By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
It was 8:45 a.m. Monday, and Woods Road Elementary School students wanted to know if Ronnie Brandt, singer and songwriter, was a real cowboy.
”Sure as the sky is blue and the grass is green,” Mr. Brandt said, smiling, and calling on a student for another question.
Mr. Brandt, of Oceanport, performed his one-man show at the school it’s part of his “real job,” as the students learned when he answered the next question to open the school’s Young Authors’ Day activities.
”We chose him because later this week, we have Young Authors’ Day, and we have an author and an illustrator who write nonfiction,” Christina Scerbo, Young Authors’ Day co-chairwoman, said. “He’s pretty much geared toward doing songs about New Jersey and our country, so we thought he’d be a good introduction to our Young Authors’ Day.”
”It gets you going, and it’s fun” she added. “We’re trying to pull out the aspect about the books the authors wrote. It’s introducing it.”
On Friday, Betsy and Giulio Maestro, author and illustrator of non-fiction picture books, will visit the school, and meet with students.
Each year, schools host Young Authors’ Day to introduces students to authors and illustrators in hopes of fostering a love of books. Ms. Scerbo said since many past authors visiting Woods Road have been fiction writers, the organizers opted to focus on nonfiction works. The Maestros focus on nonfiction, particularly American history.
In addition the assemblies, teachers at the school worked with students to familiarize them with the Maestro’s books, and to prepare them for Friday’s event. The students could also purchase the Maestro’s books prior to the assembly, and have the works signed by the couple. Posters depicting historical events hang around the school too, which students can identify for a chance to win a gift certificate. The Rockingham State Historic Site, in Kingston, lent the school several colonial artifacts for a display tying into the Maestro’s works, Ms. Scerbo said.
”This year, we decided to bring in the aspect of non-fiction,” Ms. Scerbo said. “Fiction is good and fun, but it’s also important to focus on facts.”

