Introducing our 2025 Readathon Authors!

Gus D’Angelo  |  Emma Bland Smith  |  Mae Respicio

Authors will be coming to Neil Cummins on Readathon Day (Jan. 29). After each presentation, they will be signing books.

Instructions to purchase:

1. Use the links below to purchase online from Book Passage. These links helps us track sales.
2. Select ‘In-store pickup’ and your PTO rep. Allison Penning will deliver to classrooms on Readathon Day.
3. In your order description include: student name, grade, teacher and Neil Cummins Readathon. This will assist with delivery AND a portion of the sales goes back to our school!

Kindergarten: Gus D’Angelo, local author and illustrator of National Parks A-Z will visit individual Kindergarten classes to share an interactive presentation through words, illustration, sound, hands on props and his own personal photography. Students will travel into the great outdoors to experience the thrill of our magnificent national parks. ORDER BOOK HERE.

1st, 2nd and 3rd Grades: Emma Bland Smith, local author of The Gardener of Alcatraz tell a TRUE story of a prisoner, Eliot Michener, sent to the forbidding island prison Alcatraz. With few opportunities for meaningful work and Michener, a convicted counterfeiter, spent much of his early time there devising ways to escape. The opportunity to become a prison gardener, however, gave his life new meaning. Not only did he transform the drab land surrounding the prison into a landscape bursting with color, but Michener was invited to help out at the warden’s house. Emma will present to students in the gym, incorporating Hawks Garden in her presentation. ORDER BOOK HERE.

4th and 5th Grades: Mae Respicio, local author of Isabel in Bloom a story of a girl from the Philippines and the challenges she faces as she transitions to a new home in San Francisco. Despite bumpy beginnings, Isabel perseveres and ultimately establishes a connection to friends and her new home through a special garden. She even establishes a school garden club. Mae will present in the gym, incorporating Hawks Garden in her presentation. ORDER BOOK HERE

OTHER SPECIAL GUESTS: Shannon Short, author of The Power of your Hero, Toni Sander aka “Coach Toni” (local legendary soccer coach) and more!