After-School Student Writing: Thornhill Elementary 4th and 5th Grade

Our students at Thornhill this Fall have had the pleasure of working with published Bay Area author Michael David Lukas. And, in honor of National Novel Writing Month, the class is following the NaNoWriMo Young Writer's curriculum and composing their very own novels!

See what some of our story ideas are!

Gabby

My novel is about a girl who has horrible parents, her dream has been to travel the world and she accomplishes it.

Makaylah & Kaitlyn

Our story is about two elves who go on a journey because they notice that not all kids have dreams and they want to give them some.

Aaron

[My novel] is about a kid named Robert and his try to stop a cow named Harry from killing hamsters by creating a Hamster Recreation Center to save them.

Benji

Bob is a person with a happy life. He lives in a mansion his cousins gave him. He hears a noise in his garage and wants to go see what it is. He sees his bike and starts to ride. He falls off, fractures his finder and then...

Hannah

My novel is about a penguin named Paris who wants to travel and it's about his adventures.

The Oracle of Stamboul: a Book Published by Our Very Own Michael David Lukas!

Some of our kids can now officially brag that they have taken a creative writing class with a real published author. Not only that, but a great one!

Congratulations to our instructor Michael David Lukas on the continuous success of your new book, The Oracle of Stamboul, which published in February of this year.

The Oracle of Stamboul is a historical novel about a preternaturally intelligent little girl who becomes an advisor to the Ottoman sultan and, through her advice to him, changes the course of history. It is the story of an eight year-old orphan who pushed back against the tides of history and changes their direction. Influenced by Charles Dickens, Roald Dahl, Italo Calvino, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Oracle of Stamboul is an evocative, magical historical novel that will transport readers to another time and place--romantic, exotic, yet remarkably similar to our own.

Michael says that working with kids inspired him throughout his writing. Read his story in Publisher's Weekly. 

To read an excerpt of the book, see some of the glowing reviews, and learn more about Michael, visit Michael's website.

Michael is still very dedicated to his work with students at "Take My Word For It!" We feel privileged to have such a star on our team!