SHERWOOD - Fingers melodically strumming guitar strings, children's author and illustrator Daniel Kirk sang poems he crafted and published in his books for a group of schoolchildren at Emily Howland Elementary School last week.

“Attention! Calling all cars, calling all cars,” he sang. “There's a robbery in progress at the local fish market. A known cat burglar has broken into a shop on the corner of Halibut and Cod. The suspect is considered clawed and extremely dangerous.”

As he sang “Police Car” from his book, “Go!,” third- and fourth-grade students assembled on the cafeteria floor bobbed their heads, jerked their knees and shimmied their shoulders to the beat. Giggles emerged from their mouths and hands slapped together in applause once Kirk finished.

Kirk, an award-winning author and illustrator of more than 30 children's books, came to Emily Howland Elementary School last week to introduce burgeoning student writers to the professional world of book publishing. Talking to students of all grade levels during assemblies on Oct. 22 and working with each class on Oct. 23, Kirk showed them how he came up with poem and story ideas, and how those ideas became material for his books.

During the third- and fourth-grade assembly, Kirk, whose visit was funded by the school's Parent Teacher Organization, told students that “Police Car,” formed the foundation of another book, “Rex Tabby: Cat Detective.”

He discussed how he created the characters, their evolution during the writing process - his vision of adult villains Fat Cat, Puny McRunt, Tattoo and The Flea changed to a pair of child cads Rumpy, Stumpy and led by Ma Manx - and how the story came to life in illustrations.

The goal, he said, was to show students that they too can become authors and illustrators and should continue tapping into their imaginations.

“I think it's really important for children to keep writing or drawing,” he said. “They need those opportunities for that kind of exploration, to explore their creativity.”

Principal Mary Lou Cronin said students inside the school are all considered writers, using words to express feelings and creative thought at each grade level.

Kirk's assemblies and work with individual classrooms and students, Cronin said, are “a continuation of our curriculum on writing and writing as a process.”

In addition to his involvement at Emily Howland, Kirk also led a talk at the Aurora Free Library last Saturday and conducted a book signing following the presentation.

Austin Kulas has visions of having his name printed on the cover of a book. The 10-year-old from Genoa has aspirations of writing a few books, and he has Kirk to thank for it.

“It makes me feel like I could do it,” he said after the assembly. “I'd like to write, but I wouldn't want to write all those books. Maybe one or two.”

Jessica Farkas, 9, of Scipio also likes to write, as it allows her to express her feelings.

“I like to write about anything,” she said. “I have a creative mind and I write whatever comes to my mind.”

Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net