As a child, Sharon Draper spent countless hours at the public library. Always an avid reader, her mother would walk her down to the local library in Ohio, where Sharon would check out ten books at a time. Precocious, Sharon once told the librarian that she would need more stickers for that summer's reading contest. As she got older—and had read all the books in the children's section—Sharon got a special library card stating that she was allowed to check out books from the adult section. The librarian, who at this point had come to know Sharon very well, made sure that she did not check out anything too advanced—though she was off every Thursday and couldn't monitor the selections!
It is no surprise that after college Sharon became a National Board Certified teacher. I heard Sharon speak at Shenandoah University's annual Children's Literature Conference, where she shared the story of her literary history as well as her transition from teaching to becoming a published author. In 1991 a student in her class challenged her to enter a short story contest advertised in Ebony magazine. The great news—Sharon won. Then she began working on what would become her first novel: Tears of a Tiger, published by Simon and Schuster in 1994. A realistic fiction novel, it is the story of seventeen-year-old Andy, an African American boy who is coping with guilt and grief for causing his best friend's death through a drunk driving accident. It was received with instant acclaim, winning several awards including the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Years, and dozens of novels, later Sharon says she is still unable to separate the "writer" from the "teacher" part of herself and describes herself as a lover of language who wants to share that passion. Today, reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear to her grandson she still takes note of the rhythm of the language—which both appreciate even if he is less aware of it. When shopping in bookstores, she has the habit of going up and helping random people with their book selections. As a parent, grandparent, writer, and former teacher she thinks about how to encourage kids to love language and reading and how to keep them engaged. At the conference, she emphasized her feelings about how important it is to help and guide new teachers so they can effectively transfer their love of reading to their students.
Speaking to a room of teachers, Sharon addressed the need to pay particular attention to students 5th grade and up—the age at which studies show a decline in an interest in reading. Coming up with strategies to keep kids reading should be a priority and she acknowledged the challenges presented to teachers who are forced to teach to the test. Here she recalled a story from a trip she took to Africa. She met a man who, in regard to America's propensity for testing said "here, when we want an elephant to grow we feed it, not measure it." Throughout her talk, Sharon emphasized how much of a blessing working with children and writing literature is in her life. While she had no original intention of being a writer, she has now written over twenty books for children of all ages. Her most popular and critically acclaimed titles include the Jericho trilogy, Copper Sun, the Hazelwood trilogy. Recent endeavors including the “Ziggy” series, the “Sassy” series, and the YA novel Out of Mind. No doubt her fans, students and teachers alike, are eagerly anticipating many more books to come. To learn more about Sharon Draper visit her website http://sharondraper.com.
Contributor: Emily Griffin
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