What: All School Virtual Author Talk with Tae Keller this Friday

When: This Friday, from 1-2pm

Where: In your student’s 2nd period class (we have an alternate schedule that day because of testing in the morning, so 2nd period doesn’t happen until later in the day). All teachers will be projecting the Author Talk TEAMS meeting up on their screen so that all students can watch together!

Who’s Tae Keller? Tae Keller is a local author who won the Newbery Award (one of the highest awards in literature) in 2021 for her book When You Trap a Tiger. She has a brand new realistic fiction book out called Jennifer Chan is Not Alone (see summary below) which Ms. Bell LOVED and it’s definitely going to be a Bulldogs Read next school year! Students can check out her books from our library or purchase their own signed copy of any of her books via the Book Order form.

How do Students ask the Author a Question?  Once Tae is done doing an informal Q&A with Ms. Bell, we’ll open it up to questions from students. Students should submit their questions to their 2nd period teacher during Tae’s presentation and their teacher will type it into the Teams chat.  We will be monitoring the chat and asking as many student questions at the end of the presentation.

How do Students Order Their own Copy of the Book? We will definitely have copies of her new book for students to check out from the library, but if they’d like to purchase a signed copy of any of Tae’s three books, they can use the Book Order Form to do so. Students should turn their order form and money into Ms. Bell in the library by Friday, May 13th at the latest.  Exact cash or checks made out to Madison Middle School will be accepted.

Jennifer Chan is Not Alone Book Summary: Sometimes middle school can make you feel like you’re totally alone in the universe…but what if we aren’t alone at all?
Thanks to her best friend, Reagan, Mallory Moss knows the rules of middle school. The most important one? You have to fit in to survive. But then Jennifer Chan moves in across the street, and that rule doesn’t seem to apply. Jennifer doesn’t care about the laws of middle school, or the laws of the universe. She believes in aliens–and she thinks she can find them.  Then Jennifer goes missing. Using clues from Jennifer’s journals, Mallory goes searching. But the closer she gets, the more Mallory has to confront why Jennifer might have run . . . and face the truth within herself.  Tae Keller lights up the sky with this insightful story about shifting friendships, right and wrong, and the power we all hold to influence and change one another. No one is alone.