NORWICH – A group of fans gathered in the Holy Family cafeteria Tuesday, eagerly awaiting the chance to meet some of their favorite authors during a “Meet the Authors” event hosted by the parochial school.
You won’t find these local authors on the New York Times Best Seller list, yet anyway. But according to English teacher Leslie Linfante, they all have the potential.
“When they’re published, I hope they remember their middle school English teacher,” joked Linfante, as she introduced the sixth, seventh and eighth grade English students whose work is compiled in a volume entitled, “Holy Family School’s Scary Stories.”
Authors who contributed were Kate Cirello, Ethan French, Joshua Wilcox, Anastasia Tenney, Rebecca Johnson, Cameron Richardson, Pablo Rojas and Peter Kalin. All were present for the “Meet the Authors” event, with the exception of Kalin.
The students penned the spooky tales included in the book for The Evening Sun’s 2010 Ghastly Ghost Stories competition, as well as another writing contest.
According to Linfante, the students had written ghost stories for the competition last year, and were so eager to do so again that they began asking her even before she announced the assignment. In preparation, the class read Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Telltale Heart.”
As a long-time educator, Linfante said she was thrilled not only by the students’ enthusiasm, but by what they gained from the exercise.
“The students thoroughly enjoyed their experience, and the improvement in their writing as a result of their involvement was dramatic,” she reported, in an email to The Evening Sun. “It’s one thing to teach commas and quotations, story line, foreshadowing, imagery, etc. But to see the students really begin to grasp these concepts as they revised their writing was just wonderful.”
She reiterated this sentiment to those present at the author’s tea, adding that the students took it upon themselves to keep revising their work.
“They just kept improving and improving,” she said. “They have done a fabulous job.”
After the stories were completed, the students compiled them in a single volume.
“They studied how books were made,” said Linfante, explaining that the students designed the cover, and made sure to include all the elements you’d typically find in a book, such as a title page, table of contents, title page and author biographies. They even added a bar code on the back.
Each of the students were given a small number of copies of the book to share with their “fans” - including the proud mix of parents, grandparents, siblings and school staff who attended the tea.
Before clamoring to have their books signed, those fans questioned the young authors about their motivation and inspiration, as well as the challenges posed by the assignments.
“My friends were my inspiration,” said Anastasia Tenney, who has two stories included in the book.
Seventh grader Ethan French, said a real-life hunting experience inspired his piece, “The Hunted.” Both he and his classmate Josh Wilcox placed in last year’s Ghastly Ghost Stories contest. This year, Wilcox was selected as a finalist in another competition, sponsored by a Syracuse paper.