The librarians at Mesquite High School hosted author Susan Campbell Bartoletti on their campus last week. Susan spoke about doing research, writing and publishing to selected classes in the school’s auditorium.

Susan is an award-winning author of all types of books for children and young adults. A tenacious researcher, Susan described the process she uses for writing non-fiction for young adults and told some of the fascinating topics about which she has written: coal mining in Pennsylvania at the turn of the century, labor strikes led by young people before the advent of child labor laws, the Irish potato famine in the 1840s, and the Hitler Youth in Nazi Germany.

Her book about the Hitler Youth movement was awarded Newbery Honor and a Sibert Medals and has now been translated into German for inclusion into the German history curriculum.

Susan described how her non-fiction writing often flows into fiction. After she has researched and written about a topic, she often continues exploring the topic through a fictional story. Most of her non-fiction books have a corresponding fiction book.  Susan also described how she uses the same story elements commonly used in fiction (setting, character, plot) to make her non-fiction come alive. She stressed, however, that any dialog used in non-fiction must be found in primary sources!

Susan’s latest published book is The Boy Who Dared, a novel based on the true story of a boy who stood up to the Nazis. A non-fiction book on the Ku Klux Klan has just been completed and turned in to the publisher.

The MHS students at the session I attended were a great audience and asked some really good questions. Many purchased books to have signed by the author.

Thanks to the MHS librarians for arranging a great author visit!