Speyer Eighth Graders Welcome National Book Award, Printz Honor Award, and Golden Kite Award winner Neal Shusterman and illustrator Andres Vera Martinez!

Spotted in the Speyer Library: National Book Award, Printz Honor Award, and Golden Kite Award winner (and favorite author of many Speyer students) Neal Shusterman and illustrator Andres Vera Martinez! They visited Speyer and had a fascinating discussion with our Eighth Grade students (as well as many teachers and members of Speyer's administration) about their new graphic novel Courage to Dream. 

The amazing new book was published by Scholastic, Inc., and is described in this way: “National Book Award winner Neal Shusterman presents a graphic novel exploring the Holocaust through surreal visions and a textured canvas of heroism and hope.” 

Speyer eighth graders investigate World War II and the Holocaust in February and March and will be reading Courage to Dream as part of this curricular unit of study. Their Holocaust studies also include reading the graphic novel Maus and visiting the Museum for Jewish Heritage in Washington, D.C.
 
During their presentation, Mr. Shusterman and Mr. Martinez discussed the use of fantasy and folklore as a way of bringing hope and new perspective to difficult times and emphasized how their book cautions against the risks of a repeat of such an atrocity. They also explained their collaboration process of bringing Mr. Shusterman's words to life via Mr. Martinez's rich illustrations. With their questions, our students probed about the writing process, the choice of topic, and the research that went into this masterful work. 

It was a powerful and engaging visit and we are so grateful to have had this special opportunity. Thanks to Speyer Librarian Ms. Mehler for arranging it!