The Rock Island High School Library has many genres of books whether that is fiction, non-fiction, biographies, dictionaries, graphic novels, etc. Deciding on a book can be very overwhelming for students. This is a common situation in all libraries, however, in the Rocky library, the librarians can be of assistance.
The librarians-Mrs. Mendelin and Mrs. Curtiss-try to make the library a special and inviting area to students. In hopes of bringing that sort of vibe in the library, they try to bring in authors who students like to help encourage them to read more, and as Mrs. Mendelin says, “I hope students see a fantastic example of what a career in writing can be. I really hope that each student takes away some positive experience that is meaningful for them.” Mrs. Curtiss also hopes to see “students will have a great experience seeing and interacting with an author whose books they have read.” Rocky has had three author visits, and Mrs. Curtiss mentions, “This will be the fourth author to visit Rocky since I’ve worked here, and all were very different and all were awesome!” Both librarians enjoy Tiffany Jackson’s books, as Mrs.Medellin mentions how, “Tiffany Jackson’s books make you think about an important societal issue, while you are in the middle of a super twisty plot. Also, she develops amazing characters.”
However, having such a famous author visit a school can be challenging. Mrs. Mendelin takes care of most of the preparations to get an author to visit. Mrs. Mendelin mentions that, “It takes a lot of communication and organization to make sure all of the details are handled.” First, Mrs. Mendelin had “contacted her agent through an organization called The Author Village to see if she would like to visit the Quad Cities.” Another step was to reach out to the “Davenport Public Library and the Rock Island Public Library…” as they had worked together in the past to bring authors, stating, “They were interested in participating, so we selected dates together…I wrote a Prime Grant to help cover a large portion of the cost. The two public libraries, the Davenport school system, and Love, Girls Magazine will also share the cost, as she will speak at multiple places over two days.” The process seems very long, however, it would be worth it for the students. Normally, an author speaks once, and only a select few students are able to listen; however, this time around, “We were able to get enough grant money this time that we can have her speak twice. This means every Rocky student will have the opportunity to hear her speak,” Mrs. Mendelin mentions. Given that, Tiffany Jackson was meant to come to Rocky in 2020, however, it was canceled due to COVID, “So, she did a virtual visit in the fall,” Mrs. Mendelin mentioned.
Mrs. Curtiss and Mrs. Mendelin love to have authors over at Rocky, and they both would love to have their favorite authors come and visit. Mrs.Curtiss, “would selfishly choose either Grady Hendrix, (he writes funny horror and I would really love to meet him), or Stephen King because I am his #1 fan, or the poet and essayist Ross Gay…”, and Mrs.Mendelin would love if, “Nicola Yoon, Angie Thomas, Lamar Giles, e.Lockhart, Kathleen Glasgow, to name a few.”
Overall, the Rocky library has had many authors visit. Even if the process is hard to get an author to come down, everyone including the students and the librarians love it when the authors come to visit.
