After discussing her book Last Chance Island with a group of Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows School District elementary students, author Norma Charles answered several questions about her craft. For aspiring writers – young or old – Charles had this advice:
- Read
- Read every day
- Read the kind of stories you want to write
- Write
- Write something very day
- Write a diary or journal to get the writing juices flowing
“If you want to be a writer, the main thing to do is simply write,” says Charles, a former teacher-librarian who has written 20 books, including her latest, Runner: Harry Jerome, World’s Fastest Man.
All the students in attendance have already committed to becoming good readers.
District teacher-librarians started the now-annual BookFest as a way to encourage young students to “read a variety of literature and expose them to some of the top-quality authors of today.”
The BookFest program is open to all students in grades 4-7. All they have to do is read eight books carefully selected by district teacher-librarians. The reading started in September and culminated on Nov. 29, with BookFest 2017 at the ACT.
Nearly 600 students attended the event, which also included a number of book-related activities like “Jeopardy Challenge” and “Wheel of Fortune Challenge” that had students answering skill-testing questions about the books they had read, including Last Chance Island.
“It was a lot of fun,” said teacher-librarian Debbie Vermette. “The kids always have a good time; they look forward to it each year.”
Learn more about BookFest at http://jolson101.wixsite.com/sd42bookfest20015