Waffles, the multimedia muse

Tom Speicher, writer/video producer at Pennsylvania College of Technology and author of "A Week With Waffles," recently did a half-hour interview for the "Classroom Matters" podcast and a related reading of the book for Educate Today's "Off the Shelf" virtual storytime series.

The 6½-minute read-aloud video can be viewed at the Educate Today website , where it is accompanied by prompts for teachers to use in their classroom discussions. The children's book is designed to teach children about the days of the week and to encourage creative thought through the adventures of Speicher's pet guinea pig.

The podcast is hosted by Kristy Houle, who is also a mother of three, a homeschool teacher (and former public school educator and administrator), children's book author, publisher and educational consultant.

The conversation moves through a range of topics, including Speicher's longtime interest in writing, his process, his inspiration for the first in a planned series of Waffles books, and the feedback he's received from kids and parents alike. 

"Everybody who's read the book has told me they really appreciate the interactive nature of it because each day leads into a question that the parent – or whoever's reading it to the child – can ask, and then the child will go off on 'who knows where,'" he tells Houle.

"I just wanted to bring joy to kids and to make them smile, and also to make the parents smile," he adds. "And, at the same time, learn something."

And speaking about learning, the host urges teachers to embrace the book's interactivity – shared discussion with schoolchildren of things to do each week, for instance, or use of the blank calendar in the back – to build an entire unit around it.

"There are so many fun things that teachers can do with this book that would tie in to lessons that they're already teaching, skills they already want their students to know," Houle says. "And then their kids can do it with Waffles every day."

A portion of "A Week With Waffles" proceeds – as well as sales of the young adult novel, "Bucky Deacon's Dilemma," which Speicher co-authored with the late Bill Byham – benefits the Emergency Scholarship Fund at Penn College. Both works are available through Amazon and at the Otto bookstore in downtown Williamsport.