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Award-Winning Author Sarah Weeks Speaks To Middle School Students Additional
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In her first-ever visit to South Carolina Weeks delighted the students by giving a very satisfactory answer to one of the all-time favorite questions for visiting authors: where do you get your ideas? Very often this question is answered with the vague “from the same place you get your ideas,” or even the most unhelpful “I don’t know.” Weeks, however, showed a picture of a clothesline, and talked about how she has always been fascinated by what you can tell about a person by the items hanging on their clothesline. This was the start of her best selling and very amusing children’s book, Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash. Another important idea came from an abandoned house that intrigued her. She showed a picture that she had taken of the house, and of the door started her on the path to writing the book that won her the 2007 South Carolina Junior Book award, So B. It. Weeks gave insight into her writing process by talking about the technical aspects of the story arc, and what makes a story interesting. To illustrate she read selected passages from her books Jumping the Scratch and So B. It. It was clear that her story arc was well constructed based on the number of hands in the air from students asking, “What happens next?” For those students who wanted to know the best way to become writers, she recommended doing a lot of reading. Students designated as top readers during the Middle School Summer Reading Contest were treated to a special lunch with Weeks. The selected students were thrilled to have time continue the morning’s talk in a small group. Concluding her visit, Weeks talked about the memory problems the characters in Jumping the Scratch experience. She asked the students to name the ten objects that had been projected onto the screen during the first few minutes of her talk. Most could remember several of the objects pictured: a spoon, a toothbrush, cork, and other small items. One object that several remembered clearly was a pair of scissors, but with differences of opinion about the color. Illustrating her point that memory is a tricky and malleable thing, she showed the items again, and no scissors were pictured. Though
their memories of the objects were shaky, they will certainly have
a strong recollection of an enjoyable afternoon spent with Sarah
Weeks. |
Sarah
Weeks discovered early that she is not a good speller, and freely
admits that she has no idea how to use a semi-colon. She began writing
at age 5, and showed everything to her mother, who encouraged her
without pointing out the small mistakes (like the complete lack
of vowels in her writing). The encouragement paid off, and on September
27, this winner of the 2007 South Carolina Junior Book Award visited
CCES to talk to Middle School Students. |
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