FCDS Senior Writes Children’s Book, Wins Girl Scout Gold Award
When it comes to earning the highest honor bestowed by the Girl Scouts of America, you could say that Katherine Claybrook ’22 wrote the book.
Katherine was recently awarded the Girl Scout Gold Award, which recognizes Girl Scouts who demonstrate extraordinary leadership and service through sustainable and measurable projects. Each project requires a minimum of 80 hours of planning and execution, and it must benefit the community and have a lasting impact. (Source: Girl Scouts of the USA.)
A life-long Girl Scout, Katherine decided to combine two things she loves: writing and working with young children. “I really like writing. I also really like working with kids and in classrooms,” Katherine said. “I thought, ‘How can I combine that into one project?’”
Creating an anti-bullying book for children was the answer. “I think anti-bullying lessons need to be presented at a young age to be more effective,” she said. “I wanted to create a fun, interesting storybook that would entertain them but also teach them.”
“Before I started writing, I researched basic child psychology, anti-bullying, and how to write an engaging storybook for kids,” Katherine said. “The process took about eight months. I had to do multiple drafts, talk to my team, and then revise.”
Her team included Lower School Counselor Megan Martin-Wall, who became her main project advisor, the members of Girl Scout Troop 41772, and her scout leader, Susan Cain.
“A big component of the Gold Award is leadership,” Katherine said. “I had to take ownership and lead the meetings. There was lots of directing, lots of emailing, lots of making sure everything was done on time.”
Rather than a straightforward narrative focusing on one or two characters, Katherine decided to do a series of stories. “It’s not a linear story,” she said. “It’s four one-shots that show students in different situations. That allowed me to demonstrate how bullying can take different forms.”
When Katherine had written a solid outline of the book, she tapped her friend Christa Shih FCDS ’22 as her illustrator.
“I enjoyed when Christa and I would do Facetime calls where we sat down and started deciding how we wanted characters to look…fashion choices, power dynamics, which scenes to illustrate,” Katherine said. “It was interesting how illustrations can impact how the story is presented.”
After writing the book for the kindergarten to second-grade age range, Katherine adapted it for preschool children, simplifying the language for a younger audience. She also created a companion activity book to help students engage. Then, it was time to present the finished product to her target audience. Katherine read the storybook to 11 classrooms at FCDS - every kindergarten to second grade class and some of the preschool 4s classes. Each session consisted of 45 minutes of reading and activities.
“The students seemed to respond pretty well,” Katherine said. “They actually were very articulate for their age. They were able to ask some very clear, almost mature questions. They seemed to like it a lot.”
Katherine left copies of the books in all of the classrooms she visited and sent a follow-up survey to teachers to see how effective it was. “It has to be sustainable,” she said. “I hope it’s something that will last beyond me.”
Forsyth Country Day School (FCDS) is a private, college preparatory, independent school for preschool through high school located in Lewisville, NC, just outside of Winston-Salem. Students benefit from a challenging academic curriculum, fine and performing arts, competitive athletics, and a wide selection of extracurricular activities.
Non-Discrimination Policy: Forsyth Country Day School is committed to administering all education and employment activities without discrimination based on one’s race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, ability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Non-Discrimination Policy: Forsyth Country Day School is committed to administering all education and employment activities without discrimination based on one’s race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, ability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
