Reflection on the Hawaiian author visit

I was personally excited to go to this event as soon as I heard the author was an elementary school student. When I was that age, I wanted to be an author and illustrator and I would write stories often but never thought about getting published.  That's why Keko Laylee traveling around and speaking with his peers, could have a big impact. It may encourage children to get more excited about reading and writing because it shows that it is possible for their writing to make an impact beyond just school.
During the book reading, I was impressed by the illustrations on the screen that changed in sync with the words from the story. It's a good example of how new technology can be used to enhance the book reading experience, especially for big crowds. As I was watching the pictures during the reading I wondered why they didn't put up the words from the book as well, so that we could read along with them. Then I realized that my thoughts show socialization from college classes where the norm is  powerpoints with words and reading to follow along with the teacher's words.  A book reading, is all about listening, looking at the pictures, and imagining.  It is a different experience from a lecture and I had forgotten that.

A more general comment about the event is that I very much enjoyed hearing about how the family worked together to create the book.  Even the presentation itself portrayed how it was a family effort with Keko Laylee and his grandfather reading the book while the illustrations, by Keko's dad, were displayed on the screen.  The image of the whole family participating and supporting Keko was very powerful.  It caused me to reflect about my own family and how valuable working on a project with three generations of my family would be.