Author to visit Appoquinimink School District next week
By Shauna McVey
Staff Reporter
shauna@middletowntranscript.com

            Fourth- through ninth-grade students in the Appoquinimink School District are anxious for next week, as are the library media specialists at the elementary and middle schools.
            That’s because from Monday, May 12, through Thursday, May 15, Candian-born Author Gordon Korman will take the district by storm as he immerses himself for four whole days in Appoquinimink.
            Korman said he’s written about 65 books since he was in middle school.
            His first book, “This Can’t Be Happening at Macdonald Hall!,” was published by Scholastic when he was a freshman in high school. About 25 of his books are currently available in bookstores. One of his series of books, “Monday Night Football Club,” was even adapted to the Disney Channel series, “The Jersey.”
            He’ll visit schools in the district to talk about two of his favorite things – reading and writing.
            “I talk to the students about getting started in middle school. I literally grew up in this job writing for kids,” he said. “It’s really good research. You’re working with the audience and you need to see what parts of your books are resonating with the kids, and what aren’t.”
            Korman said his books span two genres – humor and adventure.
            “My humorous books tend to be school-centered,” he said. “I also do adventure, which is usually in a series.”
            Korman’s books range from a series about abduction to a kid who gets conned for his Babe Ruth baseball to a boy named Wallace Wallace who refuses to lie, even if telling the truth gets him in trouble with a teacher.
            He writes for readers as young as the third grade and as old as high school, but adults love his books, too.
            Christy Payne, library media specialist at Olive B. Loss Elementary School, said she met Korman at the International Reading Association conference last year with Mary Beth Jones, library media specialist at Cedar Lane Elementary School.
            “As soon as we met him, we said ‘Kids need to know him,’ ” Payne said. “Especially because of when he had his first book published, it makes that connection that writing is real. I’ve had so many kids ask if I think they could ever get published. He is living proof that you can.”
            “I know as soon as he comes, the excitement is going to blow up,” she said. “I can’t wait for that to happen.”
            Payne said she’s read most of his books, but her favorite is “Schooled,” which was published in 2007.
            She said it’s about a home-schooled student who lives on a hippie commune with his grandmother and is thrust into public school life during the seventh grade.
            “He writes to a point where kids can read him and enjoy him,” Payne said. “His books are a very high interest for boy readers and struggling readers, too. If they’re exposed to his books, kids love them. They’re funny and they’ve got all the elements kids get into.”
            Payne said many of Korman’s books will be available for sale on Tuesday, May 13, at Alfred G. Waters Middle School, when Korman will host a public presentation from 7 to 8 p.m.
            “Any grade, any level, anybody in the community can come,” she said. “We sold close to 400 of his books to students already. They’ve been everywhere.”
            Several of the books are available at Everett Meredith Middle School, Louis L. Redding Middle School, Olive B. Loss Elementary School, Silver Lake Elementary School, Townsend Elementary School, Cedar Lane Elementary School and the Appoquinimink Public Library.
            Payne said they also held a raffle where one student in each grade (from fourth through ninth) in each school and one teacher won spots at a special dinner with Korman on May 13.
            “We’ve done some really fun things to get the students involved,” she said. “Every school has done different things. Teachers are reading them to their classes and discussing them. We’re doing a lot of promotional things to get kids to read. Anything and everything we can to work him into the classroom.”
            Korman said he looks forward to spending the week with students in the district.
            “I’m excited to come and I’ll see a lot of you in the next week,” he said.
           
Appo. schedule
            Korman will visit Brick Mill, Cedar Lane and Olive B. Loss elementary schools on Monday, May 12. He will spend Tuesday at Louis L. Redding Middle School and then head to Alfred G. Waters Middle School for dinner and the evening presentation, which will be from 7 to 8 p.m., followed by a book signing.
            On Wednesday, May 14, AGW students will get their chance to talk with the author before he heads to Silver Lake Elementary School.
            Townsend Elementary and Everett Meredith Middle schools will get to catch him on Thursday, May 15.
            For more information about Korman or his books, go to www.gor donkorman. com.