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Use your real-life experiences to create the fantasy that will become your story. That's the message students at Cloonan Middle School were given Friday by Jake Halpern, noted author, journalist and radio producer. "Mr. Halpern told us that there isn't any wrong writing and that you just need to keep at it," said sixth-grader Katherine Vahsen.
The author visited Cloonan as part of its fourth annual "One Book, One School" program and used his exceptional storytelling talents to teach the young audience some of the basics of good writing. Each year the school purchases a book for each of its 600-plus students to read over the summer.
The 2010 selection was "Worlds Apart" by Paul Janeczko, which tells the story of the 1944 Hartford circus fire, not in the traditional narrative form, but in poetry. That tragic fire killed 167 people. Based on the book, this year's school theme is the circus, and throughout the year students will create and participate in different circus-related activities.
Halpern's audience took his advice to heart, as one student told him, "I went to Guatemala with my family and made up a story based on that trip. It was really fun."
Teaching young people to learn to love reading and writing is the most important part of this program, according to Assistant Principal Laureen Mody. Seeing their faces and listening to the questions they asked Halpern, it's easy to see that the school is on the right track.
Sixth-grader Kelly Richardson summed it all up. "Books are way better than movies. This was really interesting today."
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