Creator of Award-Winning "Isla to Island" Visits Words Alive's Teens and Tweens

In April 2024, Words Alive was thrilled to bring Alexis Castellanos, author and illustrator of the award-winning graphic novel Isla to Island, to connect with young learners in San Diego. Thanks to a generous donation by Elaine Galinson, Words Alive coordinated in-person and virtual author visits where Alexis engaged 70 youth in lively discussion, each of whom received a new copy of Isla to Island to keep. 

Isla to Island is stunning wordless graphic novel set in the 1960s that chronicles young Marisol’s journey from Cuba to the United States while exploring what home means to her. This remarkable debut graphic novel quickly landed on several top booklists, including American Library Association’s Notable Children’s Books, School Library Journal’s Best Books of the Year, and the New York Public Library’s Best Books for Kids.

Why Author Visits Matter

Meeting authors behind the characters we love deepens the context of what we read and encourages learners to imagine themselves as thinkers, readers, and future creators of stories that shape our world. Those moments spark curiosity and can change the way young people view who and what belongs on the page, especially when the authors reflect readers’ identities and lived experiences.

Excitingly, Alexis is an incredibly relatable and relevant author for the youth we serve. As a young adult with a story about immigration, foster care, coming of age, and the refugee experience, Alexis quickly bonded with the youth in attendance. Conversations blossomed in both English and Spanish, including Alexis and the students laughing about the differences between Cuban Spanish and the Spanish spoken in Mexico and Central America.

Words Alive’s most effective author experiences bring writers, learners, and our community together to explore and respond to themes of the text. To increase access and engage multiple partners, we offered a virtual option as well as an in-person event:

• San Diego Public Library:  In early April, Words Alive coordinated a virtual visit from Alexis at the Mission Valley branch of the San Diego Public Library for a spring break camp of 4th – 7th grade students. Intentionally timed to overlap with the second day of Words Alive’s Art & Lit “Graphic Tales” project anchored in the exploration of graphic novels, the visit served as a thrilling introduction to graphic novels and the creative process behind the medium. The students were incredibly engaged and asked many questions; one young person even came prepared with an impressive list of questions that Alexis was more than happy to answer! In addition to the 15 learners in attendance, several Words Alive volunteers supporting our teen programming logged on to participate. Every child received a new copy of Isla to Island, including signed editions for all students who desired them.

• Monarch School: A longtime partner of Words Alive, Monarch School serves young people facing housing instability. In late April, Words Alive brought Alexis to San Diego to visit with three classrooms at Monarch School. Alexis engaged 55 students across 6th grade, 10th grade, and 12th grade classrooms in discussion about her novel and family, the process of creating and publishing graphic novels, as well as her career trajectory in the publishing industry. Students were especially excited to learn about the process behind creating the art and visual layout of the novel, particularly once they realized Alexis uses some of the same graphics software they do at school.  At the conclusion of the visit, Alexis signed a copy of Isla to Island for every student to add to their personal library.

Thank you to the San Diego Public Library and Monarch School for their collaboration in these incredibly successful events. Our deepest gratitude to Elaine Galinson, whose generous investment made these author visits possible.

We are truly grateful for the commitment of our partners to connecting young San Diegans with the power of reading through enabling joyful, engaging experiences between youth from historically disinvested communities and the creators of stories relevant to their lives.

Author Adib Khorram Visits Words Alive Students at San Ysidro High School

A picture of Adib next to the cover of his first book, Darius the Great is Not Okay.

Acclaimed young adult author Adib Khorram recently visited one of our partner classrooms at San Ysidro High School to share his story and chat with students! Thanks to a Words Alive volunteer who donated through last year’s Author’s Auction, high school students who have been reading Adib’s first book, Darius the Great is Not Okay, were able to meet him and ask questions. With humor and honesty, Adib shared insights about his path to becoming an author, struggles with mental health, the importance of representation and diversity in books, and of course, the power of reading and writing with our students.

When he was a student himself, Adib said, "All the books we read were really boring books about rich, straight, White people finding ways to have problems." When he first started writing, this pattern appeared in his own work, too.

"I didn't realize that you were allowed to write about other people," he said.

It wasn't until the We Need Diverse Books movement started in 2014 that he began to ask himself, "What's a book that only I could write?"

