PES teacher, second-grade authors win National Book Challenge

Mrs. Valerie Stueve’s class at Perryville Elementary School has published a book called “Turkey’s Disguise,” and earned national recognition from the publisher.

Mrs. Stueve and her 20 students recently learned that they were a Studentreasures Publishings’ National Book Challenge winners for the 2016-17 school year. It was selected from more than 800,000 submissions.

Mrs. Stueve and her students present an autographed copy of “Turkey’s Disguise” to PES librarian Mrs. Michelle House.

The book features original artwork and writing from each of the students and Mrs. Stueve. “We came up with the idea for our book while discussing the different ways a turkey could disguise himself on Thanksgiving — so that he wouldn’t be eaten!” Mrs. Stueve explained.

“That led to students imagining wonderful disguises for Turkey, who was hiding from Farmer Stueve, who was trying to find Turkey because Mrs. Stueve wanted him for Thanksgiving Dinner.”

Author Guadalupe Banda-Moreno decided her pig disguise for Turkey was a bad idea.

Turkey’s disguises range from good ideas — cat, tortoise, king cobra, rhino and dog — to very bad ideas like a pig, lamb, deer, buffalo or rabbit, all of which might end up on the Thanksgiving dinner menu.

Farmer Stueve eventually gives up on finding Turkey and grabbing Rooster instead. Since Rooster is his friend, Turkey turns himself in to the farmer. But don’t worry: There’s a happy ending. Farmer Stueve carries Turkey to the house where Mrs. Stueve is waiting … to serve him a Thanksgiving dinner of salad and cheese pizza!

Author Brayden Cole thinks Turkey may be able to hide from Farmer Stueve if he disguises himself as a king cobra.

As winners of the National Book Challenge, Mrs. Stueve’s classbook was selected from entries across the country and was awarded based on the originality, creative storyline and illustrations of their book. This nationwide contest was open to more than 800,000 books that were submitted to Studentreasures for publishing this school year.

“At Studentreasures, we are fortunate to witness creativity and talent in classrooms around the country. We especially congratulate Mrs. Stueve and her students for earning this achievement and completing a project that provides lasting memories and a one-of-a-kind keepsake,” said Chad Zimmerman, president and CEO of Studentreasures.

Mrs. Stueve created a happy ending for the book, inviting Turkey to join her family for a Thanksgiving feast of salad and cheese pizza.

“Educators share that creating and publishing their own books through our easy publishing programs motivates students to write, inspires students to learn, instills pride and makes learning fun for these students.”

Each of Mrs. Stueve’s students will receive a copy of “Turkey’s Disguise,” and they have presented an autographed copy to their librarian, Mrs. Michelle House. Mrs. Stueve received a classroom grant of $100 and a certificate, and the children will receive a ribbon with their books.

Mrs. Stueve’s students are Guadalupe Banda-Moreno, Gabriel Bishop, Emma Blechle, Brayden Cole, Serenity Cook, Kode Courts, Paige Flentge, Justen Geile, Jillian Gibbs, Mileigh Gibbs, Isreal Graham, Riley Jackson, Autumn McMahan, Lexi Schemel, Colton Richardet, Jackson Stark, Ryan Traut, John Turner, Claire Zahner and Titus Zahner.

“We are planning a book signing party at the PES Library on June 8 at 5:30 pm so the kiddos can sign each other’s books. We will also read our book aloud to the audience,” Mrs. Stueve said. “I’m so proud of each of them, because we worked very hard writing, illustrating and editing our book. We were so excited to learn that our book was a National Book Challenge winner, and I want to make this as memorable for them as possible.”

Those interested in owning a copy of “Turkey’s Disguise” can order a copy for $19.95 from Studentreasures.com/ordercopies and use Pin # 3623518. If you’d like to order multiple copies, you can use code “BUY2G1” to buy two, and get one free.