Elementary school students in Louisa County become published authors

LOUISA COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Students at Trevilians Elementary School in Louisa County have become published authors after writing a book for their creative writing classes about a familiar, friendly turtle.

According to a spokesperson for Louisa County Public Schools, the students wrote and published their own book earlier this year, which spotlighted Sheldon the Turtle, a pet of a Trevilians Elementary teacher.

Students in reading interventionist Michelle Forrest’s classes have spent the past few weeks writing and illustrating their book about Sheldon, an African leopard tortoise that was adopted by Mrs. Forrest eight years ago from her daughter, who serves in the Navy.

According to Louisa County Public Schools , each student was assigned a page in the book to create and fill with interesting facts about Sheldon with their own illustrations.

“I think the biggest benefit was that [the students] saw that it was real life,” Mrs. Forrest said. “It was applicable to real life, all the skills that they’ve been learning. They were practicing reading fluency, because they read their piece over and over and over again.”

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