Visiting Authors 2016-2017
Michael Fry
May 4, 2017
The school year is almost over, but the students in 6th and 7th grade had a chance to meet one more author before summer break. Michael Fry was on tour for his newest book: How to Be a Supervillain. This book is a combination of text and pictures which is Fry's forte. He began writing comics in school and turned his love of drawing and making people laugh into a career. One of his most famous works is the comic strip Over the Hedge, and the students were familiar with the movie based on that comic strip. He explained to them how the movie came to be and how cool it was to meet the stars who voiced the characters. Since people are not reading newspapers in print like they used to do, Fry has been using his creativity energy to make books. Humor is a staple of middle school, and the students were eager to read the book after meeting the author. Who isn't ready for a good laugh, especially one where parents are the brunt of many of the jokes. We want to thank Octavia Books and the publisher, Little Brown, for making this visit possible.
Jen Calonita
March 13, 2017
Students in grades 6 and 7 were treated to a visit by author Jen Calonita on Monday, March 13th. She was touring the country to kick off the publication of the third book in her Fairy Tale Reform School series. This series was spurred on by her two sons who thought that Calonita's previous books were more geared to girls. The boys wanted a book that spoke to them. Though the main character is a girl, there are many male characters and lots of action and adventure to entice all readers in this series. We were excited to have her because BRiMS had met her in 2015 via skype to talk about the first book in that series. Calonita had a presentation that showed many photos of her past. She was always a big reader herself and even dressed like Laura from Little House on the Prairie when she was in school. One thing she said was very interesting, early in her life she set a goal to be a writer. Though she began writing for a magazine before writing books, she was able to achieve what she set out to do while young. Her first book, Secrets of My Hollywood Life, used the experiences she had meeting famous celebrities working at the magazine. As a lesson to those in the audience, her words expressed the idea that perseverance does work in getting what you want. We want to thank her publisher, Source Books, and locally owned Octavia Books for making this visit possible. You can read more about Calonita's visit on the librarian's blog here.
Marieke Nijkamp
January 30, 2017
Bookmarked members were ready to take on author, Marieke Nijkamp during one of their regularly scheduled meetings. She was in the Netherlands where she lives while Bookmarked ate their lunch in Avondale, LA. Though her published work is a contemporary, gritty story about a school shooting, and many members are more fond of fantasy or manga than realistic fiction, the students were fascinated by Nijkamp's explanation of how she came to write a story based in a country where she has only visited. Nijkamp talked for about 15 minutes described her first visit to America where she saw a school bus for the first time. It was during this visit that the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting took place. It was this event that spurred her on to write, This is Where it Ends. She had been in the middle of writing a fantasy, but the idea of exploring a shooting while it was happening was intriguing to her. After much research she was able to produce a very emotional book. You can read more about this visit on the librarian's blog here.
Ruta Sepetys
November 30, 2016
Ruta Sepetys is always a delight, but when she began to talk at the beginning of our skype visit, the students were quickly mesmerized. She talked about her book Between Shades of Gray, but also about her other books as well. In Shades of Gray, she named her fictional characters after people in her life. Her main character, Lina, was given her mother's personality. Her family was concerned that this character might not survive at the end of the story, but she does. Years ago, Ruta met a German fan named Florian who said that he wanted to be in one of her books. He is one of the main characters in her recently published Salt to the Sea. When she visited Germany after the book came out, Florian, now in college, met her again. He was thrilled when he found out that she did actually include him in her newest book. In her books, Ruta tries to uncover little known history that will drive her story and will also draw in her readers. Though historical fiction may not be the genre of choice at PFTSTA, students here can always appreciate a well written book, with interesting characters, and action that surprises the reader. You can read more about the visit on the librarian's blog here.
T. A. Barron
November 15, 2016
All the 7th and 8th grade students welcomed T. A. Barron on Tuesday, November 15th. He was on tour for the recently published book in the Atlantis Saga series. He came armed with a Powerpoint with pictures of the fantastical maps that he creates for all his books, a book trailer for Atlantis Rising created by a fan, and a short video about the young hero's award that he gives to ten teens each year. He actually talked a little about all the different series that he has created. He explained that his inspiration for each series sprouted from questions that he had. For the Merlin Saga, he had always wondered what Merlin was like as a boy and how he came to be such a powerful wizard. For the Atlantis Saga, he knew of so many stories about the end of Atlantis but not about what life was like there during its heyday. There was little time for questions at the end, but Ms. Kahn had a chance to find out what were the origins for the names of people and places in the Atlantis Saga. Barron said that most of them had a Greek root as he thought Atlantis would have been influenced by Greece. The name of the land at the beginning of the saga was Ellegandia which was a name that he did just make up. Fantasy is a popular genre at PFTSTA. The students were active listeners which was in evidence by the many who clamored for copies of his books during lunch. That is a real testament to their enjoyment of the author's presentation. Thanks to Octavia Books and Penguin Teen for making this visit possible. You can read more about the visit on the librarian's blog here.
Mark Alpert
November 2, 2016
Bookmarked Jr. Edition was created this year because some dedicated readers from 8th grade did not want a year without a book group. As the new group on campus, they had the privilege of having the first skype of the school year. Mark Alpert was a journalist writing about science before becoming a science fiction author for both adults and young adults. His book, The Six, is based on real science. However, much of the technology in the book though not available now may be in the future. With his first book for young adults, he knew that he did not want to dumb down the science and feels that he was able to accomplish this. The idea that a person's brain could be downloaded into a robot as a means to save a person who is terminally ill makes the book extremely intriguing. The students spent time thinking and discussing whether this new "creature" is the same as the human or a copy. His inspiration for The Six came from the book by Ray Kurzweil called The Singularity is Near in which Kurzweil posits cutting edge technology regarding humans, the brain, and robots that he believes is in the near future. You can read more about Alpert's visit on the librarian's blog here.