Author and illustrator Abi Cushman visited Hawley Elementary School and talked to students about how she writes and illustrates her books on Friday, April 11. The visit also acted as the culminating event for the school’s “Hawley Loves to Read Week.”

Throughout the school day, each grade got to take a break from their classes and visit Cushman in the school’s multipurpose room. Everyone excitedly sat together on the floor and listened to Cushman as she explained how she writes and illustrates her books.

Cushman told students that, before she became an author and illustrator, she was a kid just like them. She loved art and animals when she was younger, and both of those passions carried into her adulthood. Based in Connecticut, Cushman now writes and illustrates humorous picture books such as Animals Go Vroom! and Flamingos Are Pretty Funky: A (Not So) Serious Guide that combine her interests.

“The cool thing about drawing is that we can draw whatever we want,” Cushman said. “We can use whatever is in our imaginations to draw, and we can use those pictures to tell stories.”

Hawley students had previously read Cushman’s book Wombats Are Pretty Weird: A (Not So) Serious Guide, and so the students wore wombat headbands to the author visit that they colored in themselves.

Cushman had students help her read one of her books, Soaked! The book focuses on the grumpy Bear and his trio of friends during a wet and dreary day. While his three friends are excited for everything they can do despite the rain, Bear is less than happy. With rain being a central theme of the book, students helped Cushman read by making “woosh” and “dwoop” sound effects.

After that, Cushman went into detail about what it’s like to make a book. She showed students her sketches and storyboards for Soaked! and talked about finding inspiration for what she writes. Cushman shared that she gets her story ideas by living her life, doodling and writing notes in her “ugly sketchbook,” and allowing herself to become obsessed with things like wombats or other animals.

She even gave students a sneak peak into her next book, The Quiet Ocean, as well as her other “very serious” book, Penguins Don’t Wear Pants.

The event ended with Cushman showing students how to draw Bear from Soaked! Hawley staff passed out clipboards with paper to every student so they could draw along. Cushman also let students ask questions about being an illustrator and author, or anything else they wanted to know.

For Cushman, her favorite part about visiting schools is seeing students’ enthusiasm for reading.

“It’s really infectious and inspiring to me to see that you’re making a difference,” Cushman said. “They’re so eager to learn and are so curious about the natural world. A lot of my books are about animals and I love learning about them, so I love to see kids love learning about them, too.”

As for how the visit came about, Hawley Library Media Specialist Erika Carlson said that Cushman’s Wombats book was a Charter Oak Children’s Book Award nominee last year. Carlson read the book to her students and said they all loved it. When Carlson looked her up and saw that Cushman was based in Connecticut, she reached out and connected with her.

For more information about Abi Cushman, visit abicushman.com.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.