Ada's Violin was illustrated by Sally Wern. A description for the book explains that it follows the story of Ada Ríos, who grew up in Cateura, "a small town in Paraguay built on a landfill. She dreamed of playing the violin, but with little money for anything but the bare essentials, it was never an option... until a music teacher named Favio Chévez arrived. He wanted to give the children of Cateura something special, so he made them instruments out of materials found in the trash. It was a crazy idea, but one that would leave Ada - and her town - forever changed. Now, the Recycled Orchestra plays venues around the world, spreading their message of hope and innovation."susanhoodbooks.com

During the presentation, Ms DiVanno said that her students were in the middle of learning about nonfiction writing and would be interested in how Ms Hood, who lives in Fairfield, approached writing the book.

"This book was about three years in the making," said Ms Hood.

She first learned about the student musicians from a report by the CBS news show, 60 Minutes. Then she began to research. She learned about Cateura and the roughly 1,500 pounds of garbage that is added to the landfill every day. She found pictures of children barefoot organizing the debris.

Using a slide show, Ms Hood shared pictures from her research. They showed mountains of trash.

"I just wanted you all to sort of think about what we throw away," she said, before describing more of her research.

Ms Hood said she learned how Mr Chévez enlisted the help of a friend to create musical instruments for the children. She showed a picture of a clarinet made from a drain pipe, and a guitar made from dessert trays. When they had "all of these instruments," she said, the students began practicing outside in 100 degree weather, due to the lack of a school building.

"Finally, the orchestra is born," said Ms Hood, pointing to a picture of the students. She added that the forming of the orchestra led to concerts, which led to bigger stages, which led to the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura traveling.

"They started to travel the world," she said, sharing pictures of the group in Chicago, in elaborate buildings, or at the ocean for the first time.

Ms Hood told the Reed students that once she was done researching the group, she had to pitch her story idea to Simon & Schuster.

"Then I had to start writing the book," Ms Hood said, before discussing her process for writing with the students.

She went on to contact the orchestra through a translator and interviewed Ada through letters.

"Some of the money from the book goes back to them, too," said Ms Hood, adding that the group has built a school house now with money from book sales and donations received from around the world. Homes are also starting to be built, and Ms Hood said there are roughly 200 students playing in the orchestra today.

Ms Hood also spoke about a documentary called Landfill Harmonic that features the story of the group. Ada is now a teenager, and Ms Hood said she still stays in touch.

After sharing her presentation, students asked a range of questions about the orchestra and Ms Hood's writing techniques.

.More information about Ms Hood and her books is available on her website,