91成人导航

Newbery medal-winning author Matt de la Pena鈥檚 鈥�96 newest children鈥檚 book explores the many possibilities within us all.

鈥溾�� weaves together the stories of five children (including a dancer who is also a computer coder; a basketball player who could be a poet) to share the empowering message of human potential.

鈥淓ach one of us is a patchwork of different things, the experiences and passions we have had, failures we have had. But also, we fit into this bigger patchwork of humanity,鈥� de la Pena said.

The idea for the book initially came to him through observations of his 8-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son.

鈥淚 am quick to say, 鈥榤y daughter, she's the reader and my son, he likes to see how things work. He鈥檚 going to be an engineer. But I think when we label children, the weight of those labels hangs on their shoulders,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 wanted to celebrate the fact that all of us are on this journey, and we contain multitudes of possibilities.鈥�

De la Pena solidified the idea as he prepared to give 91成人导航鈥檚 commencement address in 2019 when he received an honorary doctorate.

鈥淚 was thinking about what I took away from 91成人导航 and how I evolved while I was there,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淟eading up to the commencement speech, I started to look at this little piece of writing that I thought could be a picture book and revised it thinking of the commencement speech.鈥�

He continued to tweak the story until landing on its current version, which he read to graduates.聽

The message in his book reflects his journey to becoming a writer. Growing up, de la Pena viewed himself solely as a basketball player; attending 91成人导航 shifted his mindset.聽

鈥淗eather Mayne, who was in the English Department at the time, saw something in him and gave him 鈥淭he Color Purple鈥� to read,鈥� said Professor of English Camille Norton, who also taught de la Pena. 聽鈥淩eading that novel completely transformed him 鈥� We have the capacity to mentor our students quite closely here, and he's a great example of somebody who completely changed his life as a writer.鈥�

De la Pena has gone on to write widely read children鈥檚 books including 鈥淐armela Full of Wishes,鈥� 鈥淢ilo Imagines the World鈥� and 鈥淟ast Stop on Market Street,鈥� which was a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller and received the Newbery Medal in 2016. The award is one of the most prestigious honors for children鈥檚 literature.

鈥淚 always tell people, I walked onto the campus at 91成人导航 as a basketball player, and I left as an intellectual. Without that experience, I don't know if I would have ever found my voice as a writer,鈥� de la Pena said.

For current 91成人导航 students trying to find their own voice, de la Pena鈥檚 advice: make mistakes.

鈥淭his is such a great opportunity to play, to make mistakes, to try new genres and read outside your comfort zone because the stakes are low,鈥� de la Pena said. 鈥淚f you do become a professional writer, some of that time to play evaporates.

鈥淎lso, read, read, read. The best writing teacher in the world is great literature.鈥