700 Students, 1,300 Tomes : Young Authors Gather to Share Moment in the Sun

Ashlee Tanimoto believes in racial harmony. So she sat down and wrote a 40-page novel called “Life for the Living” about a white man forced to accept the transplanted heart of a black man in order to survive.

“It’s about the white man’s realization that the races need to get along,” said Tanimoto, 14, a student at a magnet school in Eagle Rock.

Taywani Kummer, 12, is concerned about people who don’t appreciate life to its fullest. So she penned “To Be or Not to Be,” a 27-page novel about someone who “had a bad day, ate pills and died” only to be brought back to life by doctors.

“Her spirit saw the future,” said Kummer, a sixth-grader at Ivanhoe Elementary School. “She found out that she’s important and she appreciated life more.”

‘Rainbow of Books’

Neither may become a professional writer. But both had a moment in the sun Saturday as more than 700 children and about 2,000 adults gathered at John Marshall High School in the Silver Lake area for the 11th annual Young Authors’ Conference, dubbed “A Rainbow of Books.”

“It’s a great motivator,” said Evelyn Friedman, an instructional adviser for the Los Angeles Unified School District and chairwoman of the conference. “As the children participate, it develops their language skills. It’s something they’ll remember the rest of their lives. How many adults can say they’ve written a whole book?”

On hand as proof of the pudding were about 1,300 tomes, mostly written and illustrated by hand, produced by scribes ages 5 to 15 and representing 52 elementary and junior high schools in the Wilshire District, Highland Park and central Los Angeles.

Not all of the subjects were as profound as race relations and suicide. One youngster produced a book about a girl’s attempt to bring peace and love to a fantasy world inhabited only by animals. Another wrote a spoof of President Reagan’s affection for jellybeans titled “Mr. President and the Candies.”

210 Win Prizes

And 210 of the youngsters walked off with prizes in a host of categories, including best illustration, best group project, best bilingual book and most humorous entry.

“The pride the children develop in their work is invaluable to building self-confidence and creativity,” said Carol Skuro, a second-grade teacher at Alexandria Elementary School, where one first-grade class spent three weeks producing a book called “The Giant Carrot.”

“It’s about a funny bunny family,” said Lisa Johnson, the teacher responsible for the book. “We brainstormed ideas, then voted.”

After hearing the winners announced during a morning gathering on the school’s athletic field, the children adjourned with their parents and teachers to a quad where the books were displayed on folding tables bearing each school’s name. There the works flapped colorfully in the breeze as browsers skimmed each other’s literary creations amid entertainment provided by mimes, clowns, musicians and magicians.

Various Languages

In addition to the books written in English were some in Vietnamese, Cambodian, Spanish, Armenian, Chinese and Korean.

“They write in the language most familiar to them,” Friedman said. “Then in time we encourage them to write in English.”

She said she hadn’t noticed any particular trends in the literary output of this year’s crop of young authors. Well, maybe one.

“There were a few more books written on computers,” she said.