"When she was in kindergarten," says Jefferson fifth grader Alex, "Sharon Wyeth learned to spell beautiful. So she wrote a book about it." In fact, author Sharon Dennis Wyeth, who visited district schools last week and presented an evening for families at South Mountain School, has written more than 50 books. Patch caught up with her on Friday, when she spoke to students in the Marshall School library, and signed books provided by Sparkhouse Kids Book Nook.

Wyeth's professional writing career began in 1989 with the creation of "Pen Pals," a 20-book pre-teen series about girls who write letters to boys. According to her Web site, Wyeth's current books "spring from her own African-American childhood and other explorations of the African-American experience." She has also written poetry and for television. Wyeth has garnered numerous awards, including the Stephen Crane Literary Award from the Newark Public Library and fellowships from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. 

Her visit, which was sponsored by the SOMSD Parenting Center and the Elementary School PTAs, showcased the picture book entitled "Something Beautiful."

To begin her presentation, Wyeth showed Marshall students her blue scarf. "My grandmother gave it to me when I went to college," said the author, who now lives in Montclair. "And it's perfect for a cold day like today."

Wyeth, who grew up in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C., became a writer because her favorite childhood activity was reading. "Something Beautiful" grew out of her own experience.

"On the first day of kindergarten," the author told an audience of first and second graders, "my teacher wrote the word beautiful on the board." Wyeth copied the word carefully on a piece of paper she took home. "My mother did something remarkable," recalled Wyeth. "She read the word and she hung it on the refrigerator for everyone in the family to see."

The power of words was a lesson the young author took to heart, and the scene where a young girl learns to write the word is central to the story told in "Something Beautiful."

Wyeth explained to the students that other books come from an idea and lots of research, rather then from direct experience. Wyeth's three books in Scholastic's My America series are the imagined journals of Corey Birdsong, a 9-year-old who travels north on the Underground Railroad.  

"Where do you think I did the research?" asked Wyeth. "How do you think I found out what life was like in 1857?"

Students suggested that Wyeth used the computer. She added that she found most information in her "favorite place."

"We're in one now," she hinted, until students guessed correctly.

"The library," called out a second grader triumphantly.

Wyeth showed students completed works, but she also shared early drafts of books. 

"Look at all the pages and pages," she said. "It takes a lot of mistakes to get the writing right sometimes."

First and second graders nodded in agreement; her books are a favorite at Marshall. Students, teachers and parents applauded enthusiastically at the end of her talk, suggesting that Wyeth gets "the writing right."

A writing activity available on Wyeth's Web site encourages readers to find their "something beautiful," write a story and draw a picture about it.