Darius the Great is Not Okay grew out of Adib’s own experiences growing up in diaspora as an Iranian-American, being a queer boy who didn’t line up with other people’s expectations of masculinity, and living with depression. He wanted to write a story that was authentic to his own lived experience.

As he shared these experiences, Adib was candid about the struggles he's faced and the nonlinear journey he took to becoming an author. He assured students that it's okay to not have everything together.

"My life has basically been a long series of 'This seems like a good idea...on second thought, maybe not,'" he said, laughing. "I'm a disaster, but I'm also still a functioning member of society, and I feel like people need to know that you can be both!"

Though the experiences themselves may have been difficult, telling these stories has been a powerful path to healing.

"Writing's a lot cheaper than therapy," he joked. "Writing about the things that hurt me, that made me afraid, that made me nervous, and finding out that other people felt the same way and that it resonated with them, makes me feel a lot less lonely."

Ultimately, his hope is that reflecting on the difficult experiences he’s had through writing helps his readers with the challenges they face in their own lives.

"Part of my job as a writer of young adult books is to make the world better for young adults," he said simply.

Students had lots of questions after hearing Adib share. They asked everything from “Why does Darius go into so much detail about things like tea and Star Trek?” to “How has the pandemic affected you?” to “How are you able to be so open about vulnerable parts of yourself?”

When one student asked how to overcome the uncertainty that comes with writing a story for the first time, Adib had this to say:

"Sometimes you're afraid to start a story because it's getting at something that you don't want to share. My advice is to be brave and take it a little at a time. Sometimes we don't want to start a story because we're not ready, and then it's important to be gentle with yourself until you're ready. Sometimes it's hard because starting is hard and a blank page is scary. I'm a big fan of just writing something, letting it be crappy, and then it's something that you can fix instead of start."

And if all else fails?

"Laying down on the ground bemoaning existence is good too," he said with a smile.

We're so thankful for this opportunity to partner with San Ysidro High School and grateful to Adib for stopping by for a visit! If you’d like to make more partnerships like this one possible, click here to learn more.

The Words Alive Reader: November 16th, 2020

Welcome to The Words Alive Reader, a regular newsletter keeping you up-to-date with the latest in how we've been connecting children, teens, and families to the power of reading. What have we been up to and how can you help? Read on to find out!

This newsletter, in addition to our blog and social media content, is written by us, a cohort of volunteers! Do you love writing and have an interest in helping Words Alive create this type of content? We'd love your help! Email to learn more.

- Zoe, Eli and Titiksha, Words Alive Storytelling Team

Processing the Election With the Power of Writing

Red, blue, and purple word bubbles made of paper spell “Be The Change.”

In our last edition of The Words Alive Reader, we shared about the launch of our virtual Read Aloud Program — we now have 33 classrooms participating! This week, we want to share something else we've been working hard on: Write Now, a digital space for teens to cope and connect with current events through writing.

As emotions run high over everything that's going on in our country right now, we're highlighting several of our Write Now prompts that feel especially fitting for this moment. Use them with your students or children, or try them for yourself. We hope that they empower everyone to reflect and respond in healthy ways to current events. 

Explore positive ways to respond to the news, remember to take a self-compassion news break, and, finally, think about ways to be the change you wish to see in the world.

2020 Authors Event & Fundraiser: Success!

Screenshots of Ayad Akhtar, Dr. Seth Lerer, and an image of Homeland Elegies. Text reads: “Annual Authors Event — Featuring Ayad Akhtar in conversation with Dr. Seth Lerer.”

With an entirely new, online format, this year's Annual Authors Event and Fundraiser was an adventure for all of us! We are grateful for everyone who came together to make this event a success.

More than 250 attendees joined us from all over the country, raising $77,000 to connect children, teens, and families to the power of reading. It brought us so much joy to see our community come together in this way.

If you missed the event, don't worry! You can still support us by purchasing access to the prerecorded conversation between Seth and Ayad through the end of 2020. Thank you for supporting Words Alive! 

Write Now with Susan Meissner

A picture of Susan Meissner in front of posters of her books.

Susan Meissner is an acclaimed author, a San Diego local, a Words Alive volunteer, AND one of the authors in this year's Authors Auction! At our latest Write Now workshop for teen writers, brought to you by Words Alive and the San Diego Public Library, she had plenty of advice for aspiring writers, especially when it comes to tackling the familiar enemy known as writers’ block. “It’s kind of like when you go into a pool, or the ocean, and the water is kind of cold, but stay in it, and your body finally acclimates,” she said. It’s all about persistence!

