School days

[Austin S. Camacho]

Tomorrow I'll have a rare opportunity to spread the gospel of writing to an important youth audience. Charles Carroll Middle School in New Carrollton, MD is hosting its first annual 25 book campaign. All of their students will be expected to read at least 25 books by the end of the school year. This campaign will kick off Friday, and the school has asked me and a few other authors to help them celebrate reading by attending their assembly and sharing our experiences as authors.

We'll address the 7th and 8th grade students about our love for reading, why we became authors, and what inspires us to write. After the assembly we will have lunch with a select group of students. After lunch I'll visit language arts classes and answer questions that students may have. I intend to read a couple of short stories aloud for them too. I have to admit that I am both flattered and honored to get this opportunity to address and maybe inspire a whole school full of future readers and writers.

[Dana King]

That's extremely cool. It's a great idea for the school--all schools should do something similar--and sounds like a blast for the invited authors. Schools have a (well deserved) reputation for teaching kids not to want to read; this should be a good counterweight.