Students in the Wausau School District on Friday learned just what it takes to make a children's book, ideas and all.

Author and illustrator Diane deGroat spent the past five days in nine of the district's elementary schools talking to students about her work. She met with 260 of them at Hawthorn Hills Elementary School on Friday.

The students gave collective gasps during deGroat's slideshow, which incorporates pictures and video to explain her creative process. She has done 200 cover illustrations, illustrated more than 120 books and has written 21 of her own.

The author has visited schools for 20 years, though this past week was her first visit to Wausau.

"(Students) should learn that it's not as easy as it looks," deGroat said.

A memorable element of the presentation for third-grader Chelsea VanDenElzen was the progression of an idea to a completed cover illustration.

It looks really involved and difficult, the 9-year-old said of the drawings.

Pencil sketches used to be the norm for deGroat, but now she does all of her sketching and drawing on the computer. The use of technology impressed fifth-grader Cory Schmidt.

Cory, 11, saw how writing can be a struggle from deGroat's experience. After drawing no longer provided a challenge, deGroat began to write. She had to attend classes and read often to improve her craft.

"I learned that it's a lot harder than just writing and revising it," Cory said. "She needs to rewrite it 20 times before she can actually publish it."

In advance of deGroat's visit, students had read some of the books and visited her Web site. They recognized the image of her possum creation Gilbert when he appeared on a screen.

Younger students attended a separate visit with deGroat and listened to her read her latest Gilbert adventure, "Mother, You're the Best! (But Sister, You're a Pest!)."

Students peppered deGroat with questions such as what's her favorite book and do her hands get tired when she draws?

School librarian JoAnn Hudak said deGroat held the attention of the students well with strong visuals.

"She didn't just tell them, she showed them, and I was really impressed with that," Hudak said.