By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Dozens of published authors filled the gymnasium at Isenberg Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon.
But they might not be who you imagine.
They haven’t written bestsellers or novels that made it to the big screen. Their talent has only been discovered by the teachers at the school.
The authors are actually second through fifth grade students at the school.
Alexis Jennings, a fifth grade teacher, said she launched the project last school year as a way to motivate students to foster a love of writing.
“We wanted to spark the children’s interest in writing and one of the ways we thought we could do that was by letting them see they can become published authors,” she said.
Students worked on the books from September through January, doing most of the work on computers through the website studentpublishing.com.
They got to see the final product Wednesday during a publishing party held at the school when each student received a free paperback copy of their book.
“A lot of students get discouraged by writing. But once they are able to see what they can create, their confidence moves to a whole new level,” she said. “It just gives them that can-do attitude.”
Fifth-grader Emma Ryerson said she was looking forward to taking her book home to brag Wednesday.
“It’s exciting because no one else I know has gotten to write a book,” she said.
Fifth grade students used what they learned about poetic devices during the first semester to write their books.
During the publishing party Wednesday, Emma read her poem titled “Sweet and Red.”
“Every summer me and my family go and pick strawberries,” she said. “That’s me and my dad’s favorite fruit.”
Emma wasn’t the only student to draw from her own life experiences while writing her book. Samuel Wordsworth wrote about this dad and Devante Byrum composed a poem about his favorite professional basketball team, the Miami Heat.
Devante said he had fun while writing his book.
“It’s cool that we got to create a book and see how it turns out,” he said.
Samuel said at first he thought writing the book was going to be hard, but it turned out to be interesting.
“I can’t wait to show it to my sister,” he said.
Larry Brown, Isenberg’s interim principal, praised the students for their hard work.
“Budding young artists and authors, I’m here to say that you’ve accomplished something that I have not accomplished in 42 years of education,” he said. “You have published a book, bam.”
Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.
Twitter: twitter.com/posteducation
Facebook: facebook.com/Sarah.SalisburyPost

Heat 
By Devante Byrum
Lebron dunks ball all day 
Dwayne Wade goes up
   and hits layups
Heat is a good team to go for
Coaching
Slowing the clock down 
Chris Bosh is a good
   free-throw shooter
Love to watch basketball games

Sweet and Red 
By Emma Ryerson 
I love
I love strawberries
Strawberries can be sweet, sour 
   and can be good
I put whip cream on the
   strawberries
Strawberries can be green, red
When they are red ready to eat

Dad 
By Samuel Wordsworth
Short Cool
Living Sleeping Snoring
Quiet Sleeping On the phone
   Explorer
Living Exploring Talking
Mom