Award-Winning Author Deborah Hopkinson Visits Students

This afternoon, sixth-grade and Middle School students were visited by award-winning author Deborah Hopkinson. Hopkinson, who writes both historical fiction and nonfiction books for children and teens, captured the attention of our students with an exciting dive into some of her most interesting book topics.

 

From major historical events like Titanic and D-Day to lesser known happenings like the cholera epidemic of Victorian London, Hopkinson explained how she weaves her stories through the people involved rather than the staleness of solely sticking to dates and impersonal facts. In each story, she focused on one real figure from the event and built her narrative from there.

 

She ended her session by discussing the art of storytelling, and how her journey in life has influenced her writing process. Her biggest piece of advice for students? “Think like a screenwriter.” She encouraged students to zoom in on a detail and build their story out from that. After the session was dismissed, Hopkinson stayed behind to personally sign copies of her books for students who had brought them in.

 

Big thank you to Deborah Hopkinson for sharing with our students today!