Find the full workshop, along with other exclusive videos from published authors, on our website!

Plot Twist: Logan Holland

A picture of Logan Holland.

Our volunteers come from all different kinds of backgrounds, proving that great books impact us all. Take Logan Holland, for example: a graduate student in biology at UC San Diego. The lessons she draws from her favorite books go hand-in-hand with her studies. As Logan puts it, “I wanted to understand humans biochemically, and then figuratively with literature.”

To read more about Logan’s unique perspective on the intersection of science and literature, and learn why she volunteers with Words Alive, check out Plot Twist, our new blog series! Keep an eye out for more stories in the future on the Words Alive blog.

Join the Words Alive Page Turners!

Graphic illustrating the “Life Cycle of a Page Turners Book.” Through Page Turners, new books are (1) discovered, (2) read, (3) reviewed, and (4) loved by our program participants!

We launched Page Turners in January so volunteers could help us choose the books we read with our students. Since then, more than 600 volunteers have joined Page Turners, contributing nearly 1,900 hours of service! This has allowed us to add 30 new books into our programming, with the knowledge that students will be engaging with high-quality titles our Page Turners have already read and loved. Some of our students at Monarch School are even reviewing books for Page Turners! Through this program, they're taking ownership of what they read in a very tangible way.

Are you interested in joining a community of passionate readers who are helping us read and review books? Visit our website to learn more.

Donate here to support Words Alive!

Meet the Authors for the 2018 Author Roulette!

By Jennifer Van Pelt

Our Author’s Luncheon & Fundraiser on October 19th is quickly approaching, as are the chances to win awesome prizes at the event! One of the most popular activities we host is our Author Roulette, which allows guests who have donated over a certain amount to spin a wheel for the chance to win an author appearance at your book club. This is an amazing opportunity to not only support our work in the community, but also for the chance to have an intimate one-on-one book club event featuring the author of the book you’ve just read!

How many times do you wish you could directly ask an author questions about their book? Now you have that chance! All of the proceeds from this event go directly towards our programs, allowing us to bring trained volunteers into local classrooms to instill literacy skills and a love of reading upon students, as well as helping to build home libraries for families.

Elizabeth Cobbs is a four-time literary award-winning author. Her most recent book, The Hamilton Affair, tells the true story of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler and has been named the "Hamilton novel that immediately leaps to the top of the list" by author Joseph J. Ellis. Her first movie, American Umpire, takes a critical look at the role the United States plays in global geopolitics as a sort of 'world police.' She also serves on multiple historical committees, including for the U.S. State Department. To learn more, see Cobbs' website here.

Eric Peterson is a California native whose debut book, Life as a Sandwich, was a finalist in the San Diego Book Awards. His most recent book, The Dining Car, won the 2017 Benjamin Franklin Gold Award for Popular Fiction as well as the 2017 San Diego Book Award for Best Published Contemporary Fiction. The story follows a former college football star's journey as he bartends on a private train car for a popular writer and social critic. You can find more about Peterson’s books here.

Karna Bodman is the author of five novels, the most recent being a political thriller Trust But Verify. The book follows a member of the White House staff and an FBI agent who race to get ahead of a plot that threatens international leaders and stock markets worldwide. Bodman pulls inspiration for her political thrillers from her time serving in the White House, where she was the highest-ranking woman on the White House staff. See more on Bodman’s website here.

Kathy Cooperman performed improv comedy for four years before she attended Yale Law School. After graduating and spending years defending white collar crime, she published her first book Crimes Against a Book Club in 2017. The novel follows two best friends who are strapped for cash and decide to sell face cream to wealthy participants in their local book club -- with the addition of an illegal ingredient that can put their entire business into danger. You can learn more about her books on Goodreads.

Marivi Soliven is a creative writing teacher and the author of 17 books. Her most recent novel, the Mango Bride, tells the story of two Filipino women who immigrated to America, and how their very different lives intertwine, changing them forever. The book won the Grand Prize at the 2011 Carlos Palanca Awards for Literature, widely seen as the Pulitzer Prize equivalent of the Philippines. The response to this novel has inspired her to bring more awareness and advocacy towards immigrant survivors of domestic violence. For more info, see Soliven's website here.

