An article in The New York Times has prompted an author, whose books are used in the reading curriculum of Panther Valley Valley Elementary School, to visit the local school.

Jill Lauren, who has penned dozens of children’s books that emphasize phonics, visited the Nesquehoning school on Friday and spoke with first and second grade students.

Lauren came after reading the article which explained how a change in teaching approach has greatly improved the reading proficiency of students at the school. Accompanying the April 16 article were several photos, one which was of Principal Robert Palazzo sitting in his office with books next to him.

Lauren saw that the books included some of which she had written.

A learning disabilities teacher in New York City, Lauren has written a series of different level books which has become part of the Panther Valley Elementary School curriculum.

Her specialty is “decodable readers,” which are designed to help children learn their sound-symbol relativity of our written language. “They’ve been designed to teach phonic skills so children can sound them out,” she said.

Palazzo added the books are written “so kids don’t get frustrated with reading.”

Palazzo and the elementary faculty replaced the previous reading program and implemented decodable reading after it was determined the reading proficiency of the students was below par. The pandemic might have contributed to the problem.

The New York Times article said that since the implementation of decodable readers, nearly 60 percent of third graders are now proficient in decoding words, up from 30 percent at the beginning of the school year.

Lauren has written such books as “Tag Dad,” “A Pig and His Wig, among others; a total of 53 for the decodable reader series. She said she has another 25 to go to complete the series.

The books stress various sounds; some might accentuate specific vowels while others might highlight other enunciations.

“They cover the most frequently used sounds of the English language,” she said.

In the second-grade assembly, six students with varied reading ability took turns reading to the classmates. Lauren then finished reading and held a question-and-answer session. Students who took turns reading were Axel Hettler, Lorenzo Fatzie, Avery Tristani, Gavin Kilpatrick, Faith Fister and Samuel Meadows.

Lauren also spoke about the meticulous task of choosing an illustrator for her books.

“When I started to write these books I didn’t have anyone to illustrate them,” she said, and showed the students pages with just words and no drawings.

She displayed to the students work from several illustrators who sought to draw the photos in her books and had the children tell who they would have selected and explain why. She encouraged students who enjoy drawing to continue creating pictures. “Maybe one day you can be an illustrator,” she said.

Her main objective of writing, she said, is “I want to make children love to read books.”

One student asked her how she comes up with the various topics. She responded, “When I’m writing, if I feel I came up with a good idea and it makes me really happy, then I think, ‘It will make the children happy’.”

She said after writing a book, it is edited, then shown to students, teachers and others for feedback.

In The New York Times article, Palazzo and the staff were praised for working on increasing reading skills. Lauren said, “We’re proud to be part of the Panther Valley success story.”

“The goal is we’re helping the kids be constant readers,” Palazzo said.

He added that he is hoping Lauren will come back to the school and have a session for families.

Lauren said she can’t stress enough the importance of reading. She said Palazzo and the staff’s efforts “is providing a child with a skill that will serve them for life.”

Maria Szczecina, a teacher at Panther Valley Elementary School, said, “We’re very privileged that we can have a visit from Jill. We’re looking forward to her coming back. It’s not often kids get to meet and author of the books they’re reading.”

Title 1 reading teacher Amber McFadden said, “We’re really happy she was able to come and talk to our kids. It was good to meet the author who created the books. Hopefully it will get the students excited to read over the summer.”