Weekly Theme: Ben’s favorite topics to write about
Sunday: Overview for the Week
I think it was around a year ago that I first realized that there were four subjects that I wrote about the most often: sports, friendship, animals, and history. “Why are those things your favorite things to write about?” You might ask. Well, I love all four of those things. And I’ve read a lot about them—sports, history, and social justice are my favorite things to read about—so I guess it is because they are what I know.
- Monday, Sports. Sports are a major part of several of my stories: In my series Hardworking Hopeful, my main character Liam Cross is a talented baseball player and soccer goalie. In another series, Young Suffrage, a group of girls are fighting to get back their basketball team and expose their sexist principal, Mr. Thorn. I even managed my school soccer team so I could get better at writing sports stories!
- Tuesday, Friendship. Friendship plays a major role in at least 90% of my stories. My series Nellie’s Friends is about a little girl who loves to make new friends. Plus, friendship plays a significant role in a lot of my major stories: Ollie and The Race, Young Suffrage, The Journey Series, Hardworking Hopeful, The John Jeffers Chronicles, the stories about the Nanimals, etc.
- Wednesday, Animals. Animals play a major role in a lot of my stories: In Nellie’s Friends, Nellie’s puppy Tenant plays a major role in her life and she and her friends constantly talk about dogs. Plus, she and her best friend Dawn create a club called The Puppy Pals Fan Club. I’ve also written a short series about a boy who can talk to zoo animals with his mandolin called Zeke’s Zoo Tails; I rewrote a Disney Storybook collection as a project of a class where they had to rewrite a story in the book and make it about their favorite stuffed animal. Plus, my first self-published book was called Ghost Wars. It was about 14 animals who save the world together.
- Thursday, History. With history, I’ve written several biographies, I wrote The Journey Series, during which children travel back in time to meet the historical figure they are the most like. I have also written an underground railroad piece, and recently started a story about growing up in Europe during World War II. I also wrote an epilogue piece for one of my favorite historical fictions, the Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine, which is about two girls, one black and one white, who grow up in Arkansas during the Civil Rights Movement. In Young Suffrage, the girls, especially Hailey Peterson, love history and look to historical women for inspiration to keep fighting against their principal. There are also a lot of mini essays about famous women throughout the books, which are called “Women Can Be Heroes.”
- Friday, These themes come together in In the Hole. A few of these subjects play a crucial role in In the Hole: Baseball and basketball are major parts of David’s life, and so are his friends, whom he often credits for being there for him during his days when he is homeless. He also shows appreciation to the friends of his family as well, especially the friends of his younger sister Julia when she is in a coma, and her friends visit her in the hospital almost every day for a month. David does not care too much about animals, but Julia is crazy about horses. That is her main characteristic. As for history, I have a feeling that while the grownup David would have some interest in it, I doubt the David growing up would have seen it as more than a school subject. In fact, when he learns that his friend Gloria enjoys studying Spanish, History, and English in her spare time, he can’t believe anyone would do that.
