Award-Winning Author Visits with District 102 Students

Last month, third through sixth grade students from Forest Road School in La Grange Park and fourth through sixth grade students from Congress Park School in Brookfield had the privilege of hosting New York Times bestselling author Gordon Korman at Forest Road School. Korman has written over 80 books for kids and teens, including the Swindle mysteries, The Hypnotists and The 39 Clues. During his visit he spoke about how he got his first book published in the seventh grade by submitting his language arts assignment to Scholastic along with his book order. That writing assignment produced his first novel, This Can’t Be Happening at Macdonald Hall which was published when he was fourteen. Korman has a BFA degree from New York University with a major in Dramatic Writing and a minor in Film and TV. His books have been translated into 32 languages and have sold over 28 million copies worldwide.

Korman explained to students that in the beginning of his career, many of his ideas were from experiences. Now that he is older his ideas come from his own children and by always asking “what if”. The idea for his new book Slacker came from his wife when referring to their video gaming son. One day while she watched him play, she said that she thought the house could burn down and he wouldn’t even notice and the idea for Slacker was born. Slacker is a stand-alone novel about a video-game addicted couch potato whose quest to protect his slacker lifestyle accidentally turns him into the greatest student leader in the history of middle school. Korman also spoke about research, brainstorming, developing characters, dialogue, rewriting and revision, and of course, humor. He also signed copies of two of his books, Restart and Slacker, for the students in attendance.

This event was sponsored by Scholastic.

Photo Caption 1: Author Gordon Korman spoke to students at Forest Road School.
Photo Caption 2: Author Gordon Korman signs copies of his books for District 102 students.