This March, South celebrated “I Love to Read” month by hosting multiple Minnesota authors and encouraging them to discuss their books and the writing process. These events were organized by a group of South Staff members including Ms. Kehr, Ms. Bloom, Ms. Hodge, and Ms. Lanick who was the initial contact between South and these authors.

Lanick recruited many of these authors during literary functions in and around Minnesota. Her second job as author of the blog Booksnob brought her to these events.

“I invite teachers to bring classes in and listen to the authors speak. My hope is that every student gets to witness at least one of these sessions.” Lanick stated.

This is the third year authors have been brought in to speak to students and this year was deemed a success. Hodge, a member of the organizing group, thought that “The students seemed genuinely interested in the authors. The books are all accessible to teens and the its great to hear them talk about the process of writing and publishing.”

Maeve Whalen, a senior who went to one of the events, found it to be a very informative session. “It was really cool to hear how they came up with stories and how the writing process really works. For kids who were aspiring writers I know it was really inspiring.”

    To make these events truly accessible to all students Ms. Bloom, South’s librarian worked very hard to make these books available for students. “Almost every book that was shown was available for students to read and was displayed by the front of the library. It was great to see the kids really engage with the speakers. The students got the opportunity to ask lots of questions.”

    Ms. Lanick had one goal she wished to achieve by hosting these authors, “I’m hoping it’ll increase the awareness that there are really good books out there. People make fun of people who love to read, instead I want to spread the love of reading to everybody.”