Sandburg Senior Hosts Book Signing For Novel He Wrote On iPhone

ORLAND PARK, IL -- For Sandburg High School senior Aaron Hanania, his iPhone is so much more than a device to text or post selfies on Instagram. Aaron wrote a 200-page novel during his junior year using his iPhone. This Thursday, Oct. 25, Aaron will autograph copies of his sci-fi novel The King’s Pawn from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Oak Lawn Public Library. The high school student may even be persuaded to read a few pages.

During his presentation, the Orland Park teen will talk about how writing his book has helped him improve his school grades. He has maintained a straight A average every year since sixth grade and is a member of the Sandburg chapter of the National Honor Society.

“I’ve been writing stories and working on several books since I was in seventh grade after listening to authors talk about their books and novels, and it inspired me to also want to write,” Aaron, 17, said.

“The King’s Pawn” is a dystopian tale where a scientist creates a perfect world as part of a revolutionary experiment. Participants are unaware of the roles they play in the “methodically controlled society,” which creates unforeseen tensions and ominous uncertainty for the unknowing participants, but brings the scientist unimaginable profits, fame and power. Two children in the novel play a critical role after discovering they have unrestricted control over the experiment’s outcome.

Aaron said he wrote the novel on his iPhone in spurts between homework assignments, on the school bus, and in class after finishing his work. When he typed the novel out on google drive, he revised, revised, revised. The King’s Pawn is available through books-on-demand publisher Lulu and on Amazon.

“I realized schools put a lot of emphasis on how to write the perfect sentence, from simple to complex sentence structure, but they don’t do enough to help students understand how to recognize the good story and then tell the good story,” Aaron said. “Too many of my friends know how to write the perfect sentence, but they just don’t know how to put that knowledge to work to write a good story. I think that hurts their ability to communicate with others.”

Aaron was among several students recognized or performing more than 100 hours of community service during the 2016-2017 school year by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. He writes for the Sandburg newspaper, the Aquila, and is a member of the Sandburg student council. Aaron is currently visiting colleges, where he hopes to major in environmental studies. He wants to continue writing.

“Every student should be taught how to recognize and tell a great story, including starting with their own story, before they are taught how to write the perfect complex English sentence. Grammar and sentence structure are important,” he said. “But if you don’t know how to recognize and then communicate a good story, what’s the point?”

The Oak Lawn Public Library is located at 9427 S. Raymond Ave. For more information on Aaron Hanania’s writings and video interviews, visit his website.

Photo: Aaron Hanania | Provided