Hawley Elementary School students gave a warm welcome to author and illustrator Greg Pizzoli when he visited their school on Friday, March 20.

The school split the author visit into three assemblies held from late morning until the end of the school day. Teachers brought their students down to the school's multipurpose room for the special occasion, where Pizzoli talked about the impact of storytelling, showed how to draw fan-favorite characters from his books, and even had students read out loud with him.

Pizzoli is a four-time Theodor Seuss Geisel Award-winning creator of the Baloney and Friends graphic novel series, which features four funny animal friends and their wacky adventures. He is also the author and illustrator behind books such as The Watermelon Seed, Good Night Owl, and The Book Hog.

Students sat down and intently listened to Pizzoli as he gave them a "behind-the-scenes" look into their favorite books. When he asked the crowd if any of them had read his books, many excitedly raised their hands with big smiles on their faces.

Pizzoli said he came all the way from Philadelphia, where he lives with his family, for the special occasion. He showed everyone pictures of his family, his studio, and his drawing desk.

Pizzoli talked about how, when he was a kid, he was taken aback and amazed that writing books was even a job. He also had a love of drawing at a young age, when his favorite thing to draw was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

He carried that passion and momentum into becoming an author and illustrator when he grew up.

When talking about his line of work, Pizzoli told students he has two jobs: writing the words and drawing the pictures. Illustrating, he said, is trying to tell the story with the pictures that are not necessarily in the text; in a sense, "writing with pictures."

"Particularly in picture books, you can make the pictures say something that the words cannot," Pizzoli explained.

He then told the crowd about the three books that changed his life: Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More by Roald Dahl, and Ed Emberly's Drawing Book of Animals by Ed Emberly.

Pizzoli then read a story from his book, Baloney and Friends: Going Up!, where the titular Baloney the pig tries to come up with a theme song for him and his friends.

He had kids sing Baloney's theme song as it evolved to include more and more lyrics. Afterwards, Pizzoli chose three students to help him read another story from the book.

While Pizzoli read for Baloney, he picked one student to read for the "almost maniacally optimistic" Peanut the horse, another to read for the know-it-all and sensible Bizz the bumblebee, and one last student to read for the grumpy Krabbit the rabbit.

For their efforts, Pizzoli gave students who read a pencil with a personalized message inscribed inside: "Greg Pizzoli gave me this pencil."

"And it's true, I did give them that pencil," Pizzoli laughed.

He finished the presentation by showing everyone how to draw some fan-favorite characters from his books, such as the crocodile from The Watermelon Seed and Peanut from the Baloney and Friends series.

When asked by The Newtown Bee what he has learned from being an author that he does not think he would have learned otherwise, Pizzoli said the importance of reading with kids or reading in a group has really stuck out to him.

He added that a story might seem like it is working until someone does a test read to a large group of students. As such, Pizzoli said he often brings new things out onto the road when he visits schools to test them out and see if they resonate with them.

"And I've learned a lot," Pizzoli said. "When I write at home now or at my studio, I imagine that audience a lot of the time. I sort of put myself in that headspace and think, 'Alright, are they going to be captivated by this?'"

For drawing, Pizzoli said he loves empowering kids to be able to draw, even if they think otherwise. He noted the end of the presentation, where he showed students how to draw characters using simple shapes.

Fourth grade in particular, he said, is around the age when kids start to feel "so-and-so is really good at drawing, they're better than me, so I'm not good at drawing."

"So what I try to do is empower them and say, 'Hey, if you can draw these few shapes, you can write a story. You can do it,'" Pizzoli said.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.