Oge Mora Inspires Elementary School Students during Visit

Oge Mora visited the UNIS Hanoi campus the week of April 8 as our elementary school visiting author. Oge is the author of the Caldecott Honor winning title Thank You, Omu!
She is a talented collage artist who received the John Steptoe New Talent Award.
During her visit, she met with grade levels and shared her journey as a writer. Students learned that “Stories are everywhere!” Oge, one of eight children, draws inspiration from her family for her books Thank You, Omu and Saturday. Oge is also the illustrator of I’m From, written by UNIS third grade teacher Gary R. Gray, Jr. On that title, Oge used Gary’s childhood photos to create the characters in her books. She answered questions from students during the sessions.

In addition to learning about Oge’s life as an author and illustrator, students were able to create collages with Oge, Ms. Emma, and Ms. Vicki. Oge shared images of her studio and tips for creating collage, including using tracing paper and waiting to glue pieces until you like how they looked. Oge also supported a group of grade five students who want to use artivism in their PYPx projects.

UNIS Hanoi was lucky to have Oge work with our students this week. Her books are available for checkout in the library.