Hoop Hike Revisited

 

Every so often one of my books comes out of the shadows and says, "Hey, remember me?" I've found this to be one of the most fun rewards of being an author because it pops out of the blue, from nowhere except the heart of a reader. One case in point, Hoop Hike, my picture book I wrote with illustrator Bobbie Gumbert.

This book mulled around in my mind for several years before I actually started the writing process. It came from my taking field trips with fourth graders to the local state park. One of the activities we did was to go on a hoop hike, a simple concept, but one that a teacher could milk for all it was worth. We carried one hoop per three students and when I said stop, they threw the hoop beside the trail we were walking and recorded what they found inside their hoops, charted and graphed the data. 

But I couldn't figure out how to capture this activity into a story, until I was doing an author visit with a group of first graders and we went on a bear hunt, one of my favorite ice breakers. The rhythm struck me. The repetition, too, where children repeated each phrase after me.

Me: "Let's go on a bear hunt."

Them: "Let's go on a bear hunt."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Let's go."

"Let's go..."

...and the children followed my lead and slapped their legs as we "walked" on the bear hunt.

About midway through the hunt, I began thinking about "Let's go on a hoop hike..." and the rest is history. I established a rhythm, and as I wrote I imagined readers echoing my words. "Let's go on a hoop hike."

Except that history has turned on me and come back with a text from my thirteen year old granddaughter, Reagan: 

<Can I use your Hoop Hike book for my book character dress up day at school?>

<Of course!>

Even though Reagan is now in seventh grade and this book is the most elementary of my published books, she had a special right to use it for "dressing as a character day" because the main character in the book is Reagan Roo.

Her.

She's come a long way since then, but I couldn't be happier. I hope the teacher was impressed, too. It's not too often that a student on "Book Character Dress-up Day" can come as herself. 

What fun!

Catch of the day,

Gretchen