Great authors create great books, but an exceptional author inspires others to do so as well. During the first week of November, Gyeonggi Suwon International School (GSIS) was honored with a special guest; David Poulsen, author of the bestseller Numbers. Published in 2008, Numbers was especially popular with Korean and Japanese students, who felt a special connection with the book’s protagonist, Andy.
Fifteen-year-old Andy Crockett does not think himself the luckiest kid on the Earth. His brother got all the looks and intelligence, while Andy, who isn’t good at either school or sports, can’t even fit in with his friends and classmates in school. However, when the new school year starts, Andy thinks that his luck may be changing. Even though the school he attends is still not the best or coolest school, his tenth grade social teacher, Mr. Retzlaff, is great. Mr. R’s class is amazing from the first day, and becomes the one class Andy that wants to excel in in order to make Mr. R to be proud. Like Andy, many students in Korea and Japan become discouraged by the highly competitive environment and yearn for inspirational teachers. It is because of this empathy that they feel for Andy that made Numbers so popular in these two countries.
After introducing his book, David Poulsen proved to be an inspiration himself as he gave students advice on writing. According to Mr. Poulsen, “The best way to complete excellent writing is ‘to make the readers believe’. Since most novels are fiction, many readers think that everything they read is not real. Breaking down this barrier and allowing them to inhabit the world of the novel—this is the writer’s job.”
In addition, Mr. Poulsen explained the factors that are needed to make good stories; plot, setting, characters, and theme. Most high school students already knew had already learned about these factors in English or Literature class. But during this talk, they could see how these theories could be applied to real writing from Mr. Poulsen’s explanations using the plot, setting, characters, and theme in Numbers. Also, many students said that they really enjoyed his visit because he spoke to them with real passion. Junior Jinni Kim said, “It was a special speech for me because it was my first time listening to a real author and I was impressed by Mr. Poulsen’s passion and humor.” Senior Wendy Choi also mentioned that, “I have wanted to be a writer since I was in middle school, but I wasn’t sure about how to pursue my dream. Mr. Poulsen has not only shown me that my dream is possible, but also how to achieve it.”
Even students who hadn’t read Numbers said that they could easily imagine the character of Mr. R; they believed he would be inspiring and passionate, just like Mr. Poulsen.
