W.R. McNeill Elementary School students were treated to a virtual visit Tuesday from New York Times best-selling author Lauren Tarshis, who spoke to them about their experiences with December’s deadly tornadoes.

Tarshis is the author of the children’s historical fiction series “I Survived.”

The series, featuring more than 20 books, puts fictional child characters at the center of historical disasters and details what happened during each tragedy.

Tarshis travels to each location where a particular disaster occurred, researches the history and then has professional fact-checkers look over her stories before they are published.

After the Dec. 11 tornadoes, McNeill teacher Lauren Coffey said several of her students made a connection between the disaster they survived and the stories they read in Tarshis’ books.

“Even in that moment of living through a natural disaster, here they are being comforted by the idea that people have lived through disasters in the past,” Coffey said. “As an educator, I wasn’t quite sure how to handle their trauma. I was pleasantly surprised when they came back and how much desire they did have to connect and share their experiences.

“I just decided to email her (Tarshis) and tell her,” Coffey said. “I told her my students survived the Bowling Green tornadoes, and they would love to hear from her. Within an hour she responded.”

Coffey said one student submitted to her a story titled “I Survived the Bowling Green Tornadoes” the day after the deadly storm hit.

Before Tuesday’s virtual visit, third, fourth and fifth graders at McNeill submitted questions to Tarshis about her series.

When Tarshis began her visit, however, she was first focused on providing words of positivity and support to students who were affected by the tornadoes.

“I am so sorry about what you all have gone through with the tornadoes that struck, and I’m so happy to see you all sitting there looking so well,” Tarshis told the students. “I’m sure many of you are still scared when you think about what happened in the tornado. We all go through things in different waves, and we all need different kinds of help sometimes when we feel scared.

“Your stories are so valuable and so important. I just want to make sure you know that.”

Tarshis said she might use December’s tornadoes as inspiration for a future story, and their individual experiences from the tornadoes will be asked about when they grow older.

She also spoke about the importance of storytelling, history and her own time as an elementary school student.

“History is the story of ordinary, real people like you and me,” Tarshis said. “Your story of the memories you have from when the tornadoes hit – that’s history. Those are the stories that authors like me rely on in order to tell our stories. People are going to want to hear from you.”

Moving forward, Coffey said Tarshis would continue to be in touch with the students and plans to host a trauma-informed virtual writing workshop later this spring where a smaller group of students impacted by the tornadoes can write about their experiences.

– Follow reporter John Reecer on Twitter @JReecerBGDN or visit bgdailynews.com.