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HDS AUTHORS HARBOR DAY CELEBRATES A COMMUNITY OF WRITERS By Noelle Becker
James Wang
| Class of 2027 Harbor Day third-grade student James Wang wrote a short story called “A Universal Deal” that can be found in the Inklings Book of short stories published in 2021. The Inklings Book is produced annually and based on the Society of Young Inklings contest that looks for young writers. What is the summary of the story? The story is about three kids who work together, stop an alien invasion, befriend an alien queen, and become the heroes of their town. The theme of climate change is also embedded in the story.
What inspired you to write this story? The inspiration for this story came from the discussion of aliens’ existence on the “lifeless” Mars. After reading a lot of articles on this topic, I was fascinated, leading me to write this piece of fiction. What advice would you give to students who are interested in writing? Some advice I would give is that revision is extremely important. Revision is like the ornaments on the Christmas tree, and it is the part that makes a story powerful, good, and beautiful. Editing is a process that cannot be skipped. To make a story better, it needs to be revised many, many times.
Aurora Sun
| Class of 2025
Harbor Day fifth-grade student, artist, and author Aurora Sun created a comic book published in 2021. What is the summary of the book? Holly’s Jolly World is an entirely hand-drawn book that includes several stories. Holly is a little girl who is normally very happy but sometimes has problems. For example, she [has a new] baby
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sister. She is also starting her first day of school and needs to figure out new friendships. Her character learns a lot as she grows up and that it’s she who needs to take on more responsibilities. What inspired you to write this book? When COVID started, I saw everyone had to stay home, but a lot of police and doctors had to still go out to work and help the community. I wanted to draw the comic (Be Safe Dad) to make them happy. Then I thought maybe I can do more of them and maybe make it into a book. I also added some more real stories based on my family. What advice would you give to students who are interested in writing? This book isn’t something that only a few people can do because everyone will do something—maybe something even better—if they try very hard. Also, I think everyone should keep going. For example, in Wonder, which we read in class this year, [there was] a quote that I really liked. “Just follow the day and reach for the sun.”
Ry O Hill
| Class of 2022 Eighth-grade student Ry O Hill is a writer for the local magazine North Laguna Living. He has his own column called “Keeping it Real with Ry” and has written seven monthly articles on things that interest him.
How did you get involved with writing for the North Laguna Living magazine? My sister and my mom both wrote for this magazine in the past and had great experiences with it. I remember how cool it was to see them published in a magazine, and that made me want to try it, too.
BEACON FALL/WINTER 2022
