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Authors in Class

On Thursday, May 2nd, Ms. Ward's tenth grade English class invited two young adult authors into their classroom to share their expertise on writing, their experiences on being published, and share a few tidbits about working with celebrities. Jen Calonita and Elizabeth Eulberg spoke with students about the joys and struggles of writing realistic teen fiction.

Jen Calonita is not new to writing. Prior to publishing her most recent book The Grass is Always Greener, Ms. Calonita was a journalist for a number of very popular magazines before she became a full time novelist. She spoke with students about her decision to leave Teen People magazine, where as a senior editor she interviewed everyone from Beyonce to Zach Efron, in order to work on her novel writing full time. Working as an editor helped her not only with the writing process, but with finding her subject matter as well. The problem, Ms. Calonita confessed, was that she got too personally attached to the characters in her writing. But you have to, because she said, "Readers can tell when you don't love what you are writing about."

And Elizabeth Eulberg is no stranger to writing either. In fact, before writing her first novel, she worked as a publicist for many well-known authors. Her early experiences working with writers, helped her find the inspiration for writing her first book. She told students that you have to be open to finding inspiration anyway, to find that seed of an idea that you can write about. With her most recently published book, Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality, she took her inspiration from a comment that someone made about having a great personality. It was the inspiration she needed for her main character. Unlike her other books, which grew out of ideas for the plot, her most recent novel grew from an idea that started with the main character.

It was an all together entertaining presentation by these two authors and friends, who had student laughing, clapping, and thinking about writing.

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Skyping with Editors

As part of our focus on writing for publication, we connected with a couple of local authors and editors.  

On Thursday, April 11th, third block students used Skype to connect with Christine Weiser, Executive Director of Philadelphia Stories.  We had an opportunity to ask questions about how pieces are chosen for publication as well as how she became involved with Philadelphia Stories.

On Thursday, April 18th, third block students had the opportunity to Skype with Senior Editor of Teen Ink and co-founder of the publication, Ms. Stephanie Meyer.  Ms. Meyer and her husband started Teen Ink in 1989 when their own kids were teenagers.  The Meyers wanted to start a publication that encouraged and supported the creative voice of teens and their magazine has grown to a readership that includes both print and online readers.  In fact, during our conversation, Ms. Meyers said that their online site receives just over a million hits a month!  The publication receives about 150,000 submissions each year, so a team of editors selects pieces for publication. 

On Thursday, April 25th, second block students will be Skyping with children's book author and Bushbaby Press owner, Ms. Maggie Mitchell.  We'll have an opportunity to talk with her about her unique perspective as both an author and a publisher and her knowledge of both sides seeing a work in print.  And as a couple of students in our class are currently working on their own children's book, this will be a great opportunity to gain insight into what makes a good book for children.

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Psychologist Talks Literary Interpretation with Students via Skype

On Wednesday, March 20, local clinical psychologist Dr. Robin Ward used Skype to connect with students and discuss how psychoanalytic principals can help in literary interpretation.  As we begin our reading of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, a novel which hones in on themes of guilt, betrayal, friendship, and redemption, Dr. Ward spoke with students about hermeneutics in general and the principals of repression and the conflict model of motivation in the psychoanalytic framework in particular. These are ideas that we will be returning to as the story of Amir, his father Baba, and betrayed best friend Hassan unfold.

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One Book One Philadelphia Author Julie Otsuka Visits HHS

Haverford High School had the honor of being the only high school in the Philadelphia area to host the 2013 One Book, One Philadelphia author Julie Otsuka.  The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka is not only a recent PEN/Faulkner Award winning work of historical fiction but also a National Book Award finalist. This powerfully moving, poetic novel tells the tragic story of the Japanese “picture brides” who traveled from Japan to San Francisco in the early 1900s, tracing their collective and individual experiences as wives, mothers, breadwinners, and marginalized members of American society during both peacetime and the onset of World War II. It is a story that explores the idea of home: where we find it, how it changes us, and the sacrifices that sometimes come with establishing our home.   

 

Through the support of the Haverford Rotary Club and Haverford Township Library, Julie Otsuka visited Haverford High School to speak with students on Tuesday, March 12. This unique opportunity gave students an opportunity to interact with an author many of them have read.

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Holocaust Survivor Speaks with Students

In connection with our reading of Elie Wiesel's Holocaust memoir Night, we welcomed local Holocaust survivor Arnold Vanderhorst to our school on Tuesday, February 26, 2013, to speak about his experiences growing up in Holland during World War II. With the help of the Philadelphia Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center, we have been able to bring a number of survivors in to speak with students over the last four years, so that nearly every Haverford student will graduate having heard history from the perspective of someone who has lived it.  These powerful first-person stories have shaped how we read and reflect on history and on literature.