Editor’s Note: This story contains a correction. The previous version credited Lucia Auvinen as the top author for Roosevelt Middle School. Auvinen was the top eight grade author and Savita Weisell was the top Roosevelt overall author. We apologize for the mistake.
It was a full house during River Forest School District 90’s Young Author Celebration this week as parents and participants gathered to celebrate writing and top authors from each school.
D90 held its Young Author Celebration last Wednesday at Lincoln Elementary School. Students displayed the books they wrote and also honored the top authors from each grade and school.
This year, Arabella Scott, a fourth grader, was the Top Author from Lincoln Elementary, Aydin Karmali, a third grader, was the Top Author from Willard Elementary and Savita Weisell, a fifth grader, was the Top Author from Roosevelt Middle School.
Lucia Auvinen was the top eighth grade author.
Lucia, 14, wrote “Rookie in the City,” a story about Ivy, a young girl who moves from Chicago to St. Louis and is bullied for wanting to play baseball.
Lucia, who loves to watch baseball with her dad, said she wanted to write about the stereotypes girls often face when trying to play certain sports.
Veronica Mercado, Lucia’s mom, said she was proud of her daughter, who has been writing since she was little. Mercado said she was pleasantly surprised but said she also loved writing when she was younger and it made her happy to see Lucia enjoy it as much as she did.
Arabella, who wrote “The Forest Falls Public Library,” said part of the reason she loves writing so much is because it gives her the opportunity to call the shots.
“In real life I don’t get to choose what happens,” Arabella said. “In the story, I do get to choose what happens and I really like getting able to choose.”
Throughout Arabella’s story, she incorporated some of her favorite book characters, as well as famous people like Michelle Obama and Mister Rogers.
“I know them really well and I really felt like it would be cool if I could put them into my story and their story into my story too,” she said.
Arabella, who has participated in the program multiple times, said she often writes three to five stories and then picks her favorite to submit.
Arabella’s mom, Nicole Scott, said like many authors, Arabella is protective of her work. Scott said she was excited to finally read Arabella’s full story.
“I respect that,” Nicole said. “What I love most is that Arabella really loves writing and she has since she was very little. It’s a place of empowerment for her.”
Aydin, 8, took his mom’s suggestions and tried to something different. He submitted a book of poems inspired by others who inspire him.
“Threads of Inspiration” included poetry inspired by Maya Angelo, Frederick Douglas and Mahatma Gandhi.
“Each of them inspired me to do something in a different way,” Aydin said.
“At first I thought poetry was not fun, but then I tried it and it’s actually pretty cool on the way you do poetry and how you make it,” he said. “I found it as a new way to express myself when it comes to writing.”
The district has long been participating in the program, an extension of the Illinois State Board of Education’s “Young Author Conference” sponsored by the Illinois Language and Literacy Council and the Illinois Reading Council. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, the state no longer hosts the event.
Participation is completely voluntary.
Avery O’Dell, an eighth grader at Roosevelt, has been participating in the event for the past four years and has found writing to be a form of self-expression.
“I like to write down how I feel or what I am thinking,” Avery said. “Writing stories – there is no limit, and whatever you think of can be turned into a story.”
Students who want to participate are instructed to write a book, including a title page, a dedication page and an “about” page so they get a feel for what it is like to produce a complete book. They are given a month to submit the final copy.
Katie Till, a second grade teacher at Willard Elementary, Jerri Gapastione, a fifth grade ELA teacher at Roosevelt Middle School, and Danielle Brauweiler, a librarian at Lincoln Elementary School, run the program and select winners.
“You can see where they are taking real life events or school related topics like what we teach in SEL, inclusion and empathy and they are inspired by that to use that in their own stories,” Till said. “Some of their real-life experiences, they apply it in their own writing.”
