Comments

• Owens.

  For the last book we read, I was not really interested in her author visit. At first, but as she spoke about what made her want to write; I actually started to like these visits from the author. Personally, I think ROOM is one of the best books I’ve ever read so I was “geeked” or very excited to ask questions and reflect on how my analysis of the book was compared to her actual thoughts when she wrote it. The goal from me for the AP class was for at least every person to ask a question, and I believe we met that goal. But, a personal goal was not met for me because I wanted the AP class and maybe the psycho class to eat with the author and talk to her more. Still, everyone in that ROOM participated well asking questions. As usual it takes for one person to speak out to give everyone a comfort zone to ask more questions. Her comments were not expected by me, which is a good thing. I would have never thought she used some ideas from her own child to write this book.

  11/10/2011 9:13:42 PM
• Brandon Kelly

  The author visited was pretty much what I had expected.The only thing that really caught me off guard was that Emma had answered most of the questions that I had in mind before anyone even asked a question. One other thing that I noticed was that she had written things in the book that was meant to be symbols that we as a class didn't catch. For example, we payed a lot of attention to Tooth, but we didn't catch the apple before Ma and Jack got out of Room as a symbol. It made a lot of since after she mentioned it, but we still didn't catch it. It showed me that there can be so many things to notice about a work of literature that maybe one person or even a whole class may not catch. This is why I like working in our groups when we are reading. I think that we did a better job with with author visit than the first one becuase we were more interested in the book. I think that we also handled being with other classes well also.

  11/12/2011 3:23:06 PM
• Anthony Sterling

  The author visit meet my expectations. She answer questions that I wanted to know why she pick certain things that were in the book. For example why she have chosen to put "ROOM" in a five year old boy's perpective. Certain things that I didnt know about the book expanded my perpective on the book. The author told she put the story of Adam and Eve into the story, which made it interesting that she would put the Biblical story and incorporate that into "ROOM".

  11/13/2011 10:35:58 AM
• Kendra Atchison

  I think that this author visit exceeded the expectations I had. Ms. Donoghue seems like a very nice woman and she answer our questions fully and with lots of detail and explanation. There was one detail she said that had particularly struck out to me. She talked about when Jack ate the last apple and how his world changed from then on. She related that moment to Adam and Eve and she said that most people don't catch that. I thought that was an extremely clever way to disguise that transition. Having an author visit along with psychology was interesting. Since most of them didn't ask any questions I wondered if they even finished the book. I think it's nice to share the author visits but only if the other class is prepared. One question I wanted to ask was about the artwork of the novel and if she had anything to do with the creation of it. It is so simple but yet I think that it speaks a lot into what the book is about if someone were to just pick it up and look at the cover without reading the summary on the back. One question I did like was when another student asked would she turn her novel into a movie. That was interesting to me because since the story is so captivating, making the movie could be either really good or really bad.

  11/13/2011 11:35:26 AM
• elsie

  the author's visit gave me more insight on the book and made it seem more realistic. When first reading room one would think 'oh this is a crazy situation that the author thought up'. However, when she spoke of her books connection to real life situations I began to be more connected with the book and how this message of transition was not one that can only be seen as symbolic but to some people in particular the elements of change and adjusment to an unknown world is literal. One other thing the visit gave me was a new perspective. I began to think of the story in the opposite situation where you're in the world and knowledgable of worldly things and then everything is stripped away from you and your confined and given new expectations and standards. In my mind I compared this to starting high school, going to war, being incarcerated, and other things that cause you to abruptly adjust to new circumstances.

  11/13/2011 12:53:17 PM
• Courtney

  I enjoyed the visit. I thought the author would be like the last author of Family Christmas who was less energetic. I expected the author to not full engage and just answer the questions. However, She was fumnny and continued to answer questions fully. She lefted no questions unanswered and was opened with us by sharing personal information. She answered all of my thoughts like why the adults wasnt name and went evcen further to the message of how she also wanted to show how the media exaggerates. I like her excitement and honesty she had during the whole visit despite her cold.

  11/15/2011 3:29:29 PM
• Ambre Ellison

  First of all I would just like to say how much I value these experiences to meet such interesting and influential writers. I never got an opportunity like this in all my time in school. My general reflection of the PEN/ Faulkner visit was that she seemed very nice and I was suprised when she said she has written 10 books in her previous career as a writer. I know that she enjoyed herself because we asked alot of good questions that she has not been asked before by students or reporters. Room was a really great book and I LOVED how she seemed to be so humble about her work and not arrogant. I also liked how she incorporated her children's language into the role of Jack. She seemed to be honored by our presence, but I was truly honored by her's.

  11/18/2011 8:15:02 AM
• Katia Phillips

  I think the questions that were asked by the students were thoughtful. I think students took time to consider the questions that they are asking the author. I also believe that Ms. Donoghue answered the questions to the best of her ability. I did not have any questions left. the questions that I had were being asked and answered and it was involving of why "Room" was written and does it have any significance to the case that happened before. It was also interesting to know that "Room"was started because of her children. The ideas that she had came from her children and did not have any significance to the case what so ever. With the Psychology class, I feel as though the students were whether quiet. The students did not tend to ask any question as though the AP class was. I think that they were rather not that interested as much as the AP students.

  11/18/2011 8:42:09 AM
• Shamir Fauntleroy

  I know thought that the author visit with Ms. Donoghue was very beneficial to my growth as an artist and writter. She showed alot of passion about her novel and you could tell that she was really emotionally connected to the novel as she described her characters as if they were real people and even catching herself in the event. I expected her to say that most the novel was drawn from her experience with her son however, I expected her to remember what parts of the story were drawn from her son and she did not remember because of second child. And finally I have met an author who actually said that she pays attention to symbolism and literary perspectives in which the reader can analyze the work which really pleases me because I know that my work is not in vain.

  11/18/2011 7:19:22 PM
• Nia Jo

  My initial thoughts on sharing our author visit with the Psychology class was that everyone was going to be rude and chatty because everyone was with their friends. As time went by, I forgot the Psychology class was in there because they were so quiet and were not as engaged as we (the AP class) were. I thought all of our questions were excellent and well thought out (no mediocre questions asked), and I felt as though everyone was very mature.
  When explaining the book, my whole thought process on the book changed because of some of the things she said. I think she went further into detail on her thought process on writing the book,than I did when reading it.
  Overall, the book and author's visit was very interesting and I was compelled at how everything came out. :)

  11/28/2011 3:20:40 PM