[Mrs. Walker's Book Club]

Hello Mr. Korman,

Our teacher, Mrs. Walker, invited several students in our 5th grade class to participate in an author study as part of our intervention class at the end of the day. She went through the class library and introduced us to several authors that had enough books that we could each read a different title. Out of all of the authors, we chose you. 

Then we started looking at the books we wanted to gather together for the study. Mrs. Walker pulled your website up online and we picked out the books we wanted to take a closer look at. As we read the book blurbs, more and more kids wanted to join in on the author study. So we went from a group of about 7 to a group of 13! We decided to read these titles: 

The Unteachables, Ungifted, WhatsHisFace, Masterminds, Linked, Unplugged, War Stories, and The Fort. Some of us have already read Restart, so we are up on the rest of the group. Mrs. Walker ordered these books for us so that we can start reading in a couple of days. 

As a part of our author study, we are going to make a trifold flyer about you and your books. To get started, we are doing some research about you as an author. We got together today and came up with a list of questions we wanted to ask about you. Most of the information we are able to find online, but some of the questions, only you can answer. We were hoping that you would be able to take some time to answer a few of our questions and send them to our teacher's email. 

1. What was your favorite book or author growing up? Did that book or author inspire you to become a writer? If not, what led to you becoming an author?

2. Is there a book that you have written that you wish you could rewrite, or wish you would have written differently? Which of your own books is your favorite?

3. Where do you get the ideas for your books? Have you gone through some of these things yourself? 

4. Do you ever feel competitive with other authors? Who is your favorite (children's) author right now?

Thanks for taking time to read our message. We hope you are able to answer our questions. 

Best regards,

Vania, Iker, Allan, Eian, Jayden, Valentin, Emily, Kimberly, Renata, Kevin, Adrian, Isaac, D’Aundre, & Mrs. Walker

Hi, Mrs. Walker and the Walker 13,

First of all, I hope you see this. I do NOT have your teacher's email address, so this is the only reply you're going to get.

1. My favorite author growing up was named John D. Fitzgerald, who wrote a series of hilarious stories called THE GREAT BRAIN. He didn't make me an author, though. That would be my 7th grade teacher, who assigned us to write what he called "a novelette." I guess he wanted a story that didn't end after Page 1. I ended up writing 100 pages of a story I called BRUNO & BOOTS. It turned out to be my first book, THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING AT MACDONALD HALL. That was in 7th grade, which was 40+ years ago, and I've been writing ever since. The book I'm working on now is # 106!

2. I like all my books, so it's hard to pick a favorite. I'm proudest of the MASTERMINDS series, and I have a soft spot in my heart for #100, THE FORT, which I think is one of the books on your reading list.

3. My ideas come from plain old hard work, and a lot of thinking and plotting. I'm sure I'm in there somewhere, but my stuff is basically all fiction.

4. One of the very best children's authors right now is Peter Lerangis. But I could name so many others. I have a lot of author friends. If we're competitive, it's a friendly competition. We root for one another. That's what friends are for.

OK? I hope the Book Club enjoys the choices you've made. Thanks, people!                        -----Gordon Korman-----