October 19, 2009
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There comes a day every year when a handful students in grades six through 12 must walk up to their teachers to request the next class period’s homework assignment. The excuse? “I’m going to the Literature Festival at Kansas University.”
This year’s festival was Tuesday. This year, the featured authors were Jay Asher (“Thirteen Reasons Why”) and Lois Ruby (“Steal Away Home,” “Journey to Jamestown,” “Shanghai Shadows” and “The Secret of Laurel Oaks”).
Asher addresses the emotional topic of suicide from an interesting perspective in his book, “Thirteen Reasons Why.”
“I didn’t want to write a depressing book. I wanted it to be an entertaining read,” he said.
While the novel is quite the page-turner, it discusses teen depression and high school trauma in a way that deeply affects readers without sacrificing the starry-eyed appeal of fiction. In a Q-and-A session, Asher answered many questions on the topic of how to help someone with suicidal thoughts and said, “The first step to reaching out is not being afraid to reach out.”
Ruby was invited to the conference for her historical fiction novel “Steal Away Home,” which finds a Kansas girl discovering the skeleton of a runaway slave in a house her family is restoring.
“I do a tremendous amount of research for all of my books,” she said.
Along with “Steal Away Home,” Ruby also talked about her more recent works, including “The Secret of Laurel Oaks,” which she refers to as a ghost story.
“Reading and literature are so important,” she stressed with a smile. “You don’t have to read every day — only on the days that you eat.”
John Bushman, the event’s organizer, said the point of the festival is to connect students and authors.
“My philosophy is that if you can connect a child with a book with an author, then you have really turned that child on to reading,” Bushman said.
— Katie Guyot is a West Junior High School freshman and a member of Angle, the Journal-World’s teen advisory board.
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