The children wanted to know the truth about Grace Lin. |
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They had been reading her books carefully. |
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They were left with many questions. |
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They knew that she based her books on real life events. |
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How much of it really happened to her? |
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How much of it did she make up? |
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These are interesting questions for any fiction reader. |
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Underneath there was one bigger question, particular to all of the young authors at Gordon. |
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How did she use her memories of day-to-day life as an elementary school student to create such compelling novels and picture books? |
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She went over the general basics. |
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She walked them through the steps that a book takes, from her idea notebook to her local bookstore. |
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She introduced them to the team that she needs with her. |
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She had them role-play the editor, the designer, the binder and the printer. |
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Then she went over the specifics. |
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Her family really did grow ugly vegetables. |
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Her house really did look like that when she was young. |
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She didn't bother to change her sisters' names much for her first novel. |
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She didn't really change their personalities, either. |
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She did not, however, have a dog when she was little. |
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And some things that really happened to her in elementary school were too unbelievable to put in a novel. |
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If any of the students were hoping to hear the secret to becoming an author, they were disappointed. |
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She did not give them an easy formula for turning their lives into art. |
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But she did show them that it could be done. |
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You don't have to be a magician. |
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And after today, each of these students can say with confidence, they know at least one person who lived out their childhood dream of becoming a writer. |