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SLJ 2012 Day of Dialog: Keeping Middle Schoolers Engaged

From Left: Sharon Creech, Joan Bauer, Eoin Colfer, James Dashner, Jennifer Hubert Swain, Rebecca Stead

Middle school students are a “hormonally charged” bunch who are “full of complex contradictions” and just “want a voice,” say authors who participated in SLJ‘s 2012 Day of Dialog on June 4 at New York’s Jacob Javits Convention Center.

Rebecca Stead, winner of the 2010 Newbery Award for When You Reach Me (Random, 2009) and a panelist in “Minding the Reading Gap: How to Keep Middle School Readers Engaged,” says she draws on her own childhood experiences when writing to “build a story out of small moments.” Her latest, Liar & Spy (Random), a funny tale about destiny, goofy brilliance, and courage, is expected this August.

Joan Bauer, who received a 2001 Newbery Honor for Hope Was Here (Putnam, 2000), says she was haunted by “middle school ghosts” during a recent visit to her old school, where she was reduced to a “social zero.” She now uses the power of fiction to share her past experience and give readers hope that the pain does end.

Sharon Creech, 1995 Newbery winner for Walk Two Moons (HarperCollins, 1994), says during author visits, she often sees a shy child holding one of her books close to their chests, and then approach her to say, “How did you know this was what I was thinking?”

Eoin Colfer, author of the “Artemis Fowl” series (Hyperion) says he still can’t understand why he was forced to read classics such as Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady, ” about an American heiress who travels to America, instead of Nobel Prize-winning English author William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, about British schoolboys who are stranded on a tropical island. His favorite reading spot was the trunk of his family’s car.

James Dashner, who writes the “13th Reality” fantasy series, describes himself as “supernaturally dorky” during his middle school years. His “most magical” moments growing up in Georgia were spending his summers sitting in front of the air conditioner and reading.

The topic of ebooks drew mixed reactions from panelists, with Colfer warning that books shouldn’t compete with technology. Dashner agreed, adding “anything that gets kids reading can’t be bad.” Meanwhile, Stead sees the convenience of ereaders, saying she was touched when her son, a middle schooler, recently put a paperback to his nose and remarked on the distinct smell of print books.

To see what other had to say about this and other Day of Dialog panels on Twitter using the hashtag #SLJDOD.