Fourteen students earned a special luncheon “meet and greet” with Troy Cummings.

SOUTH WHITLEY — On Tuesday, March 5, children’s author Troy Cummings visited the Maker’s Space at South Whitley Elementary School to deliver a private reading to students in grades kindergarten through second.

Cummings is the author of “Can I Be Your Dog?”, a book about the lovable Arfy.

“My favorite part of my job is when I get to come and visit other authors and illustrators,” said Cummings.

During each of his 45-minute sessions, Cummings offered pieces of advice from his own life experiences throughout the presentation. In doing so, he helped the children to identify how the writing process and perseverance go hand-in-hand, especially when writing and illustrating a book.

According to Cummings, getting a book to its final state in the writing process so that it can be published can take a long time; and he is no novice to the writing process. Some of his books have taken years to complete when measured from the moment an idea was conceptualized until it resulted in being on a shelf in a bookstore or library. His newest book has been a long-awaited reveal for Whitko’s students. Cummings previously had been only able to preview “Can I Be Your Dog?” in small snippets during other visits to the school, but never had students been able to view it in full.

Throughout the event, Cummings was fond of bringing a volunteer up to assist him in drawing one of his villainous creatures from his “Notebook of Doom” series, and other times, he relied on the audience’s participation in the brainstorming process. Through laughter and creativity, Cummings continued to reinforce his ideology that anyone could become a writer or an illustrator.

“We love the strong partnership that we have with the school and are excited to bring Troy back for another visit to keep students excited about reading,” said Logan Brown, South Whitley Community Public Library.

Fourteen lucky students were nominated by teachers based on their interest in Cummings’ presentation, their creativity, and their own behavior in the classroom to enjoy a special luncheon with Cummings.

As another activity before his arrival, students wrote letters to Cummings, mimicking the style of Arfy in “Can I Be Your Dog?”, and the letters were dropped off in a special mailbox created by kindergarten teacher Krista Busz. From the letters written by each class, Cummings drew out several lucky winners to receive a signed copy of “Mighty Truck,” another book by Cummings.