A contribution from Juna & Ellyn, class 6. Please note that this piece is originally from October 23, 2023, but due to technical difficulties must be re-uploaded.
Megan E. Freeman visited GISB on October 19th. In this article you are going to read about an interview, and learn about the book she wrote for tweens and teens.
Who is Megan E. Freeman?
Megan E.Freeman visited GISB, and showed the students how and why she wrote the book Alone. Freeman told us how she got inspired in a book club, where all the kids were so shocked of how a kid is supposed to live alone for that long. She shared with us she had a hard time writing a book. She wrote the book Alone for teens and tweens in many poems. Megan. E Freeman said that poems are shorter and easier to read, because they don’t have that many words. She learned how to write poems in elementary school and she said it feels like her first language. For people where English is not their first language, the book is a good choice for you because it is not hard to read.. Are you wondering how Megan E. Freeman got that idea? Well she thought: what would happen if I would be forgotten? What if your town was empty? What if I would be alone?Freeman’s idea expanded and evolved into her novel Alone. to turn out to the story we are holding in our hands today. These are the questions Megan E. Freeman thought about when she was writing the book. We learned a lot about being the author and to never give up writing. We learned how an author can make survival stories interesting and how they can be true. It was really fun to learn with Megan E. Freeman, and we had a lot of fun talking with her for you!
What is the Book Alone About?
The book Alone is a book about an 11-12 year old girl whose parents are divorced, so she decides to take advantage and plan a secret sleepover with her friends. She decides to have the sleepover at her grandparents house. Her grandparents only come during summer, and the story takes place in winter. Because her parents are divorced, she told her dad she would go to her mom’s house, and told her mom she would go to her dad. So she decided to get some food, and on the day they planned to have the sleepover, both her friends said they could not come. But that didn’t stop her from staying at her grandparents’ house. Mysteriously, she wakes up the next morning to the whole town gone. Nobody is there, no airplanes flying, no cars driving.
The Interview
Press team: How does a story start, how do you write one?
Magen E. Freeman: Well, you start with sending the main character on a tree and then set the tree on fire.
Press team: How did the idea of the story start with you?
Magen E. Freeman: So I was reading a book Island of the Dolphins to a class, and they were all so shocked of how a child could stay alone for so long. So I decided to write a story about a girl who got left behind at home alone
Press team: Who encourages you to keep writing?
Magen E. Freeman: My Dad, my husband, and my daughter.
Press team: when did you write your first story?
Magen E. Freeman: So in my elementary school we always wrote poems. So at the end of the year they made all the poems into one book so you could say I wrote my first story at 8 years old.
The Book Review
The book Alone is really a story you can think about: could what happened to the protagonist, Mady, happen to you? What would you do? We really enjoyed reading it, and loved to be with Mady on an adventure. Because the book was written in poems, it was easy to read, and enjoyable for people who are not that interested in reading. We really loved the story elements and idea of the story. We were very passionate about the thoughts and all the hard work behind the book. That is why we give the book five stars. Give it a try!
Thank you
We want to give a big thank you to Megan E Freeman. Thank you for visiting our school and sharing your tips, ideas, and experiences. We hope that you still have a good time writing new stories and maybe even a new novel. And share more ideas and comments with other kids and schools. Please stay how you are and share as much about your passion for writing and reading with the world.
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