Book Talks: Inspiring Elementary and Middle School Students

I visit elementary and middle schools with 3 goals in mind: inspire kids to read, write, and follow their dreams. I tell them my story with the hopes it inspires them to write their own, both figuratively and literally. I want to show them proof that they can do it, that they can dream big and let their imagination take them places.

I know some of the kids will not be persuaded to take up writing, and that’s okay. I hope their take-away is that no matter what their thing is, they can do it. It’s all about putting in the hard work, the effort, and their determination.

I would have loved to hear that message when I was younger, so I feel lucky I get to spread it now. It’s important for them to hear that they can do it.

It’s also important that I help them make the distinction between school writing and creative writing. In school, students write a lot of nonfiction and essays with assigned prompts. That’s not all that writing is, and I want them to know that. Writing can be freedom, a creative outlet, self-expression. Writing can be anything you want it to be.

With every school I visit, I look out into the sea of faces and latch on to the kids I see absorbing my words. Even if there is only one, it makes me happy to see in their face that I inspired them. It makes it all worthwhile.

Filed Under: Notes From Sarah, School Author Visits

How I Came Up With the One Chance Story

As I say in all my book talks, I wrote my dream book, one that I would want to read. I did this by thinking about the components of other books I loved and combined them into one. For me, it was time-travel, magic, mystery, and history. I molded those four things together to create the Stone of Discedo. The Stone of Discedo is a time-traveling stone that allows the user to change anything in their own life if they first fix three terrible events in history. I used the stone to build up the plot from there and just let the story go where it wanted to go.

Unlike what I was taught in school, I did not do an intricate outline or a BMME planning. I let the story flow more naturally and had fun with it. Once I finished, I worked on the next book. In sixth grade, I rewrote One Chance on my computer and made a lot of changes. Once seventh grade began, I decided to re-write it again. The re-writing and editing process changed a lot but the basic plot remained the same as One Chance grew into the true dream book I had in mind when I started.

Filed Under: Notes From Sarah

You Can Do It Too!

It was a little luck, some skill, and a lot of hard work that got me where I am. I frequently get asked how I got a publisher, so here’s the story. I attended ICE Writers Camp (ICE stands for Imaginative Creative Explorers) for two weeks every summer from 3rd grade until high school. Every fall, ICE Camp has a reunion at the University of South Florida where all the campers and facilitators come back together. An author, illustrator, or publisher comes to speak to us. In September of 2015, my publisher, Mrs. Mitten, was our guest speaker. She’d heard about a book of poetry I self-published in elementary school and asked me to speak on a panel of authors to answer questions. I must’ve done a pretty good job, because after the event was over, she gave me her business card and expressed interest in publishing my book. For about a solid year and a half, my parents didn’t believe me that she was serious. But she was, and in May of 2017 I signed a book contract.

I happened to be at the right place at the right time, but I’d done all the right things to take me from there. I’d worked hard at my poetry, had a manuscript ready when asked for one, and continuously pushed myself to better my writing. I read everything available, have always spent long hours poring over edits, and learned the value of critique.

I think, or at least I hope, that many of you have a thing. By a thing, I mean something you love to do. Something that makes you happy, something that you want to do forever. If you don’t, that’s okay. For some, it’s art and for some, it’s music. Maybe you want to be a doctor or a scientist. Maybe you want to be a baseball player or a dancer. Whatever it is you want to do, whoever it is that you want to be, put your mind to that. Know that you can do it and you will.

Filed Under: Notes From Sarah Tagged With: ,

Why I Started Writing

I wrote my first story in first grade about a girl who could become invisible. You might think I wrote this because I wanted to become invisible. Actually, it was quite the opposite. I’ve always been the person in class who likes to talk (but not out of turn) and answer questions. I wrote the story because it was fun to imagine what another person’s life might be like. There’s mirrors (writing that stems or reflects the self) and windows (writing that lets you see into others). I started with writing window stories.

When I was in 5th grade, things changed. I was on crutches and in a wheelchair for a while. I missed out on some of my favorite things, like playing basketball. In October of that year, I got appendicitis and had to have emergency surgery. The worse part about that year, though, was the discovery of a life-threatening peanut allergy that spun my world into a danger zone. My life was in the hands of the people around me, people who couldn’t understand or just didn’t care.

I started writing to escape. I wrote mirror stories and window stories, both for the freedom of it. 5th grade was when I started the first draft of my novel, One Chance, and I’ve kept writing novels ever since.

It’s really easy to get lost in the same world over and over. So I did, and that’s how I got my series.

Filed Under: Notes From Sarah

Photo Gallery of Sarah Frank’s School Author Visits!

Sarah Frank’s second book Two Secrets is now out and joins the award-winning book One Chance! Sarah is a has now presented to over 5,000 students and teachers.  She loves visiting elementary and middle schools and interacting with the students, teachers and media specialists. She inspires them to dream big and then put in the hard work and commitment to reach their goals with her presentation: “The Story of One Chance.” Interested in having Sarah visit your school? Visit our Media/School Author Visits page and see “proof” of  lots of posts and comments from teachers, media specialists, principals  and parents whose children have been inspired to READ and/or WRITE after meeting Sarah and hearing her message!

Filed Under: School Author Visits

Sarah’s book #2, TWO SECRETS, is out!

Sarah Frank’s eagerly-awaited second book, TWO SECRETS, is now available. And it’s so good! It picks up where her award-winning ONE CHANCE left off. Follow Brian, Sandy, and the other seemingly normal middle-schoolers in small town Ohio as they are thrust into another intense magical adventure that readers will love.  Sarah crafted her series around her favorite things: magic, mystery, time travel and history.

