Children's Author Wows Elm School Students

Humphrey is a hamster that comes alive in Betty Birney's books.

Birney talked Friday to students at in Burr Ridge, and was a hit with her audience.

“I’m in love with Humphrey,” said Brooke Cooper, 8.

Elm students read one of Birney’s books, The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs, for a One School-One Book program last spring, about a young boy whose father challenges him to find Seven Wonders in his little hometown.

“There was a great welcome here," Birney said about her visit to Elm School. “It was especially great because this school used The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Spring for an all-school read last year. It’s the last school of the tour. It’s a great way to end—with a bang.”

"I thought it was exciting for students to see the author and connect with her, and see how she comes up with stories, and how childhood memories inspire the stories she comes up with now,” said third-grade teacher Stephanie Douglas.

“It was good. She made a good speech,” was third-grader Christopher Johnston's assessment.

“It was good. I liked how she showed the pictures,” said Nicole Papanton, 11.

“I thought it [the talk] was really great,” said Lauren Witt, 8.

“I thought it was really funny how she was the hamster,” said third-grader Jacqueline Buccellato.

One of the elements that makes the Humphrey stories unique is that Birney tells them from his perspective.

“I love writing Humphrey. I feel like a hamster when I’m writing the book. To make it believable, I have to think and feel like a hamster,” Birney said.

The author also said that she resembles Humphrey in many ways, including being a worrier who likes helping people, and who needs to make a plan to accomplish goals.

Birney came by her idea to tell stories through the perspective of a hamster many years ago. She noticed that her son’s science classroom was lined with pets in containers. “I wondered what pets thought about the classroom,” Birney said. “I was looking at the classroom from another perspective.”

When she spoke to the students, Birney discussed why she became a writer. “I loved books so much that I wanted to be a writer since the age of seven,” she said.

She began her career in advertising in the Midwest, and then landed a position in that field at Disneyland. From there, she moved to writing and producing radio and television commercials at the Burbank Disney Studio. Eventually, she moved to writing and editing “Welcome to Pooh Corner.”

During the past 20 years, Birney has written more than 200 children’s television episodes.

The eighth Humphrey book will be released next year, and Birney is slated to finish the following one by the end of this year.

In addition, the 2012 Illinois Bluestem Readers’ Choice Award list for grades three to five includes another one of Birney’s books, The World According to Humphrey.

Birney hopes to inspire students to read and write, as they connect with a real author. It also works both ways. “For me, it’s always good to connect with the real reader … to get invigorated again,” she said.

Birney also spoke Friday night at Anderson’s Bookshop in Downers Grove.