Best-selling author visits students at Belle Place Elementary
NEW IBERIA, La. — Published author Dion Leonard visited Belle Place Elementary School Tuesday during Literacy Week. The New Iberia School also held a book fair to celebrate Read Across America during their visit.
In 2017, Leonard’s story became a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller and has now been published in 23 languages around the world. The touching and inspiring true story of Dion and her dog Gobi has appeared on television around the world. “Finding Gobi” is a memoir based on an international short story, centering on Dion Leonard, an ultramarathoner who befriends a stray dog in China’s harsh Gobi Desert, according to the book’s website. The young dog, who later earned the name “Gobi”, proved that what she lacked in size, she more than made up for in heart as she walked step by step with Dion on the Tian Shan Mountains, through huge sand dunes, through a yurt. villages, and past the black sands of the Gobi Desert, keeping pace for nearly 80 miles of the 155-mile race. Before Dion could take her home, Gobi disappeared into the sprawling Chinese city where she was being held. With help from strangers and an outpouring of viral and global internet support, he found her, forever reuniting with the incredible animal that changed his life and won the hearts of millions around the world.
The impact and inspiration of her story led to the development of a film in production with Sony Pictures & Tencent Pictures for release in 2023.
Students and teachers at Belle Place Elementary were able to meet Dion and Gobi in person on February 23, where Dion shared the true and inspiring story with all students.
Kelsye Baudoin, Librarian, said, “We at Belle Place School are thrilled to have our very first author visit. It is so important for our students to understand the process of making books and to meet a published author who can help them connect what they are learning in school to real life. We are so grateful to Dion Leonard for taking the time to tell us his story and spreading the joy of the book to our students. And of course, all the children are very happy to meet Gobi in person.
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