Small group of Juniors attend the Youngstown English Festival

A small group of AHS juniors attended the Youngstown English Festival last month, many of them for the second year in a row. Students in attendance were to read seven books listed by the festival, and then got the chance to write an essay on them for a competition. The students also attended a lecture with one of the authors, Matt de la Peña, as well as some activities revolving around the books.

Junior Carli Reitz actually received ninth place of hundreds of students for her essay on the novels. Reitz said on the festival, “It’s a really cool experience and a chance to read books that you don’t normally read in school.”

The festival serves as a fun event for book-lovers and future english majors. It encourages reading for fun and not just for school, which is a nice change from the monotonous school days which instead inspire the use of sites like SparkNotes for reading.

One annual activity done by the festival is the author lecture. Junior Kathryn Slates said, “I liked his lecture because it didn’t really feel like a lecture. It wasn’t someone emotionless and tired telling you boring facts; he was vibrant and it felt like he was just talking to you as a friend.”

Matt de la Peña, author of festival books I Will Save You, A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Joe Louis, and We Were Here, spoke about being a writer and things that have inspired him and his novels. His lecture was full of humor, and I found it pretty entertaining and helpful as an aspiring writer. One particular piece that related to me was how he constantly takes things from his life and experiences to put in his books, from names to seemingly insignificant events.

The festival books themselves were pretty entertaining reads.

“My favorite book was We Were Here by Matt de la Peña,” said Natalie Briggs, junior. “It follows the story of a young boy trying to find out where he fits in and facing his issues rather than running from them, which are valuable lessons for students who are soon going to have to find their place in the world.”

My personal favorite was Boy 21 by Matthew Quick; the book followed a young basketball player and his girlfriend through their senior year of high school as they try to escape the dangerous, broken town they were born into. Other books featured by the festival were Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick, Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin, Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein, and Leviathan by Scott Westerfield.

“I would definitely encourage more people to go. It was an interesting break from a normal school day, and lets you meet new people and talk about books,” said Slates.

Overall, the English Festival was a great experience for bookworms and anyone interested in english and reading. The festival will take place again next year on April 26th and 28th. Next year’s lecturer will be Emily Lockhart, author of We Were Liars, The Boyfriend List, and How to Be Bad. The festival is open to any current AHS students, and I would definitely recommend it to any readers or writers interested.