[Ben Gilbert]

Dear Gordan Korman, My friend Jacob Frerking and I have come up with an idea for a sequel to The Fort. The idea is that all the kids from The Fort (Evan, Jason, Janelle, Mitchell, C.J., and Luke) have all grown up and started families, Jason and Janelle are married, and all the adults (except Evan and his family) live in San Antonio, TX. Jaeger is back and has a son who is a bad influence on the other children. Evan comes to visit for C.J.'s birthday, and Evan's daughter is influenced by Jaeger's son and is helping him do horrible things. All the children besides Evan's daughter and Jaeger's son find a secret underground hideout by Jason and Janelle's backyard. It turns out, back when the Civil War happened some people built a base for the Americans when there was land where Jason and Janelle live. Evan's daughter and Jaeger's son find out that the other children are hiding something and start to snoop on them. They figure out that the other children are coming home with $100 bills stuffed into their pockets and start to investigate deeper with the help of policemen. The children all create a distraction to the cops. Later, the kids start investigating into Evan's daughter and Jaeger's son's crimes that they are getting away with. C.J.'s son becomes a double agent for all of the children, and is telling fake stories to Evan's daughter and Jaeger's son, but they know that he is lying. They find out about the base and decide to vandalize it. When the other children come to the base the next day, they already have an idea in their heads that Evan's daughter and Jaeger's son did this crime. The children call 911 because they don't want to be harmed even though it might cost the base.

 

                                                                           Sincerely, Ben Gilbert                                                                                                                                       P.S., (you might remember me from your school visit to Alexander Middle School. I was the kid that got 5                                     books signed by you. You are my favorite author.

[Gordon Korman]

Hi, Ben & Jacob,

Wow, that was some triumph of plotting! You might even have called it THE FORT: THE NEXT GENERATION!

One thing I feel reasonably sure of, and that is that THE FORT stands very well on its own. So I'm not thinking about a sequel. At least not now. But I wouldn't rule it out either. I like to keep my readers happy.

Thanks for sending me this. I'm impressed at the amount of detail that went into it!                   -----Gordon Korman-----

[Emma]

Hello! This is not about a sequel to the fort, though it is still about the fort. When working on a school assignment with the task of researching a topic mentioned in a book we’ve read, I chose the fort. My topic was parental abuse, and my question is why did you choose to include that topic?

[Gordon Korman]

Hi, Emma,

Thanks for posting. Your question: the story was centered around the fort they claimed as their own, but they were an assortment of kids, the kind you find in any town. And in any group, you'll find some problems. For example, one of them is caught in the middle of his parents' divorce; one has a handicap that keeps him in special ed, away from the others; one lives with his grandparents because his parents deserted him and his older brother, who is hanging out with a bad kid; one is Ricky, new in town, with a nice family -- he's the yardstick by which the others are measured. And then there's C.J., scared, humiliated, worried about his Mom, and choosing to live with it because he doesn't know any other way.

I saw them as a cross-section of youngsters drawn together by their loyalty, their friendship, and their fabulous fort.

So why did I choose to include that topic? I felt it belonged in my story.

Hope that helps.                                                                           -----Gordon Korman-----