Author Visit!
By, Emily Lech, assistant principal
“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
As a kid I loved to write. I wrote everywhere and anywhere. I wanted to be an author when I grew up. Then one day, I realized the other part of writing: revision! Drafts, edits, and fixing many, many mistakes. Oh, the drudgery! I just wanted to write. My 3rd grade teacher smiled at me with one of those you’ll understand this one day looks. She told me anything worth doing required hard work. For years, I’d receive a postcard during her summer travels. At the bottom she always wrote: P.S. I hope you’re still writing! That teacher has now passed on, but she instilled something special within me.
Here at Franklin, we also encourage students to see themselves as writers and readers.
This is the fabric of what we do each day in class. Another way we promote this is by hosting special author visits. Thanks to the PTA and our librarian Ms. Hetzke, on Thursday, November 20th we were excited to welcome Mr. Todd Hasak-Lowy, author of 33 Minutes for 4th and 5th graders.
Mr. Hasak-Lowy, an Evanston resident, has been writing books for 15 years. He writes for adults and children too. He also teaches creative writing and is currently working on two books to come out next year.
His book, 33 Minutes, is on the Park Ridge Battle of the Books list! The book is about Sam who is going to get his butt kicked in exactly thirty-three minutes. The book shows that even the best friendships don’t last forever.
During his talk, Todd talked about his adolescence and the way it inspires the people and events within our fictional stories. He noted that writers of all ages must feel that a story wants to be told. Otherwise, you won’t have your heart in it to tell it well. Students learned about the process it took for him to draft, revise, and publish a book. Students also saw that authors are also parents, readers, dog-lovers, and just ordinary people. All of us, no matter who we are, have a story waiting to be told.