Author Visit Will Feature Writing Workshops, Bullying Talks

McGee Middle School will host author Doug Wilhelm on Tuesday, Oct. 4.  His book, The Revealers was read as McGee's summer reading book.  It is a book about taking on bullying. 

Here is a plot summary of the book:

"Russell Trainor is the good guy in the story, who seems to get picked on lately. Nobody talks to him, nobody likes him, he's a nobody. Until one day Richie, one of the bullies at his school, starts to follow and threaten him, to the point where he punches Russell and pours root beer over his head. Russell seeks advice from the school's most-picked-on boy, Elliot Gekowitz. Elliot and Russell soon become friends with a girl called Catalina, who receives horrible notes from the popular girls especially queen bee Bethany Demere. Using the school's Internet service, KidNet, they tell their stories to all the seventh-graders, eventually the whole school, and form The Bully Lab. The site's purpose is to talk about any events of bullying a person may have witnessed or suffered. It turns later into "The Revealers" and soon, dozens of affected kids confess their stories to The Revealers to show how bad this conflict has become in middle schools all over. However, the popular student Bethany sends The Revealers a false report and the principal, who's being threatened with being sued by Bethany's father, ends up shutting down the bully lab and KidNet. But thanks to the help of Richie, Bethany's scam is foiled and they win the science fair. The lesson in this book is that people should not be bullied just because of the way they look or where they come from."

McGee students will listen to him speak during the day about his book, the work of an author, bullying, and how they might develop as authors. 

In the evening McGee will be hosting a conversation with parents about bullying facilitated by Doug Wilhelm himself.  That event will run from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. 

"He will meet with all of the grades separately first and there will be a question and answer period for each grade," McGee principal Scott Ratchford said. "He will then meet with our language arts teachers for lunch and host an open forum or them to ask questions. He will also do a writer's workshop for students who have expressed an interest in becoming authors."

Wilheim will then meet with parents to talk about how they can help students cope with bullying and how the whole school community can form a solid foundation where mean behavior is simply not tolerated.

"Bullying has been going on since we were kids but the suicide in Massachusetts kind of shook people from to their roots," Ratchford said. "Schools have a lot they can do and they have a responsibility to make it a positive culture. The last couple years we have been very proactive in saying that mean behavior is not part of our school day."

McGee has been on the leading edge, taking Rachel's Challenge last year. Rachel Scott was one of the first people killed at Columbine High School in Colorado and her family travels the country to ask young people to take her challenge. The students signed up last year to accept Rachel's Challenge, which meant they would do everything they could to make McGee a positive place.

Wilheim's website told a little bit about him.

"In my books, I'm trying to tell good stories that have meaning—and that connect with young people's real lives today," author Doug Wilheim said. "My writing for young adults is based on listening to them, which I try to do often.

"Along with The Revealers, I have written nine other books for young readers. I live in Rutland, Vermont, have a teenage son, and am a full-time, self-employed writer. The first thing people often notice about me in person is that I'm very tall. I'm 6-foot-10. When I visit schools, this always causes a stir."

Wilheim was born in 1952 in Portland, Oregon, and moved to suburban New Jersey when he was in kindergarten. All through elementary school he was an avid reader. Suddenly, in middle school, he began to write. He was writing stories, poems, even a play. Until then, I hadn't been good at much of anything—I was tall, skinny, awkward, and not very popular—and it made a big difference to feel that this was something I could do.

"Like the main characters in The Revealers, I was bullied a lot in middle school. The idea for the novel grew, in part, out of my own experiences," he said.