Young authors examine their books at the Hamilton Place Barnes & Noble. The teen and preteen writers own Kindles, smartphones, tablets and computers, but most say they prefer printed books. Gracie Ann Crooks, center, with glasses and facing the camera, says she even loves the scent of printed pages.Authors and Titles
Books will be sold at the Chattanooga Barnes & Noble locations while supplies last.* Carson Steele, “Phoenix Rising”* Paige Marie Ryan, “Household of Strangers”* Frances Archer Brantly, “Floating”* Gracie Tomisek, “Forgotten”* Eleanor Tomisek, “The Naming Gifts”* Chloe Hasden, “No Idle Dreams”* Sophia May Peirano, “Almost Normal”* Andru Macrae Wheatly, “Murder in the First Degree”* Violet Penny (pen name Ani Laffan), “I Am: Death”* J.T. Appel, “The Element Squad”* Gracie Ann Crooks, “The Time Machine”* Chloe Elizabeth Crooks, “Star in the Dark”* Elisabeth Lau, “The Different Same”* Erin W. Harris (pen name E. . Winters), “Running From”* Evelyn Victoria DePriest, “Inferno”* Ally Grace Wilkinson, “Always”* Erika Hikita Lammon, “The Bedtime Story”* Bree Dionna Osmundsen, “Fire’s Apprentice”* Alexander Killan, “A Single Word”
Russian spymasters raise and trains an orphaned girl they name Iris, who is now a teenager, to be a spy in America for the KGB. Her first assignment is to cross the U.S. border and assimilate into an American high school, which she does quite well – perhaps too well. As Iris forges friendships with American kids, she becomes conflicted about her ruthless mission.
It sounds like the plot by John LeCarré thriller or another immigration scenario to nettle Donald Trump. But it is the plot of 13-year-old Chloe Crooks first novel, “A Star in the Dark,” published this month.
“I don’t really read spy novels myself but I like the genre because it has fewer rules and limits than sci-fi or crime dramas; I could let my imagination run free with the plot,” Chloe says. “I liked the idea of a teenager with a hidden life, who’s more of an outsider than anyone actually knows, learning to deal with school bullies and hard classes and learning who she can trust as a friend.”
Last week, Chloe proudly watched workers at the Hamilton Place Barnes & Noble wheel 50 copies of her beautifully bound books to a table where she and 18 other teenage and preteen authors were signing and selling their first novels. They were all graduates of this summer’s novel-writing camp located in the store, which co-sponsors the camp with A Novel Idea, a Nashville-based nonprofit that aims to turn kids onto writing.
The camp costs $750 and provides each child with two adult writing coaches for three hours every Monday through Friday of June. A Novel Idea also supplies graphic designers for cover art, prints 50 softbound books priced $15 each. The nonprofit uses 20 percent of sales to pay for scholarships for students who cannot afford the $750 fee.
“Each young author gets a $50 honorarium but no royalties from the 50 books,” says Barnes & Noble Community Business Development Manager Kelly Flemings. “They own copyrights to their books. Once the initial printing of 50 is sold out, they can take their manuscript to another publisher and negotiate a contract.”
The store can comfortably accommodate 15 students, but Fleming says more than triple that number responded this summer. Next year, there will be two summer camps, she says.
About 225 well-wishers crammed into a corner of the store on Dec. 1 to cheer the kids as their newly printed novels arrived. J.T. Appel, 12, penned “Element Squad,” a sci-fi novel about children who can control one of planet Zarken’s seven elements – water, air, lightning, fire, earth, plant, magic – and must pool their gifts to rescue their kidnapped parents.
When he was constructing the plot, J.T. used actual construction.
“I used Legos to build scenes and act out the whole plot,” he says with a grin.
Middle schooler Elisabeth Lau’s mother immigrated from China to America, a journey that becomes a plotline in “The Different Same,” Elisabeth’s novel about a Chinese family living a luxurious life in Shanghai until the father dies. Mom brings her kids to America, where daughter Margo learns to make friends and cherish life without being a spoiled Queen Bee.
“My mother gave me some details about life in China and the plot helped me explore school bullying, mean girls and what real friendship means,” Elisabeth says.
Her talent is clear even in a small excerpt: “The busy streets of Shanghai echoed for miles and miles across the large city. The cars and bicycles screamed at each other for the traffic was slowing down. The street vendors were lined up in a colorful array of rows. From the rotten raw chickens, to the knock off Gucci handbags, to the bittersweet green tea ice cream, there is everything on the noisy streets of Shanghai. Dust layered the once white sidewalks causing them to be a dark charcoal. Beggars were piled on the dirty sidewalksCareful not to trip over and be caught by a beggar, most people walk on the dangerous roads. But I stand safe from the chaos “
Chloe’s 10-year old sister, Gracie Ann, is the camp’s youngest, author of “The Time Machine,” a tale of five friends exploring the future’s nooks and crannies. She says the teachers at A Novel Idea recommended writing about 14,000 words – but she couldn’t stop there and wound up writing about 19,000.
Like most of the young authors, Gracie Ann owns a Kindle but also loves printed books and newspapers.
During the event at Barnes & Noble, the young authors clearly crave the sensory experience, running their palms across pages of their books, admiring the covers and, in J.T.’s case, raising his book above his head like a trophy.
“I use my Kindle so I won’t have to carry a ton of Harry Potter books in my bag, but I would rather read an actual book I hold in my hands,” Gracie Ann explains. “There’s something about the excitement of turning through pages to get to the story twists and turns and seeing notes your friends write in the margins.
“I even love that special smell books and newspapers have. It’s better than perfume.”
Contact Lynda Edwards at ledwards@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6391.