Mike Sager is an award-winning reporter and author of ten books. The second edition of his book, Revenge of the Donut Boys, is a collection of seventeen true stories that touch on the varying aspects of American life, focusing on the values, virtues, obsessions, and hypocrisies of society. Sager has served as a staff writer on the Washington Post, a contributing editor to the Rolling Stone, and a writer at large for Esquire. Currently, he is the editor and publisher of The Sager Group LLC. See Sager's website here.

Tammy Greenwood’s novels have sold over 250,000 copies. Her most recent 2018 novel, Rust and Stardust, follows the story of an 11 year-old girl and her captor as they travel from New Jersey to California. The novel is based on the experiences of a real-life kidnapping victim from the 1940’s. Greenwood has won three San Diego Book Awards and is a creative writing teacher. If you’d like to learn more about her novels, you can visit her website here.

Jennifer Coburn is a USA Today bestselling author of six novels and contributor to five literary anthologies. Over the past two decades, Coburn has received numerous awards from the Press Club and Society for Professional Journalists for articles that appeared in the Washington Post, Mothering, Big Apple Baby, The Miami Herald, The San Diego Union-Tribune and dozens of national and regional publications. She has also written for Salon.com, Creators News Syndicate and The Huffington Post.

Lannette Cornell Bloom is a registered nurse, healer, and author. She is passionate about bringing simple joys to others. As an RN and health practitioner of more than thirty years, she has seen firsthand the need to care for others both emotionally and physically. She brings into focus the fragility of life and the importance of enjoying the simple joys that slip through our fingers if we’re not paying attention—because life may be hard, but joy is simple.

Michelle Gable, in her New York Times bestselling debut, A Paris Apartment, fictionalized the true story of a French courtesan and the discovery of her sealed-for-seventy-years Parisian apartment sparking wonder in readers the world over. Gable’s second novel, I’LL SEE YOU IN PARIS, which she wrote by hand in between her daughters’ softball games and a day job as VP of Investor Relations for Ellie Mae, finds her in the City of Light yet again. Michelle graduated from The College of William & Mary. After a twenty-year career in finance, she now writes full time. Michelle lives in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, with her husband, two daughters, and one lazy cat.

Susan Carol McCarthy is the award-winning author of three novels inspired by true events in Florida history -- LAY THAT TRUMPET IN OUR HANDS, TRUE FIRES, and A PLACE WE KNEW WELL -- as well as the non-fiction BOOMERS 101: THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION. Her work has been widely selected by libraries and universities for their One Book, One Community and Freshman Year Read programs, and adopted by schools in 29 states and 6 countries. “McCarthy blends fact, memory, imagination, and truth with admirable grace.” ~ The Washington Post. A native Floridian, she lives and writes in Carlsbad, California.

If you’re interested in learning more about our Author’s Luncheon & Fundraiser and getting the chance to participate in the Author Roulette game in addition to other activities, visit our site here.

Words Alive & Warwick's - Authors In The Community

Continuing our efforts to "make reading matter" in our community, Words Alive is proud to partner with Warwick's Books to present exciting authors and literary icons in 2016. Join us this spring as we welcome Amy Cuddy and Bill Walton, as they discuss and sign their new books! 

Stay tuned for more Author's and events to be announced soon!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Bill Walton

Warwick's and Words Alive present San Diego's own NBA MVP, Hall of Famer, and Award-Winning Broadcaster Bill Walton as he discusses and signs his new book, Back From The Dead.  

Who: Bill Walton 

When: Monday March 28th @ 7:00pm 

Where: The Sherwood Auditorium @ MCASD. Click here for directions.

Tickets: $29.16 - One admission & one copy of the book;

$39.16 - Two Admissions & one copy of the book.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Book: Back From the Dead

This inspiring memoir from sports and cultural icon Bill Walton recounts his devastating injuries and amazing recoveries, set in the context of his UCLA triumphs under John Wooden, his storied NBA career, and his affinity for music and the Grateful Dead.

Fine Print: Doors open at 6:15pm. Seating is first come first served

Save the date June 26th, 2016

Barbara Boxer

Barbara Boxer has made her mark, combining compassionate advocacy with scrappiness in a political

 career spanning more than three decades. Now, retiring from the Senate, she continues the work to which she's dedicated 30 years in Congress. Her memoir, THE ART OF TOUGH, shares her provocative and touching recollections of service, and cements her commitment to the fight for women, families, quality, environmental protection, all in a peaceful world.