Paul Miles Schneider | The Official Site

After the two Thursday events in Colby and Oakley—as described in Part One of my western Kansas adventures—I headed straight for the town of Oberlin amid a deluge of rain and gusting winds. A breath of fresh air was waiting for me when I arrived: I spent the night in the beautiful, historic Landmark Inn, an old Victorian bank building with 20-foot ceilings that had been completely refurbished and converted into a bed and breakfast by owner Gary Anderson.

The Landmark Inn – Oberlin, Kansas.

My suite at the Landmark Inn – Oberlin, Kansas.

After a wonderful dinner and good night’s sleep, I awoke Friday morning to find a thin icy layer of snow on the ground and on my car parked outside. I actually had to use my trusty windshield scraper (in mid-April) before heading off to the first gig of the day! School librarian Linda Glaze called ahead to inform me that our program would be delayed slightly. Classes were starting an hour later than usual, due to the icy road conditions.

While both presentations the previous day had been with public libraries, today’s events were sponsored by school libraries. The first was at 10:15 a.m. for the combined student body of the Decatur Community Junior/Senior High School—approximately 112 students in all.

Decatur Community Junior/Senior High School – Oberlin, Kansas. You can even see a thin layer of snow and ice on the ground in this shot.

Linda Glaze sets up the projector at the front of the auditorium for my speech to the student body in Oberlin, Kansas.

Linda was a terrific help with the equipment. The student body president came in first to ask me a few advance questions, since he would be introducing me at the assembly. And soon the students started filing into the auditorium, class by class.

It struck me as they were arriving that this would be one of the largest groups to date for hearing the presentation—112, plus the faculty. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel nervous about it … just really happy and grateful to be there with them, discussing the creative process and story behind the book.

The anticipation builds as Paul waits on the sidelines during his introduction in front of the junior and senior high students in Oberlin, Kansas.

The presentation went well … really well. They asked a lot of questions afterward—ranging from the history of Baum’s Oz to self-publishing to my background as a motion graphics producer and how it helped in my process with promoting the book. Very intelligent, engaged, and thoughtful questions. I couldn’t have been more pleased. After the assembly, students, faculty members, and the principal lined up to buy books!

A discussion with Dakota Tate, one of the Decatur Junior/Senior High School students who bought a book after the assembly in Oberlin, Kansas.

As with the previous day, there was far too little time to show my appreciation before I had to hit the road again for a 45-minute drive east to Norton, Kansas. The next show was at one o’clock sharp. It would be the last event of the day and of the tour in general.

This time, I would be speaking in front of the middle school students of Norton Junior High School—a group approximately the same size as the Oberlin crowd.

Norton Junior High School – Norton, Kansas.

The school librarian, Jane Burton, helped get things set up and let me know in passing that she was the sister of the librarian Linda Glaze from Oberlin, whom I had just met hours earlier. I thought that was pretty cool: sister librarians!

My center-court presentation in the gym at Norton Junior High School – Norton, Kansas.

Seventh and eighth-grade students of Norton Junior High School – Norton, Kansas.

Once again, I couldn’t have been happier with the reception, and when the presentation concluded, I was greeted by a steady stream of thoughtful, intelligent questions: they wanted to know about publishing, if I’d ever had writer’s block, what it was like to live in Los Angeles and New York, and if I was planning on writing more books.

Signing books for students, teachers, and the principal of Norton Junior High School – Norton, Kansas.

Immediately following the signing, two very special things happened: a senior high student who wasn’t able to attend the assembly (since it was for the junior high) went out of his way to find me in the library to tell me how much he enjoyed reading “Sliver Shoes.” I asked him if he was an Oz fan before he read it, and he told me no, he was just an avid reader who picked up the book because the story sounded interesting, and he loved it. He had been the first person to check it out of their library.

Then I was asked if I wouldn’t mind participating in an on-camera interview for a couple of students who were taking a TV journalism class. I thought that sounded great, and I readily agreed.

Paul Miles Schneider is interviewed on camera by students of Norton High School in Norton, Kansas.

To end this mini-tour on such a high note was a nice feeling. It had taken a lot of work, a lot of driving, and a lot of pre-planning to pull everything off smoothly.

And even with the inclement weather, things had turned out well. I was thrilled to meet a variety of people in four towns throughout western Kansas. I found them to be appreciative, respectful, and receptive to hearing me talk about this story of a kid not unlike themselves a few years ago … not unlike me … who dreamed of having big adventures in his life.