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Feature article
Author knows her teen readers well
Article and pictures by Tammy Lane
March 28, 2008
Sharon Draper knows how to hold her audience. With a riveting first chapter or a sharp retort, she gets teens’ attention.
Draper, a retired English teacher from Cincinnati who now writes full-time, spoke Thursday at Tates Creek High School, sharing a little of her craft and a lot of personality.
“I write about what is real to their experience,” she said before a spirited, interactive session with ninth-graders in the gym. “I taught for a long time, so I understand young people.”
Traci Ransdell, who has taught the Hazelwood High trilogy for several years at Tates Creek, said Draper covers topics that interest teenagers. Among them are child abuse, abandonment and the will to survive, as chronicled in “Forged by Fire.”
“I tell the kids, ‘All of her characters are people that we know,’” Ransdell said.
Draper said her teen fiction puts tough issues on the table and leaves them open for discussion.
“I give a problem to a character and let the characters make decisions,” she explained. “I’m not trying to moralize to (young readers). They’re way too smart for that.”
After hearing from Draper, students stopped by the library for a book signing.
“I think (her books) relate really well to what we’re going through,” said freshman Kristine Chandler, who asked the author to sign two paperbacks, “The Battle of Jericho” and “Forged by Fire.”
Draper’s historical fiction also appeals to students.
“I’m really interested in what happened in history, so it’s nice to read a book about slavery that’s interesting,” said ninth-grader Emile Lubeck, who was first in line with her copy of “Copper Sun.”
Draper, whose grandfather was a slave, went to Africa twice to research “Copper Sun.” It took her 10 years to write the novel. At the end of the day at Tates Creek, she led a book-club discussion and Q&A with teachers.
Earlier, in a mild digression, she told students how to raise a C-paper to a B-paper:
• Include the five senses.
• Never use the word “you.”
“I never planned on being a writer,” said Draper, who taught school for 30 years.
It took a student’s challenge to enter a fiction contest to set her on this path. And after hearing a stranger curse at a 3-year-old boy in the grocery store, Draper was both troubled and inspired. That encounter led to a first-prize short story and eventually to her first book, “Tears of a Tiger.”
Set in the fictional Hazelwood High, the book is about a group of friends dealing with a tragedy after drinking and driving. Draper uses a different genre in each chapter, including a news article, homework assignment and morning announcement.
“Her characters sound like teenagers. … She knows the urban teenage voice, and I think that’s what draws them in,” said Jennifer Prall, a media specialist at Tates Creek. “They are pretty serious topics, but the kids like that.”
She noted that the turnaround on Draper’s library books has been “terrific.”
“She definitely has connected with our kids,” Prall said.
THE BACK STORY:
Sharon Draper, a professional educator and a New York Times bestselling author, has been honored as the National Teacher of the Year and is a five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Literary Award. She writes books for teens, children and teachers as well as poetry.
Among her works:
• “Copper Sun,” a look at the slave trade and slavery in America; named one of the Top Ten Historical Fiction Books for Youth by Booklist;
• “Fire from the Rock,” about the Little Rock Nine and school integration;
• The Hazelwood High novels (“Tears of a Tiger,” “Forged by Fire” and “Darkness Before Dawn”);
• Another trilogy: “The Battle of Jericho,” “November Blues” and “Hallway Hero.” The latter, whose title is not yet firm, is due out next spring.
For more details and more book titles, see www.sharondraper.com.
FROM DRAPER’S WEB SITE
I am a creator, an educator, a visionary.
I approach the world with the eyes of an artist, the ears of a musician, and the soul of a writer. I see rainbows where others see only rain, and possibilities when others see only problems. I love spring flowers, summer’s heat on my body, and the beauty of the dying leaves in the fall. Classical music, art museums and ballet are sources of inspiration, as well as blues music, dim cafes and the jitterbug. I love to write; words flow easily from my fingertips, and my heart beats rapidly with excitement as an idea becomes a reality on the paper in front of me. I use all of these elements to encourage my students as well as myself. I’m a learner and a seeker of knowledge, and I take my students along on my journey. I smile often and laugh easily, and I weep at pain and cruelty. I love what I do, and I’m good at it. I learned to dream through reading, learned to create dreams through writing and learned to develop dreamers through teaching. I shall always be a dreamer.
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