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Dressed in his spooky glasses, author Christopher Wright stood up to address a cheering crowd of kids at Bad Ax Middle School on Wednesday, December 8.
Wright made his career with his successful children’s horror book series “Michigan†and “American Chillersâ€, written under the pseudonym Johnathan Rand. Each book tells a story in a different city in Michigan or in a US state. “Michigan Chillers†began in 2000 and still exists today, while “American Chillers†has yet to reach 50 states since its launch in 2002.
Watching Wright talk to the students, it’s clear that he has made a huge career writing children’s books. He seems to know instinctively how to get their attention.
As he told the story of his writing career, from his veterinary aspirations as a child, to his time writing silly radio commercials in college, to how he wrote his first novel. , he kept it entertaining for his young audience.
It uses sound effects, funny voices, and story-related digressions, all without losing focus or straying too far from the subject.
But above all, he knows how to involve his audience. A few times he would say something like “No I’m not going to tell you, it’s too scary” or “I don’t make scary laughs in schools anymore”.
All of this ensures that the kids will demand that he do the thing he said he wouldn’t do.
And then he does.
However, Wright isn’t just there to tell his own stories; he is there to encourage the children to tell theirs.
In the latter half of his speech, Wright began to talk to children about the powers that books could have.
“Reading is not something you do,†he said. “Reading is a place you go. “
According to Wright, all the places children could visit are sitting on their library shelves. And the power to take others to these places also rests with children, in their own pens and pencils.
“I really want them to have a different take on what writers are and what reading can be like,†he said. “I hope this is my message: if you can read and write well, you can do anything.”
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