Award-winning author Gloria Whelan visited Appleton October 16-18. The Appleton Public Library and the Appleton Area School District collaborated to bring in this extraordinary author of young adult and children's literature. Ms. Whelan was selected in particular because of her book Homeless Bird, which won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2000.

Ms. Whelan's activities while in Appleton included a book signing at Conkey's bookstore, luncheons, and presentations at the Appleton Public Library, West High School, North High School, Einstein Middle School and Madison Middle School. Over 600 people got to hear Ms. Whelan speak during her visit. Many were able to speak to her personally, ask her questions and ask her to autograph books.

During her teen writing workshop at the library, Ms. Whelan took advantage of some research she did prior to arriving in Appleton. While browsing the Internet, she learned that Appleton had a nighttime Christmas parade. She thought this was something unusual, but also something that each student attending the workshop had probably attended at least once. She used the theme of the night Christmas parade as a tool to get each student writing a story. Each one took time writing and sharing their stories. The results were incredibly varied and illustrated to the students that each one had the tools to write a unique story.