Did you ever wonder where an author gets an idea for a story or a script?  Oftentimes it's from real life as you'll soon see.  Carol Montgomery created her free Readers Theater script "The Sugar Spies" in the fall of 2009.  Readers Theater All Year interviewed her in the spring of 2010.  Was she really a Sugar Spy?  Here's that brief interview:

Idea?

RT All Year:  Where did you get the idea for this script?

Carol:  I was raised with a lot of sugar in my diet:  sugared cereals, store-bought desserts in my lunch, ice cream almost daily, and regular homemade cookies, cakes, brownies, pies... Are you salivating yet?  :) 

When I was a classroom teacher I got serious adult-onset acne.  Very sad.  Here  I was a college graduate and fairly ignorant of how my body functioned!  I knew little about preventive medicine--including diet.

I changed my ways and my body got healthier with less sugar and more nutritious food choices.  Also, my first year of teaching I had a wild class.  I was ready to quit!  I later realized that the behavior of the class was related not only to my choices of discipline in the classroom, but also to the diets of the children. 

Since I was teaching fourth grade I figured the students were old enough to learn to make wise choices concerning what went into their mouths.  So, one year I created Operation HENRY: Healthy Eating Now Rescues You! Operation HENRY had "Sugar Spies" as part of the lesson plans.

The kids LOVED being real Sugar Spies--going home, reading labels, and discovering secret sugars hidden in their cupboards and refrigerators.  A couple of weeks after I wrote "The Sugar Spies" I noticed Michelle Obama took on Childhood Obesity as a project.  Maybe when a few folks have tried the script out and I've gotten feedback I can offer it to her.  Does anyone want to test drive this script and make suggestions?  :)

Resources?

RT All Year:  Great idea!  What resources did you use to write the script?

Carol: I used what I had learned from the news and in books, especially Dr. Don Colbert's books on healthy living.  I also checked several credible web sources.  The script was longer than most I've done, about 12 minutes, but I didn't want it to be boring facts like you'd hear on the news.  People remember stories.


RT All Year:  How long did it take you to write the script?

Carol:  I don't really know.  Is it done?  (Smile.)  I think I still have to put the curriculum links for the teachers in it.  It was so much fun to write I think I got the first draft done in two days.  Then I had to ask my family to read it.  I guess I finished it in about a week--not counting the hours ahead on curriculum link research and a bit more editing. I didn't work on it full time.

Why?

RT All Year: Why did you write the script?

Carol:  I guess I wrote it to try and make a difference in a fun way.  Kids can think.  I hope the crazy story with the Sugar Spies, Mayor Action, Mrs. Fastlane, and Uncle Lazybones will have a positive impact on kids all over.  I used to love playing spy when I was younger.


RT All Year: Which story about the script or the process of writing it would you like to share?

Carol:  Ha!  I'm not crazy about rap music, but being a musician--in a household of musicians--I like rhythm.  I like the rhythm of words, too!  So, when I was going to write "The Sugar Spies" I saw a picture in my head of a bunch of students dressed in dark trenchcoats wearing hats and sunglasses kind of "rapping" or speaking rhythmically:

"We're the Sugar Spies, can't you see it in our eyes? We're the Sugar Spies this is our disguise..."

I laughed out loud and started tapping my foot in rhythm.  I don't want to spoil some of the fun for anyone that hasn't read the script yet, so I better stop before I say something about Blubber Bits.  Whoops!