March 7, 2012

When Scuola Vita Nuova Charter School, 544 Wabash Ave., found out that children’s author Delores Lorrine Owen lived in Northeast, they decided to invite her to the school for Dr. Seuss week. Owen visited the fifth through eighth grades March 1, reading excerpts from her book, “Punkin: A Dog Gone Story,” and answering the student’s questions. Questions ranged from what was her favorite part of the book to if she ever felt frustrated while writing the book. Owen’s writing advice to the students was to use a thesaurus to liven up stories and to “Just write something every day.” “If you want to be a writer, write what you know and you can make it come alive with adjectives,” she told the students. Leslie Collins