Kimberly Willis Holt, author of When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, will be visiting our school on Tuesday, October 27. In order to be prepared for such an important event you need to familiarize yourself with the author and her titles. By completing the web quest below you will gain a lot of knowledge about Mrs. Holt and hopefully, find yourself wanting to read one of her wonderful novels.
Use the following web site to answer the questions found on this web quest.
1. Which book by Kimberly Willis Holt (KWH) is a coming-of-age novel that explores a twelve-year-old girl's struggle to accept her grandmother's death, her mentally deficient parents, and the changing world around her?
2. Which book by KWH tells about the summer Zachary Beaver, the fattest boy in the world, arrives in Toby's sleepy Texas town?
3. How many picture books has KWH written?
4. Which series by KWH is about a girl growing up in a Navy family?
5. How many total books has KWH written (or that are at least showcased on her web site)?
6. What city & state was KWH born in?
7. Where did KWH live when she was five years old?
8. Did she go to the French bakery alone?
9. Where did KWH’s grandparents live?
10. How many generations of KWH’s family lived in the piney woods of Louisiana?
11. What favorite dish of food did KWH put in My Louisiana Sky in honor of her grandmothers?
12. What island was KWH’s baby sister born on?
13. What did KWH dip the mangos from her backyard in?
14. What food item did KWH’s mother make for a school bake sale in Quam?
15. Where did KWH live while in high school?
16. What is another name for fried squid?
17. What is KWH’s daughter’s name?
18. What is KWH’s poodle’s name?
19. Name two other jobs that KWH has had.
20. Which book of KWH’s was nominated for the National Book Award?
21. Was it her 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th book?
22. What did KWH eat after attending the National Book Award ceremony, which her book won?
23. Which three books have been awarded the honor of being on the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List?
24. Which book has been a Texas Lone Star book?
25. Name one foreign country that KWH has visited as an author and given a school presentation.
26. Name the university in Texas that KWH has spoke at.
27. KWH created a scholarship for schools in her own “backyard” so that they could afford an author or illustrator visit. What is the name of the scholarship? Who did she name this scholarship after?
28. Where does KWH get the ideas for her books?
29. What two Texas towns does KWH combine in her mind to form Antler, Texas (the setting of When Zachary Beaver Came to Town)?
30. What two books of KWH’s have been transformed into movies?
The following questions are from the same web site, however, you will need to explore the “Writing Tips” section in depth (click on words in diagram).
31. How did KWH use “Possum”, the word she came up with on her writer’s retreat, in her story?
32. What is the first thing KWH does when she is stuck and can’t figure out what to write about?
33. The first words to My Louisiana Sky came to KWH when she was____________________.
34. Where does KWH drive to when she needs to relax and think?
35. Now, do a Google or Yahoo search by typing in “Kimberly Willis Holt”. Go to one of the web sites found and skim the information for something you don’t already know about KWH (you did not learn it from this web quest). Write down TWO pieces of new information you learned.
