Monday, October 21, was an exciting day for Shadow Ridge. Ellen Hopkins, a 20 time New York Times bestselling author, visited the school to promote her new book, Sync, and many of her other books including Burned, Impulse, and Glass. Hopkins writes primarily for the young adult audience, but she has also published several adult works.Her books are in the realistic fiction genre, and thirteen of her New York Times Bestselling novels are written in verse, which means they’re written in a poetic form.
In Hopkins’ novels that are written in verse, she focuses on teenage struggles such as drug addictions, abuse, mental illnesses, suicide, and more. She addresses each topic through a story, helping readers to understand that there’s always ways to get rid of their problems.
Lisa Williamson, the librarian at Shadow Ridge, loves that Hopkins books are helping teens through their struggles.
“People have their own traumas that they’re dealing with and her books make it not only come to light, but also that there’s life after it, that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel to get through all of these past issues,” Williamson said.
Hopkins’ new book is called Sync, and it’s been out for about a month. Sync follows two twins that were separated in the foster care system and the different paths their lives take, which are both filled with struggles.
At the event, Hopkins talked about her early life and career path, including how she got started in writing and what she writes about now. Most of her inspiration for her books came from her own personal life and experiences. Hopkins has adopted many kids from the foster system, and even some of her own grandkids. Currently, Sync is being sold for $20 in the Library, and they’ve been signed by Hopkins. She also has many of her other “in verse” novels for sale.
Hopkins came to Shadow because she wanted to bring more attention to her books, and she knows that teenagers are the ones that will benefit the most from reading them.
“The topics [of the books] are very on-trend, things that our kids deal with all the time,” Williamson comments.
Jordan Dingman, a senior, was one of the many students who attended Hopkins’ event. She liked the presentation, but was surprised at the issues Hopkins’ books covered.
“I thought it was interesting that they were so confident about their topics, since they are serious and often unspoken,” Dingman said.
Some of Hopkins’ books have gotten banned, including Crank and Tilt. Even though the content might not be for everybody, Williamson, Hopkins, and others believe that book banning hurts those that could actually benefit from reading the books.
