Local author ignites creative spark, inspires future writers at North Star
October 2, 2024
North Star High School sophomore Maggie couldn’t stop smiling as Lincoln-based author Allison Bitz wrote her a personalized message in a book-signing line.
Maggie joined many of her fellow Navigators in the school library for a 45-minute discussion with Bitz about the art of storytelling. Librarian Courtney Pentland invited Bitz to come to North Star to talk about “The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom,” which is Bitz’s first novel. She earned a 2024 Nebraska Book Award in the “teen novel” category for the 345-page work, which has received positive reviews from multiple book critics.
Bitz was the third novelist Maggie has met as part of Pentland’s author visit series. She said it is fun to visit with professional writers and learn how they have painted award-winning paragraphs on paper.
“I like to write personally, so hearing them explain how they got the inspiration for writing their own stories helps me with writing,” Maggie said.
Shalynn, a junior at North Star, and Arcelia, a senior, also had glowing things to say about the visit. They were impressed with the wide variety of questions Bitz fielded from students. Both beamed as they held up signed copies of two of her books.
“I liked how she answered every question that came up,” Arcelia said. “She made sure to get everyone in the room.”
“She was very specific on her answers too,” Shalynn said. “It was good to hear that she was willing to give that type of specific information.”
Bitz said she enjoyed the entire experience. Students asked about her writing process, how she develops characters in her books, who her favorite authors are and how she blends her love of music into her writing. Bitz can play piano, saxophone and percussion instruments and wrote sheet music that is inserted at the end of “The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom.”
“This was so great,” Bitz said. “It’s rare that I get to talk to actual teens about my teen book, so to have a room full of fully-engaged teens who asked questions was such a joy. I loved talking with them, I loved hearing their perspectives and their questions, and hearing what they want to read and write. It was great. I just loved it.”
Pentland said those types of reactions from students and authors are why she started the series five years ago. Some of the visits take place on Zoom if the authors live far away, but Nebraska-based novelists like Bitz have appeared in the library.
“For some of them, it is meeting a celebrity,” Pentland said. “That is the experience because it’s this person who has published this book that they’re reading and they’ve been enjoying. Having that here, it’s pretty magical to see the connection and that spark that happens when they get to talk to the person face to face.”
All North Star students are welcome to attend the visits, which take place three to four times each school year. Everyone who signs up receives a copy of the author’s book ahead of time, which allows them to become more familiar with their writing style. The library budget pays for each author’s visitation fee, and Pentland uses a grant from the Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools to purchase books.
Pentland has asked writers of many different genres to talk with students. She has met some authors at library conferences and seeks others out after receiving recommendations from colleagues. Lynn Painter and Lydia Kang, who both live in Omaha, have traveled to North Star for in-person visits, and bestselling author/illustrator Troy Cummings talked with life skills students via Zoom last year from his home in Indiana.
Pentland said the visits have sparked a large amount of student well-being at North Star.
“What I find the most enjoyable are the connections the students are making with authors,” Pentland said. “They get to talk to people who do this for a living, and especially with our Nebraska authors, they get to see that it’s possible for them to be able to do that job.”
Maggie said the chance to speak with published authors has motivated her to keep developing her own writing talents.
“The first time I did the author meet and greet, I thought it was really cool, because I got to meet an author, and I had never done that before,” Maggie said. “I really enjoyed it, so I did it again, and that was online in a Zoom meeting, and that one was still just as fun.”
Bitz encouraged students like Maggie to keep adding embers of creativity, hard work and persistence to their writing campfires. She finished her first draft of “The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom” in 2018, but the novel didn’t appear on bookshelves until May 2023.
“Just keep writing,” Bitz said. “A first draft is not supposed to be perfect. It’s supposed to be a work in progress, so keep moving ahead to where you want to go.”
Pentland said words like that will mean the world to North Star students who are looking to follow in Bitz’s pen strokes.
“If that’s something that they’ve wanted to do or thought about doing or maybe haven’t even contemplated that they could possibly be a published author, they see that process,” Pentland said. “Maybe that’s something they could do in the future.”
For more information about libraries across LPS, visit the LPS Library Services website at home.lps.org/libraries.
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Published: October 2, 2024, Updated: October 2, 2024