BRIDGE TO SEARCY By Micha/ie Brown I Maeghen Corter The Cannon-Cla1.y College of Education hosted Katherine Paterson, the author of"Bridge to Terabithia,'' on Nov. 6-7 at the Young Adult Author Series. The series also hosted Deborah Wiles, the author of "Each Little Bird that Sings," and Kwame Alexander, the author of "The Crossover," in the spring of 2016. Graduate students Nicole Langlois, Allison Lynn and Emily Parsons served as the Young Adult Author Series coordinators. "Teachers from all around Arkansas have a chance to hear well-known authors from young adult books," Langlois said. "There were a lot of middle school teachers that were there, and so they would buy class sets of the book and get them signed so they can have them in their classroom and do (literature) circles and other things with them. It's a unique opportunity to hear Katherine Paterson or another author and only have to pay a certain amount." One ofthe goals ofthe program was to promote literacy and empowerment by giving teachers the opportunity for in-depth discussions with authors, according to Parsons. "The College of Education is passionate about this program because it allows for everyday superheroes, the teachers, to meet and talk with their larger than life counterparts, the authors," Parsons said. The Young Adult Author Series took place in Cone Chapel on Friday and Saturday of the scheduled weekend. Attendees arrived on campus Friday night, where they ate dinner, met the author and attended a book signing. On Saturday, the author gave three different lectures - two in the morning and one in the afternoon. Educators and college students from all over Arkansas had the opportunity to learn about each author's ·wTiting style, the writing and publishing process, the inspiration for writing each book and a little bit of background information on the authors themselves. "It's more experience and hearing what she had to say, you can take that to your classroom and tell it to your students, especially the students that are interested in writing," Lynn said. "It's inspiring to them, and its inspiring to you as a teacher hearing where the stories came from and making it relatable to them." When Paterson's flight was canceled on Friday, Parsons, Lynn and Langlois worked hard to ensure the attendees were not left disappointed. Paterson caught another flight Friday night and made it to Searcy at 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Paterson told stories about her writing and shared pieces of wisdom the educators could take back to their classrooms. "Even though it was a little messed up, everyone still really enjoyed it," Lynn said.
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