How Smart are Younger Readers? I Can't Count the Ways

Over the course of the last several weeks, I've been interviewed by two high school journalists (Cat Mosier-Mills and Lavi Ben-Dor) as well as a university student (Rosella Eleanor LaFevre) about Dangerous Neighbors and the writing life. 

It has been, above all else, an honor.

I've been asked questions that no one else has ever asked me.  (Did you intend [the battle between the twin sisters] to represent the battle of past and future, old and new?)  I've been forced to explain nuances in my novel that few others have noted.  (Where does Katherine's sense of right and wrong, of impropriety, come from?)  I've been required to articulate (in actual human speech) the dreamy things that typically move untethered through my thoughts.  (What is the significance, to you, of birds?) And I have been so very moved and impressed by the results.

Late last night, Lavi Ben-Dor, a ninth grader at Conestoga, wrote to say that his piece had recently been published in Spoke, the school newspaper, and could be found on-line.  I share his piece with you today, because Lavi, like Cat and Rosella, represent the best of the next generation.

We clearly have a lot of good to look forward to.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be spending time with the students of Baldwin School, T/E Middle School, and Norristown High School.  It will, I know, be an adventure, and they'll teach me more than I will ever be able to teach them.