Energetic responses from children are what keeps nationally known authors happy to return to a Cicero school for a day dedicated to celebrating reading and writing.

The third annual Literacy Fiesta at Wilson Elementary School on Thursday, April 3, drew successful children’s authors Eric Rohmann, Kevin Luthardt, Candace Fleming and David Schwartz to speak to children, conduct writing and story-making activities and award and sign books to students recognized as the top writers in each school of Cicero Public Schools District 99.

Rohmann, of La Grange, is connected to the area because his parents went to Wilson school, and he has visited the school before.

“You feel like you’re cheating them,” he said. “You get this tremendous amount of energy back. You say the same thing, but always get something different back.”

Rohmann talked about his 2003 book, “My Friend Rabbit,” for which he won an award from a children’s service division of the American Library Association, given annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

His ties to the area are reflected in his book, “Time Flies,” which takes place in the Field Museum in Chicago.

Swartz, who visited for the first time from Oakland, Calif., said interacting with the children makes him feel young again and helps him with story ideas.

“I’m often inspired by the children I speak to — their comments, their questions; I can use that in books I wrote,” he said.

After he wrote his first book, published in 1985, “How Much Is A Million?” he said kids responded, “What we really want to know is: How much is a million dollars,” and that inspired his next book, “If you made a million.”

Schwartz recounted how his obsession with numbers as a child eventually led him to write “How Much Is a Million?” He said he used to ask his first-grade teacher, “How many hairs do you think I have on my head?”

Fleming said she enjoys seeing her literature meet the culture of a given community.

“Nothing’s more great to hear kids with Hispanic accents do Dutch dialogue. How could you not come back for that?” she said.

In “Boxes for Katje,” Fleming writes about a Dutch girl named Katje who’s thrilled to receive a letter and a package of socks, soap, and chocolate from Rosie, a girl she doesn’t know who lives in Indiana; and the kids start to exchange letters.

Fleming has enjoyed a long relationship with the district, and even named a school Cicero Elementary School in her book “The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School.”

In an interactive activity in which she made up stories with the kids, she said they formed a character named Luis who spent a long time spiking his hair, and carried his hair gel with him even to Navy Pier.

“I looked up, and sure enough, most of the boys had spiked hair,” she said.

Fleming also showed students the drafts of her stories, which were scratched up in red ink by her editor. By showing them the drafts, Fleming encouraged students not to be discouraged by the corrections their teachers make, but instead to respond to them in a positive manner.

Staff photographer Kate Dougherty contributed to this story.