Two District Five students will soon be published authors.
Fourth grader De Andre Caughman at Seven Oaks Elementary School Media Magnet and third grader Dylan Martinez Perez at Leaphart Elementary School STEAM Magnet were surprised by Superintendent Dr. Akil E. Ross, Sr. and other faculty and staff, as well as author and the Founder of Leap For Literacy Stan Tucker who joined through Google Meet with the news on September 26.
Tucker, also known as Stan the Man, is a former second-grade teacher who now tours schools as a literary advocate encouraging young people to tell their stories and promote kindness. He brought his writing program called Share Your Story to the district’s Summer Reading Camp in July and helped to guide the students through the process of writing a book. Students were told that at the end of the process, some of the books may be selected to be professionally published and sold through Amazon.
Caughman and Martinez Perez both attended the Reading Camp and submitted their stories to Tucker for consideration, and the books were chosen to be published with artwork to be drawn by a professional illustrator.
De Andre’s book is called De Andre and Stan Tucker and Dylan’s book is called The Perfect Day at the Pool. The students and their families will travel to Atlanta, Georgia with other chosen authors from across the country to have their books unveiled at an event hosted by Tucker.
“We are so proud of De Andre and Dylan for this amazing accomplishment,” School District Five Superintendent Akil E. Ross, Sr. said. “These students went into Summer Reading Camp this summer to improve their reading and writing skills and came out as published authors. They are both an inspiration to me and their classmates. Their hard work is the perfect example that just because something may be challenging, if you keep working you can accomplish your goals.”
Both students have plans to write more books in the future.
