Young writers learn craft at Buckeye Book Fair boot camp
The Buckeye Book Fair held its first book boot camp for young writers July 22-26 at First Presbyterian Church in Wooster. The camp was designed to empower young minds through a weeklong literary adventure for students in third grade through eighth grade.
Thanks in part to a grant from the Wayne County Community Foundation, the Buckeye Book Fair was able to hold its first book boot camp for budding writers July 22-26, hosted by the First Presbyterian Church of Wooster.
The camp was designed to empower young minds through a weeklong literary adventure for students in third grade through eighth grade. Faculty members including cartoonist and writer Jerzy Drozd, agent Lillian Mazeika, editor Kori Frazier Morgan and Buckeye Book Fair Executive Director Kimberly Jarvis led students in brainstorming, writing, drawing and editing a book, with the final product something each student presented to fellow attendees, faculty and guests on the last day of the camp.
Each day of camp, campers were able to meet a different published author who told the attendees about their writing process. Guest authors included Merrill Rainey, a picture book creator of works such as “Roar I’m a Dinosaur;” Lindsay Bonilla, author of “The Note Who Faced the Music;” Katie Mazeika, illustrator and author of “Beulah Has a Hunch;” and Florenza Lee, author of impactful children’s books such as “Adventurous Olivia’s Alphabet Quest” and “Barry Bear’s Very Best.”
Many of the students came with a preformed idea of a character or concept about which they wanted to write. The camp faculty guided and helped craft their ideas including teaching them some tricks of the trade, like using a blue pencil for drafting drawings. Drozd, who is often called a cartoon maestro, explained and demonstrated how a blue pencil is used.
“The blue pencil is used for roughing out an illustration,” he said. “You don’t worry about extra lines as you draw your character. When you go back to finalize the drawing, those blue lines are just a guide and don’t show up in the final photocopied product.”
At the conclusion of the camp, camp attendees were presented with a trophy that was a gold brain. The award was called the Nerd Award, a symbol of each student’s literary prowess, creativity, ingenuity and uniqueness. Many of the attendees are already making plans to attend next year’s camp with veteran experience under their belt to help other young writers.
The Buckeye Book Fair is an annual event that occurs each year on the first Saturday in November, when Wayne County plays host to close to 60 Ohio authors, each of whom are present to discuss and sign copies of their books. The event will be held this year on Saturday, Nov. 2 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Greystone Event Center, 50 Riffel Road, Wooster. The event is free with books available for purchase.
Jarvis also said there are two additional events coming up for young writers including Student Lit Day for students in ninth grade through 12th grade, which will be held Thursday, Oct. 31, and a Young Author’s Conference on Friday, Nov. 1 for students in third grade through eighth grade featuring a series of authors designed to inspire and spark creativity in young writers. Teachers and school administrators interested in attending with their students should email Jarvis at buckeyebookfair@gmail.com.