Montville Middle Schoolers Meet Bestselling Author In Virtual Visit

MONTVILLE, NJ — Students at Lazar Middle School in Montville got a behind-the-scenes look at the writing life June 2, when New York Times bestselling author Gordon Korman joined the school virtually for a presentation spanning all grade levels.

Korman has written 107 books for kids and teens — a career that began in about as unlikely a fashion as possible.

Growing up in the Toronto area, he was in seventh grade when his track and field coach was assigned to teach English and gave students free rein to work on whatever they wanted for the rest of the year.

Korman used the time to write his first novel, “This Can't Be Happening at MacDonald Hall.” He submitted it to Scholastic because he was the class monitor for Scholastic Book Orders and, as he tells it, figured that practically made him an employee. It worked. The book was published by Scholastic while he was still a freshman in high school.

That origin story resonated with the students, who had read Korman's novel “Restart” as part of the school's 2025 summer reading program. Korman walked students through how he developed the book's concept and brought its characters to life, and drew laughs with stories about his own family, who he said sometimes inspire his characters.

He also spoke about the scope of his career: his books have been translated into 32 languages and have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide.

School Librarian Claudia Heim secured the visit with support from a private donor.

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