Author Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow Visits
Lower School classes were joined by author Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow on April 27 for a day of interactive read-alouds, question and answer sessions, and workshops that featured three of her six (soon-to-be seven) books, Your Name is a Song, Mommy’s Khimar, and Abdul’s Story.
Jamilah’s visit was supported by a grant from the Pilot Pen Foundation, in recognition of alumna Jordan Grabelle ’22 who was the 2020 recipient of the Overachievers Student Grant. The grant celebrates one exceptional young scholar who is making a difference in the lives of others outside the classroom, with $12,500 to further their education and continue their good work and $2,500 to support their school. As a student, Jordan worked to support literacy efforts in underserved communities; this grant was awarded to MFS in her honor to be used towards literacy programming in the Lower School.
Each class spent time with Jamilah as she read her stories, explained their meaning and her reason for writing them, and asked questions about crafting a story and the writing and publishing processes. The fourth grade participated in a special “The Author in You” Writing Workshop during which Jamilah read and discussed her book Abdul’s Story, which tells the story of a child who doesn’t believe he can be a writer. The students then worked through Jamilah’s way of creating story ideas and practiced writing them.