Reed Readers Rewarded With Author Visit

By Eliza Hallabeck

As Easton author Elise Broach stood before a group of Reed Intermediate School students on Wednesday, April 11, a number of her published books were held in the students’ hands, some with bookmarks sticking out neatly from between pages.

As a reward for reading at least eight of the 2012 Nutmeg Award nominated books, Reed students were treated to a lunch and visit with Ms Broach, whose book Masterpiece was one of the 2012 Nutmeg Award nominees.

The Nutmeg Book Award is jointly sponsored by the Connecticut Library Association and the Connecticut Association of School Librarians. A list of 20 books, ten intermediate level and ten teen level, written by Connecticut authors is accumulated each year and readers vote for their favorite. The 2012 Nutmeg Book Award winner for the intermediate books is Stolen Children by Peg Kehret, and the 2012 Nutmeg Book Award teen level winner was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

After waiting in line to have Ms Broach sign his copy of Masterpiece, sixth grader David Petrini said he is about half-way through reading the story of a boy and beetle who become friends and eventually get wrapped up in helping to prevent an art heist.

“I think it is a really good book,” said David. “I can’t wait to read more.”

Fifth grade students were also treated to meeting Ms Broach earlier in the day.

Sixth grader Jackie Seras said she also liked Masterpiece, and she enjoyed Ms Broach’s Missing on Superstition Mountain, which follows three brothers as they try to discover the mysteries of a mountain in their new town in Arizona.

Reed Intermediate School library/media specialist Virginia Snowden said the school’s top readers read all 20 Nutmeg Award nominees.

“I thought I would talk to you about mystery writing,” said Ms Broach as she began her presentation for the sixth graders on Wednesday.

A mystery, she explained, starts with a question, a puzzle, or a red hearing — a faux clue. A hero is normally a detective-type, she said, and there is also normally a villain in a mystery.

“The story is only going to be as strong as the motives of the main character, either the hero or the villain,” said Ms Broach.

Other elements of mystery novels can be suspense, twists in the plot, and solutions.

“Mysteries really have to have solutions to the problem they start out with,” Ms Broach said.

After sharing some of her favorite children’s mystery novels, like Holes by Louis Sachar and The Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg, Ms Broach shared the stories behind some of her books.

Shakespeare’s Secret, published in 2005, follows a girl who moves to a new home and town, uncovers a mysterious diamond necklace, and unravels connections to William Shakespeare.

“This was my very first novel that I ever wrote,” said Ms Broach.

She described her editing process for the novel, and how the end manuscript turned out the way it did. The revision process, she said, was intense.

Masterpiece, her 2012 Nutmeg Book Award-nominated novel, had its start when she was in college. While she started writing the book in her 20s, Ms Broach said she noticed little difference in her writing when she picked the story back up in her 40s.

Missing on Superstition Mountain was released by Henry Holt and Company last year, and Ms Broach said she is already working on two follow-ups.

Superstition Mountain, as she told the students, is a real place near Phoenix, Ariz.

“People have gone up the mountain, often in their regular jobs,” said the author, “and never turn up again.”

After Ms Broach spoke with the students and signed books, students were offered pizza, carrots and dip, cake, and drinks for lunch.

For more information about the 2012 Nutmeg Award nominated books and winners go to www.nutmegaward.org.