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Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
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Budding authors show off works
Published February 4, 2009
SEGUIN — Andy Roy knows what readers want.
He may only be a fourth-grader, but Andy’s already working hard to be a master of suspense.
In the pages of his newest book, “The Hospital,” Andy paints a picture of terror as he describes his “kicking and screaming” experience with medical treatments.
“It’s about my trip to the hospital when I had a problem with my kidney,” Andy explained. “I wasn’t really that scared, but I wanted to make it interesting. I was just kinda scared.”
Andy’s mother, Terri Roy, agreed his hospital visit wasn’t nearly that bad, but said she was impressed by her son’s flair for fiction.
“It is embellished quite a bit,” she said with a chuckle.
Fourth-graders at Weinert Elementary had a chance to show off their writing chops last week during a two-day Young Writer’s Tea. Students in each class invited parents, teachers and school officials for an afternoon of fine literature — along with cookies and punch.
Linda Guzman, one of the fourth-grade language arts teachers, said the event was the culmination of weeks of hard work by her students. They worked on brainstorming, outlines, rough drafts, editing and — finally — publishing their stories complete with illustrations.
“Kids at this age are often concerned with things that happen moment-to-moment and this is a good way to get them to slow down and really get their ideas organized,” Guzman said. “Sometimes the process can be quite challenging, but they’re so excited to show their parents.”
Guests to the tea included district officials such as Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Barbara Gettig and Weinert’s own Principal Rebecca Marsh.
Connie Donsbach, a third-grade teacher and proud mom of fourth-grade author Lindsi Donsbach, said the tea is a delightful opportunity for the students to develop their skills.
“I think it’s wonderful because they’re able to really take ownership of what they’ve written,” she said. “You never know, there may be the next J.K. Rowling or Stephanie Meyer in here.”
While some prefer the far-out world of fiction, Lindsi chose to pen a tale that rings true.
“It’s called ‘Lessons Learned,’ and it’s about the time I fractured my wrist falling off my scooter,” she admitted sheepishly. “The point of the story is I should have listened to my mom because she told me to come inside, but I had to take another ride.”
Young author Zach Lee said that, though his tale of surfing on the Texas coast certainly sounds like a true happening, it’s entirely fabricated.
“I would like to go surfing, but I’ve never done it,” he said.
Though in the book Zach proves to be a natural surfer — even when facing uninvited guests like jellyfish — he said the story itself didn’t come together quite so easily. “We had to do a lot of brainstorming and outlining before I could type it up,” he said. “It’s hard to read it so many times, but it makes it better.”
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