Sarah is a HCPS student who attends Blake High School and does author visits and PTA/parent events for grades 3-8. Since January of 2018, Sarah has presented to over 5,000 students, teachers, and parents. Her main presentation focuses on the importance of hard work to be successful at “whatever your thing is.” Sarah also can do a character study workshop with students. For more information on Author Visits to Hillsborough County schools or Sarah’s books, get info here!

ABOUT TWO SECRETS:
“Sometimes we hide secrets from others, and sometimes we hide them from ourselves.”
Brian’s world is about to be turned upside down…again. Charles Moon is back to play more of his evil games. As people disappear without a trace from South Toheeden, it’s up to Brian and his friends to figure out why. But first, they must solve a riddle, travel through portals to far off places, and find an antidote serum to destroy Moon’s evil inventions.Now, Moon seems to be focused on Brian, and Brian seems to have an uncanny ability to understand Moon. But why? Things get urgent when Moon kidnaps Brian’s brother Aaron, and they have little time to save him before Aaron is gone forever. To save Aaron and the others, Brian and his friends must first figure out Moon’s clues, use the Stone of Moraetus to time travel, and survive the treachery of a battle with Moon and his followers. As they delve further into the world of magic and mystery, life-changing secrets are revealed. What secrets has Brian discovered, and how will they shape him forever?
 
Get an autographed paperback or handcover copy of Two Secrets via BeaLuBooks.com.  Both of Sarah’s books are also available at
Amazon:  One Chance and Two Secrets 
Barnes & Noble: One Chance and Two Secrets
Filed Under: Books, News

Sarah’s Book Signing at Barnes & Noble

Sarah’s Book Signing at the Brandon Barnes & Noble was a huge success! Partnering with her fans from Colson Elementary we had a fun night with a scavenger hunt (Sarah was a clue!) and other fun activities for the kids. We also unveiled the cover of Sarah’s next book: Two Secrets!

 

 

 

Filed Under: Appearances

Sarah kicks off her #BookTour for the 2018-2019 School Year!

Today is KICK-OFF DAY for Sarah’s BOOK TOUR for the 2018-2019 School Year! We are headed to Mintz Elementary where she will do 2 presentations for the 5th graders.

We have a FULL SLATE booked through December, both on weekdays and she is also doing presentations/conferences on a few weekends. Luckily, she goes to Blake High School where they view this as related student business. She’s a top student and will be juggling make-up work as well as finishing Two Secrets! Wish her luck! (And me too)

Would you like a School Author visit from Sarah?

#OneChanceTheBook! #TeenAuthor #BookTour  #AuthorVisit

 

Filed Under: School Author Visits

Sarah and One Chance win book award!

Sarah and One Chance have won their first award: a SILVER MEDAL in Juvenile Fiction, age 7-12 category by the Florida Authors & Publishers Association, Inc.! We attended the FAPA Awards Banquet in Orlando. Thank you to everyone who has supported us through this journey, we are so excited!

“Each year, the FAPA President’s Book Awards program recognizes book publishing excellence and creativity in design, content, and production for North American authors and publishers. Librarians, book industry professionals, and educators from Florida and other states will judge content, theme, layout, and cover design elements. For 2018, eligible books could be entered in forty-three categories, with only 2 categories for Juvenile readers Age 7-12.
FAPA awards gold, silver, and bronze medals to finalists in each category.”  Category 21. Fiction: Juvenile Age 7-12 

Filed Under: Awards, News Tagged With: , ,

Sarah and One Chance featured in the Tampa Bay Times

Sarah Frank is a rising sophomore at Blake High School and now a published author. [Courtesy of Jen Bravo]

One ruby-red, spiral-bound notebook. One vivid imagination.

In the hands of a fifth grader, these seem like perfect tools for idle time. And for Sarah Frank, they proved to be just that — a creative outlet. While squirreled away in her bedroom, she embarked on writing a “story” about orphans and magic, escalating adventures and time travel, never intending to share her writings with anyone.

Then she added a, “purple Sharpie” to the mix. And everything changed.

“Somewhere in the middle — maybe just after I ended a chapter with a character saying, ‘We only have one chance’ — I realized I liked the sound of those last two words and I decided to make One Chance the title,” said Sarah, now a rising sophomore at Blake High School. “Once I wrote the title in this thick purple Sharpie (which definitely didn’t match the ruby red) on the cover, it started to feel real.

“It was at that point that I knew I wanted to take it to the next level and publish it — to share my story and my characters with the world.”

More than four years after that epiphany, Sarah peddles her first novel, One Chance, published last November by BeaLu Books.

While working on a 10-book series — the next installment will be Two Secrets — Sarah is accepting accolades. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Awards, Media appearances, News

Sarah & One Chance’s Book Award featured on Bay News 9!

Sarah was interviewed  about her Florida Authors & Publishers BOOK AWARD by Dalia Dangerfield on Bay News 9!
You can buy One Chance on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or get a signed copy at the publisher’s site Bealubooks.com  In the Tampa Bay area, you buy copies in person and online at Inkwood Books.

See more about Sarah’s book award from the Florida Authors & Publisher’s Association.
Head back to the Homepage for more news and updates!

 

Filed Under: Awards, Media appearances Tagged With: , , , ,

Sarah finished her school year with speaking to over 1500 adults and kids!

During the past year Sarah has spoken to over 1500 teachers, media specialists, parents and kids in grades 3-6 about her book. Her presentations in schools are very well-received and she has quickly become a role model to students with her message about hard work making dreams come true.

She has traveled to Illinois where she was a keynote speaker at Follett’s ReadingCon 2017, and visited elementary and middle schools in Hillsborough, Pasco, and Lake Counties. If you would like to have Sarah speak at your event, visit our Media/School Author Visits page.
Filed Under: Appearances, News Tagged With: , ,