Sixth-grade students in Clarissia Tijerina’s writing class at Bluffton-Harrison Middle School had the unique opportunity earlier this school year to write, create, publish, and sell their own books as part of National Young Author’s Fair USA 2023.
Overall, Tijerina’s class placed second in the nation earning the Literary Leadership Excellence Award and one student ranked in the top four in sales nationally.
Tijerina says the idea came from an email Superintendent Brad Yates sent to staff about the opportunity. Students had been learning about fractured fairy tales in Tijerina’s class, which changed the point of view of classic fairy tales. Some students incorporated that lesson into their books, while others created new projects.
For Tijerina, it’s about giving the students the tools and empowering their voices to write. Every year, she tries to find ways to encourage students to take their writing and give it more purpose. When students completed their required in-class work, this was an optional project they could participate in. Most students completed their stories independently at home, but could also work on them in their free time once work was done.
Mrs. Tijerina published her own narrative story on the BriBooks platform to help students navigate the program and explain how to create their books. This helped take the fear out of doing the project.
“Every year I try to take something out of the classroom that gives more meaningful purpose to their writing, other than a grade. I want them to understand that their voice matters,” Mrs. Tijerina says.
Abe Atkins reads an excerpt of his book, “Adventures with Koontz,” at the Dec. 18 BHMSD Board of School Trustees meeting.
Student Abe Atkins sold 84 copies of his book, “Adventures with Koontz,” a story featuring his grandmother’s dog, to earn a fourth-place ranking in sales.
After the top finishers were announced, Atkins was stunned by his award.
“I didn’t expect anything out of it and I just rocketed to the top, and I didn’t know what to say,” he recalled. “It’s pretty cool, really.”
The process challenged Atkins — finding stories of his grandma’s dog, editing the stories, finding pictures to use, and then proofreading them five or six times in an effort to prevent errors, he said. As someone who enjoys reading books a lot, working on this project makes him want to keep writing books now.
“I liked being able to publish a book as a 6th grader,” Atkins says. “I took away from this experience that it doesn’t matter how old you are, if you work hard you can be successful.”
More of Tijerina’s sixth grade writing students wrote and published their own books this school year.
“I am very proud of all the hard work my students put into this project, and am very excited to see how well we represent BHMSD by placing second in the United States for the Literary Leadership Excellence Award,” Mrs. Tijerina shared. “It will be wonderful to see the students’ books in the Middle School library very soon.”
Thirty-two students and Tijerina published a combined total of 44 books. Some students wrote two or three books. Copies will be purchased for the BHMS library under a “Student Published Authors” section.
Tijerina says the BriBooks program is easy to use. Students can type or talk to text straight onto the page, and get feedback in real-time on grammar and spelling. They can also select from a large bank of graphics to illustrate their books. The books feature a biography and photo of the authors on the back cover, just like any other published book.
“It was a pretty easy process,” student Naomi Dailey says. “They were very good at helping us fix grammar errors. It was a fun and exciting experience. It is a cool opportunity to publish our book and sell it online.”
Tijerina fully vetted each book before signing off on them. After the books were completed, they were listed on Amazon for purchase — and students get royalties for each book sold. The program is free for students to use, and BriBooks also waived the fees associated with obtaining ISBNs for the students’ books.
“Seeing the pride on the students’ faces, as they bring me their books,” Tijerina says, “makes this teacher very proud. They have done an amazing job!”
Students sold a combined 201 books, not counting the ones that Principal Rick Mettler will be purchasing for the BHMS library. A few students presented excerpts of their books to the BHMSD school board on Dec. 18.
