In preparation for his visit to the school Tuesday, author Daryl Cobb had transformed his book "Do Pirates Go to School?" into "Do Pirates Go to Halethorpe ?"
Though the story remained the same, students who purchased a copy of the book could find the names of the faculty and staff among the book's illustrations of mailboxes and the roster for pirate school.
Cobb, the author of 14 children's books, spoke to the students about writing and the process that writers go through when producing a story. Cobb played a slide show of illustrations and pictures of his family and performed original songs, read from his books and told anecdotes about writing, editing, working with an illustrator and developing ideas.
Learning to write is important for children to learn because it allows them to flex creative muscles that they lose in an era where imagination is stunted by technology, Cobb said.
Ronnenburg, an organizer of the Tuesday morning event, said the goal was "getting (the students) excited about reading, about writing their own stories, even music."
Fourth-grader Lauren Martin drew from Cobb's experiences as a musician, actor and writer.
"I learned that you can be at least a few things at once," she said. "And that songs can incorporate to writing books." http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/baltimorecounty/news/ph-at-author-halethorpees-0523-20120516,0,7678844.story
