Good evening, camp families, guest authors, and all eager readers everywhere, for one last time this summer! Week 2 has taken us up, down, and across New York City, from the stacks of the NYPL to the infinite halls of the Met, and our campers’ imaginations has led them down endless avenues as they wrote, drew, and performed tales of secrets, betrayal, and more, with lots of laughs along the way. We ended our week together with our usual flair – read on for the highlights!
Once all our Week 2 campers had arrived for the day, we started with an epistolary activity inspired by our Friday featured book, The Lost Year. Campers wrote their own “letters to the editor,” making their opinions known about topics important to them – real or fictional. Some campers wrote letters worthy of the op-ed page about hot-button topics like the climate crisis, gun control, and immigration, while others flexed their imaginations – and funny bones – with letters decrying man-eating crabs, Legos, and Tumblr poll drama. The range of letters was incredible to take in.
After we were sufficiently warmed up, we welcomed today’s guest author to the stage: Katherine Marsh, author of The Lost Year! Today’s visit marked her first return to camp in ten years, and her fourth visit total; she last joined us in 2013, when we featured her wonderful historical fiction novel Jepp, Who Defied the Stars. Katherine started her visit by discussing her myriad inspirations for The Lost Year. From Matthew’s favorite game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, she was inspired to write about lost memories; she drew on her family’s experiences during the COVID-19 lockdowns to build Matthew’s pandemic-impacted world in the book; and she let her love of mysteries and histories guide much of her plotting. But her most important influence were family stories, oral traditions passed on from Katherine’s grandmother, who grew up in the Russian Empire and Soviet-controlled Ukraine before immigrating to the United States, and from Katherine’s mother, the daughter of immigrants like the character of Helen in the book, along with other family members. I was so surprised to hear how much of the book was directly inspired by these stories! For example, Katherine had a relative who survived the Holodomor (and lived to be 106!); and the part of the book about Helen’s caviar sandwich was something that really happened to Katherine’s mom when she was a kid. Katherine shared so much of her family with us, and so much about the history of Ukraine and its people – and revealed all the parallels between The Lost Year and current events in America and Ukraine. At the end of her presentation, she shared one particularly poignant parallel: much like her grandmother wrote letters back home to her family in Ukraine, Katherine regularly uses WhatsApp to talk to her cousin in Kyiv, making sure he’s okay much as her grandmother did via snail mail.
Katherine answered all our questions during our Q&A session, including but not limited to:
- When you write a mystery story, do you always know the twist at the end, or the big secret to be unveiled? (Katherine told us yes, but sometimes she’s not sure how she’s going to get up to the big reveal, and finds her path through the writing) (Most of our campers figured out the twist in The Lost Year, but some were surprised!)
- Which character is on the front cover, and who’s on the back cover? (Katherine says it’s intentionally vague, so it’s up to readers to decide; and also shared that she specifically sought out a Ukrainian artist to do the cover)
- How long did this book take to write? (About a year-and-a-half of writing, then a year-and-a-half of revising, and then a few more months for copy-editing; surprisingly, Katherine started writing the book pre-pandemic, and then worked in more of Matthew’s COVID-era story)
- What’s the best way to become the keepers of our own family stories? (Record your interviews with family members!)
- How did you pick the characters’ names? (Helen was named after Katherine’s mother, Yelena; Nadiya means “hope”; and Mila is short for Lyudmila, which means “loved by the people,” as mentioned in the book)
Once our curiosity was (mostly) sated, we moved on to our writing activity, which challenged us to become keepers of our family stories. Campers were asked to write down a family story – something sad, something funny, something heartwarming, anything at all – and then, we gathered the family stories in a pile and everyone read someone else’s piece. This was an amazing exercise that helped campers feel more confident sharing, and gave them a chance to empower each other’s work. We heard a whole variety of stories, ranging from silly to deeply moving, all imbued with each camper’s particular storytelling flair.
Our time with Katherine flew by, and before we knew it, it was time for our book signing, group photo, and fond farewell to our final guest. Big shout-out to Katherine’s daughter, Natalia, who helped Katherine out during the signing – and bonded with some of our campers while she was hanging out with us!
Lunch was once again an inside affair with the threat of thunderstorms hanging over our heads, but our campers made the best of it indoors.
And once lunch was over, it was time to invite our brilliant campers to the stage for Share! Share is a sacred rite here at camp, where the spotlight shifts from our authors to our campers (and staff) for skits, book recommendations, riddle- and joke-telling, and anything else we can imagine. Our Week 2 campers didn’t disappoint! We had it all at Share today. A live game of Mafia on stage! World premiere film screenings! Poetry readings and musical performances! A two-hander karaoke show! A dramatic improv session with our counselors! And a ton of campers participated in a stage adaptation of a great scene from Thursday’s book, Force of Fire, which was an absolute delight.
Once the curtain fell on Share, we spent our last hour together with our end-of-week evaluations, presented on our patented “IRL Jamboard” (patent pending). Armed with post-its and pens, campers gave us their feedback about our featured books and authors, activities, field trips, and overall camp experience. Campers were free to chat and hang out once we’d gotten their feedback, trading contact info, browsing our bookshelves, and enjoying the space together for just a little longer.
Finally, it was time to say goodbye. We handed out some snacks for the road, and then waved our Week 2 campers off into the sunset – but as many campers pointed out, it’s only the end for this summer. We look forward to welcoming as many campers as we can back next year!
And thus, another summer at camp ends on a high note. We’re so grateful to our guest authors, our counselors, our campers, and all the staff at Symphony Space who helped us make camp an outstanding success. Thank you for being part of our camp family! And watch this space next July to see what we’ve got up our sleeves for Camp 2024. Happy reading, and enjoy the rest of your summer!
-Maggie
Read Less
