Author James Solheim
Think Big!
Author James Solheim's Presentations for Kids
on How to Succeed
My presentations are more than talk. They’re designed to awaken students who need to set goals and to encourage kids who have them. In my in-person presentations, the kids and I shape a solar system with a seven-foot-tall inflatable sun to get them thinking big. We make giant insects or our own giant book and discuss the possibilities ahead for them if they get interested in learning now. In my online presentations, the students make "instant books" and learn how that activity relates to generations of grandmas going back into the millions.
My books are about subjects with the highest child appeal while secretly broadening kids’ minds and experience. It’s Disgusting—and We Ate It (from Simon & Schuster and the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Reading Program) explores Earth’s wackiest foods as seen through a kid’s imagination, while highlighting the fun in math, geography, poetry, science, and more.
Grandmas Are Greater Than Great (from Greenwillow/HarperCollins) explores history without ever mentioning the subject—through twelve generations of grandmotherly love. Kids learn about how tiny caring gestures grow and spread exponentially throughout time.
If you’re an educator, a librarian, or a parent reading to your child, your work is urgent. Kids need goals, and they need to read for fun to develop their minds and find out about goals. My presentations complement your work and bring out the fun in learning, increasing the likelihood of kids’ success through enthusiasm.
Upcoming Events
Left Bank Books, Saint Louis: https://www.facebook.com/LeftBankBooks.STL
Book Launch and Celebrity Storytime with James and artist Derek Desierto
Saturday, Feb. 6, at 11 a.m. CST
The Bookworm, Omaha: www.bookwormomaha.com/grandpeoples_party
Grandpeople's Party! with James and artist Derek Desierto
Saturday, Feb. 13, 11 a.m. CST
SCBWI Book Birthday Shop Talk, online authoring discussion
(Contact Alison Pearce Stevens at nebraska-ra@scbwi.org for info)
Monday, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m. CST
Harvey Oaks Elementary, Omaha: One Book, One School. Contact Anne Ogg, Teacher Librarian, amogg@mpsomaha.org
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 1 pm. CST
Hillside Elementary, Omaha, Read Across America Week. Contact Kelly Kenny, Teacher Librarian, kenny.kelly@westside66.net
Wednesday, March 17th at 2:15
Kidder County Schools, Steele, ND. Contact Paula Diegel. <paula.diegel@kcschools.org>
Wednesday, April 14th at 1:00
Maryville Middle School and 2nd & 3rd grade classrooms, Eugene Field Elementary, Maryville MO. Contact Alisha Degase. <Degase@maryviller2.com>
Friday, April 16th at 12:30
Maryland Literacy Association virtual conference. Register at somla.online
Contact Michelle Shreeves, michellereads2me@gmail.com for info.
Saturday, April 17, at 12 noon Central Time
Mother's Day Celebration (online). Books of Wonder Bookstore in New York with James and artist Derek Desierto at https://booksofwonder.com/blogs/upcoming.
Saturday, May 1, at 3 p.m. Eastern Time
Math Is Everywhere Blog Interview with Kaitlyn Sanchez at kaitlynleannsanchez.com/blog/
Friday, June 11, at 9 a.m. Central Time
South Park Elementary school presentation, Rapid City, SD. Contact Sarah Gross, Sarah.Gross@k12.sd.us.
Thursday, Sept. 30, at 11:45 Central Time
South Dakota Festival of Books: sdhumanities.org/festival-of-books. Contact Jennifer Widman, jennifer@sdhumanities.org or call 605-688-6113.
Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021 at 5 p.m. Central Time
Midwest SCBWI Conference, Davenport, Iowa
Contact Alison Pearce Stevens, nebraska-ra@scbwi.org
Friday-Sunday, April 1-3, 2022
Nebraska Poetry Society Reading (online at https://www.nepoetrysociety.org/).
Contact Charlene Pierce at thepoets@nepoetrysociety.org
Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at 5 p.m. Central Time
Under discussion
April
Left Bank Books: 399 N. Euclid Street, Saint Louis:
https://www.facebook.com/LeftBankBooks.STL
Possible in-person/online event introducing Eat Your Woolly Mammoths
Date and time in discussion (Possibly April 30-May 1)
Books of Wonder Bookstore, New York: https://booksofwonder.com
Possible online event introducing Eat Your Woolly Mammoths!
Date and time in discussion (Possibly April-May)
Horace Mann Elementary school presentation, Maryville, MO. Contact Mary Shields, MSHIELD@nwmissouri.edu
In Discussion