Michael Anthony Steele

As I pulled into the parking lot this morning, I read a personalized welcome message on the school sign. And that, my friends, was just the beginning of how well I would be welcomed at Hightower Elementary—home of the Tigers! 

There was a LEGO welcome sign in the library in honor of my LEGO City books. And there was even my very own word search—an author visit first for me!

Of course, the day got even better when I met all the Hightower Tigers! In between presentations, I chatted with some of the Tigers and signed a bunch of books. It was wonderful to get to know so many young readers AND writers. Keep doing both!

Thanks to Mrs. Adcock and the Hightower PTA for having me out and for the tasty lunch. Thanks to Mr. Froman for the tech support. A big thanks to all the Hightower Tigers for being such an energized yet polite audience with so many great questions! And another big thanks to Ms. Carr for setting everything up and the fun lunch conversation about our various travels. One of my favorite quotes is one from Saint Augustine: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

Today I met some new friends at Dodd Elementary, in Krum, TX! And if that wasn’t good enough, today was Hat Day at Dodd. I saw many cool hats, including a couple I could definitely see in my own hat collection–I’m looking at you taco hat!

I performed two shows in the library for most of the Dodd Bobcats. Afterward, I was thrilled to discover that the library had my entire series of Tom Swift books. I was the ghostwriter for the entire series, and I discussed with Mrs. Hunter how they would be perfect examples to teach students about ghostwriting.

My wife and I enjoyed a fun lunch with Mrs. Bolz, Mrs. Mayfield, Mrs. Vardell, and Mrs. Roesler. It was lovely meeting and talking to all of you!

But the excitement didn’t end there! That evening, I was the guest speaker for Dodd Elementary’s Literacy Night! After I finished my presentation, Mrs. Vardell raffled off several of my books. I signed them as soon as the lucky Bobcats got hold of them!

Thanks to Mrs. Vardell for inviting me out. Thanks to Annie and Lizzie for the nice greeting in the morning. And the biggest thanks goes to all the Bobcats, who were full of great questions. Remember, if I didn’t get to you, you’re more than welcome to email your question to me anytime! I already received one from Maxx–who wore one of my favorites hats of the day, Monkey D. Luffy’s hat from One Piece! Since I wrote two One Piece books, I definitely need to get one of those.